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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'>We are reaching critical mass in this country and the shit is fixing to
hit the fan. Ron and I talked about this yesterday. The dumb shits in
government and global corporate don’t seem to realize that the people are
not going to sit quietly for much longer while they (the gov’t and global
corporate) continue to mercilessly skull fuck them. Things are going to go one
of two ways, folks. Either the people of the world and especially the United
States are going to rise up and kick the shit out of their oppressors and wage
bloody war all over the place or the people in their masses will wake up and
decide to change the way we do business i.e. stop the rampant consumerism, tell
the credit card companies to go and fuck themselves, stop paying rent and
mortgage payments and let the mortgage companies shit on themselves, start
growing their own food and/or joining co-ops, start being kind to one another,
helping their neighbor and learning to live harmoniously WITHIN nature instead
of working against nature etc.<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'>Very dark days are upon us and darker days still are coming. There is
always light where there is darkness but we are going to have a hard time
seeing the light for the foreseeable future. <o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'>Kris<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'><a href="http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/oct2009/lead-o08.shtml">http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/oct2009/lead-o08.shtml</a><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
<h2><b><font size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:14.0pt'>50,000
line up for housing aid in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Detroit</st1:place></st1:City><o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h2>
<h5><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>By
Jerry White <br>
8 October 2009<o:p></o:p></span></font></b></h5>
<p id=tools><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>An
estimated 50,000 residents of <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Detroit</st1:place></st1:City>
filed into Cobo Hall convention center on Wednesday seeking assistance to pay
utility bills and keep from being evicted from their homes. City officials, who
expected around 3,000 people to apply for the aid, were overwhelmed by the
turnout.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>In a
scene reminiscent of the crowds of jobless workers who lined up for free soup
during the Great Depression, a queue of tens of thousands of workers and
unemployed people wound around the downtown arena. Young mothers pushing baby
carriages, disabled workers in wheelchairs, senior citizens and throngs of
young workers and youth stood for hours waiting. Many had slept on the streets
the previous evening to be the first served.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Several
people fainted during the wait and were treated by medical personnel on the
scene. By 11:30 a.m., <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Detroit</st1:place></st1:City>’s
mayor, David Bing, made a public appeal for citizens to stop coming to Cobo
Hall. Hundreds of police, including officers from <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:City
w:st="on">Detroit</st1:City></st1:place>’s special Gang Unit, stood
guard at the entrances to hold back the crowd.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Several
people were reportedly injured in the rush to enter the building after the
police finally opened the doors around noon. Those in line were funneled
through the glass doors and quickly sped toward a table where they were handed
applications and told they had to fill them out and deposit them in boxes
before a 2 p.m. deadline.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Wednesday
was the last day for residents to apply for the city’s Homeless
Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP). The program, funded by a $15.2
million grant from the Obama administration's stimulus program, will provide
assistance to only about 3,400 people, according to Constance Bell, a
spokesperson for the program. In addition to the 50,000 applications given out
Wednesday, an additional 30,000 were distributed previously, <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Bell</st1:place></st1:City> said. This means that only about one out
of 23 people who applied will see any money.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The large
turnout was based on fast-spreading rumors that the city was providing $3,000
to low-income families in need of aid. Such is the level of economic
desperation in the city—where the official jobless rate is 29 percent and
more than one-third of the population lives below the official poverty
line—that tens of thousands showed up.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The vast
majority will not qualify for the aid, the city spokesperson admitted. The HPRP
program only provides temporary assistance to pay utility bills for those who
are already homeless or facing pending evictions or foreclosures. Moreover, it
will be paid only to those who are able to keep up their housing payments after
receiving the aid. No money will be used to make mortgage payments.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Rather
than informing those who showed up that their efforts were likely to be in
vain, city officials continued to hand out and collect applications for the
program. Their overwhelming concern was to prevent an angry outburst from
people who had suffered the indignity of waiting for hours and being manhandled
by the cops.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The lack
of preparation and disorganization at the event is an indication of how distant
government officials are from the reality confronting the working class and the
extent of the social crisis. The 80,000 households that applied for assistance
represent roughly a third of the city’s population.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The real
jobless rate in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Detroit</st1:place></st1:City>
is much higher than the official figure of 29 percent, due to the tens of
thousands who have given up looking for nonexistent jobs. This crisis has been
exacerbated by the forced bankruptcies and restructuring of General Motors and
Chrysler by the Obama administration, which, with the support of the United
Auto Workers, destroyed thousands of jobs and slashed the wages and benefits of
auto workers and retirees.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Particularly
striking were the thousands of young workers lining up for assistance. Thirty
years ago, a large number of these young people would have been employed in
city’s many auto factories. Since 1970, however, the city has lost
three-quarters of its manufacturing jobs, wiping out the jobs of 250,000 workers.
