8_ The reality is even more sobering. One in six Americans are unemployed, underemployed, or have given up looking for work because prospects are dismal. This will soon get worse if something is not done. What will it take? Twenty percent out of work? Thirty percent on the streets?
9_ You would think that this crisis would have alarm bells ringing in Washington. It doesn't. Maybe this will: 22 percent of the nation's children now live in poverty. If unemployment gets worse, that number will round out at one in four and then keep climbing. This is the America that Bible-thumping Republicans cherish, a banana republic that mortgages its future to privilege the affluent.
10_ Obama's plan is modest. In effect, it would extend the stimulus by one year. Despite what Republicans say, some analysts hold that it will grow the economy by perhaps two percent, keep unemployment from worsening, and improve it a fraction. This might seem utopian in red states, but in the real world it is a holding action. It would spare business profits and unfortunately not leverage the $2 trillion in cash that idles in corporate accounts. All it really asks is that the super rich and the very affluent pay more of their fair share. If that is class warfare, bring it on.
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