Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 21 November 2002 — Page 8

The Muncie Times, November 21, 2002, page 8

TO BE F, O U A T. Being Americans means equal economic treatment for all

After Sept. 11, 2001, in which Americans of every kind (and foreign nationals, too) were indiscriminately targeted for murder, Americans of every kind responded with heroism and compassion and a determination to put forward the best values of America. We were all inspired by the groundswell of rhetoric about the need for “national unity” and the ceremonies and displays that brought these words to life. It was as if, the tragedies having shown that we Americans are all equal American in the eyes of those who hate America, Americans themselves had determined to show what that meant in the most positive terms. I wholeheartedly supported that effort, of course, and I also said one of the ways the federal government could aid it was to respond quickly to alleviate the economic pain the recession - exacerbated by the shock of 9/11 - was spreading among middleclass, blue-collar, and poor Americans. Today, however, the signs are few that the Bush administration and the Congress have mounted an effective effort to adhere to that principle when it comes to aiding the poor and the newly jobless. In fact, there are many signs

that the plight of the poor and the newly jobless continues to worsen. Job cuts in the private sector continue with a dispiriting frequency, and the number of jobless, who’ve been out of work longer than 15 weeks, has reached record levels - it is now close to 3 million people. This year, Congress approved funds to aid workers who were still jobless after using up their 26 weeks of basic unemployment coverage, but data indicates that a significant proportion of them are beginning to exhaust those extended benefits - which expire anyway at the end of the year. Perhaps most alarmingly, the budgets of most states and many cities are being severely squeezed/as their governments try to pare expenses to match sharply reduced revenues. Not surprisingly, the cutting officials are compelled to do is falling most heavily on those who most need help. For example, 41 states are cutting funds for Medicaid, the government program for the poor and disabled. In some states, tens of thousands of people are being cut off from Medicaid coverage altogether. It doesn’t do any good to note that the general unemployment rate declined in September, to 5.6 percent, for the second month in a row, and the nation is officially out of the recession - that the economy is experiencing a very modest growth. The public clearly feels a sense of economic malaise that is widespread because the

job cuts have stung white collar as well as blue collar workers, a large number of college graduates as well as high school dropouts, and, in proportional terms, almost as many whites as African Americans and Hispanic Americans. A recent New York Times/CBS News poll found that two-thirds of those surveyed said the economy was weak, up from a little more than one-third of those surveyed said the economy would likely stay the same for the immediate future, but 39 percent felt it would get worse. Yet, even as real economic misery increases and pessimism increases, the federal government seems to be missing in action. Where are the words - and actions - of the secretary of the treasury, the secretary of commerce, the president’s economic advisers, and the president himself? Before Congress adjourned for the November elections, it could have - but did not - increased the minimum wage to enable the working poor to preserve their purchasing power, which has always been a bulwark of the economy. Today, the minimum wage buys nearly 20 percent less than it did in 1981. Thus, wage earners have less disposable income to cover the rising cost of health care that employers are passing along to them and to stave off the debilitating effects of hunger. A new study by the National Urban League Institute for Opportunity and Equality found that raising the federal minimum wage from its current $5.15 an hour to $6.65 per hour would

enable 1.4 million more lowincome workers to earn enough to provide nutritious meals for their families. Before taking off for electioneering, the House Ways and Means Committee sent to the floor legislation to provide tax relief to those investors who lost money in the stock market this year - but it couldn’t find the economically-justifiable compassion to extend unemployment insurance beyond Dec. 31, as was done in the recessions of both 1980 and 1990. Speaking to The New York Times about the need for federal help to ease the Medicaid situation in his state, Mike Fogarty, chief executive officer of the Oklahoma Health Care Authority, said, “Many of us are dealing with the crisis. We are hopeful there will be a crisis response.” That’s what’s needed to combat the economic storm bedeviling ordinary Americans. Are the Bush administration and the Republican, Democratic and independent members of Congress listening? After all, we are all equally American - aren’t we? Hugh B. Price is the national president of the Nation Urban League. You can write to him at: TO BE EQUAL 120 Wall Street, New York City, NY 10005