Today, there is nothing but low-paying jobs for young workers, without the
slightest economic security.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Last
month, tens of thousands of workers lined up at the state fair grounds in <st1:City
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Detroit</st1:place></st1:City> after the
regional gas and electric company, DTE Energy, announced it was offering help
to distressed homeowners and renters. According to a report last month in the <em><i><font
face="Times New Roman">Detroit News</font></i></em>, <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Michigan</st1:place></st1:State>’s two largest power
companies, DTE Energy and Consumers Energy, last year cut off heating to a
total of 181,000 customers. DTE has already shut off energy to 115,000
households, a pace that will far surpass last year’s 142,000 cutoffs.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><st1:City w:st="on"><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Detroit</span></font></st1:City>—which used to
boast one of the highest rates of home ownership in the nation--had the top
home foreclosure rate in 2006 and 2007, and still ranks among the highest in
the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on"><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:12.0pt'>Detroit</span></font></st1:place></st1:City>’s
economic decline has been long in the making. The living standards won by auto
workers gave the <st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Motor</st1:PlaceName>
<st1:PlaceType w:st="on">City</st1:PlaceType></st1:place> the highest per
capita income in the nation in the 1950s. The last three decades, beginning
with the Chrysler bailout of 1979-80, has seen an unrelenting assault on the
working class by big business and the government, culminating in Obama’s
restructuring of GM and Chrysler. The deindustrialization of <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Detroit</st1:place></st1:City> was symbolic of the shift by American
capitalism from manufacturing to the most parasitic forms of financial
speculation.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>At 15.2
percent, the state of <st1:State w:st="on">Michigan</st1:State> has the highest
unemployment rate in the <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
Over the past decade, as the auto industry was downsized, <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Michigan</st1:place></st1:State> lost 870,000 jobs. The number is
expected to rise to one million by late next year.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Even as
the demand for social services increases, state and city governments are
slashing spending for housing, education and health care to cope with large
budget deficits. The Obama administration, which handed trillions to Wall
Street, has offered no similar bailout to the states or the estimated 15
million people who are now unemployed.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The state
of <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Michigan</st1:place></st1:State>—facing
a $2.8 billion deficit—is slashing programs across the board. On the same
day that thousands lined up for housing assistance, Detroit’s Democratic
Mayor David Bing, a multi-millionaire businessman, announced a
“turnaround” plan to cut $500 million over the next two years by
permanently shrinking city government, selling off public assets, privatizing
and cutting services, and laying off more than 1,000 city workers.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
economic crisis is bringing much of the rest of the country to similar straits
as in <st1:City w:st="on">Detroit</st1:City> and <st1:State w:st="on"><st1:place
w:st="on">Michigan</st1:place></st1:State>. Scenes of economic desperation are
increasingly common throughout the country, with free clinics attracting crowds
of thousands in California, Texas and other states, and thousands of people
lining up for a handful of available jobs.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The <st1:country-region
w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">US</st1:place></st1:country-region> is
experiencing a social crisis unparalleled since the 1930s. In the face of this crisis,
the Obama administration is offering no serious relief to the tens of millions
of working people who face economic ruin.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
tragic scene that unfolded Wednesday in <st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Detroit</st1:place></st1:City>
underscores the derisory character of Obama’s so-called
“stimulus” and “recovery” schemes. The White House has
rejected out of hand any public works program to put the unemployed to work.
Instead, all of its policies—from the Wall Street bailout, to the attack
on auto workers, to its plans to slash health care costs—are designed to
protect the wealth and power of the financial elite.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 color=black face="Comic Sans MS"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Comic Sans MS";color:black;font-weight:
bold'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></b></p>
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