Ragbag Headliners

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

“A federal court in Riverside, California, rules the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy is unconstitutional.” -CNN Reports

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Record Number In Government Anti-Poverty Programs

Government anti-poverty programs that have grown to meet the needs of recession victims now serve a record one in six Americans and are continuing to expand.

More than 50 million Americans are on Medicaid, the federal-state program aimed principally at the poor, a survey of state data by USA TODAY shows. That's up at least 17% since the recession began in December 2007.

"Virtually every Medicaid director in the country would say that their current enrollment is the highest on record," says Vernon Smith of Health Management Associates, which surveys states for Kaiser Family Foundation.

The program has grown even before the new health care law adds about 16 million people, beginning in 2014. That has strained doctors. "Private physicians are already indicating that they're at their limit," says Dan Hawkins of the National Association of Community Health Centers.

More than 40 million people get food stamps, an increase of nearly 50% during the economic downturn, according to government data through May. The program has grown steadily for three years.

Caseloads have risen as more people become eligible. The economic stimulus law signed by President Obama last year also boosted benefits.

"This program has proven to be incredibly responsive and effective," says Ellin Vollinger of the Food Research and Action Center.

Close to 10 million receive unemployment insurance, nearly four times the number from 2007. Benefits have been extended by Congress eight times beyond the basic 26-week program, enabling the long-term unemployed to get up to 99 weeks of benefits. Caseloads peaked at nearly 12 million in January — "the highest numbers on record," says Christine Riordan of the National Employment Law Project, which advocates for low-wage workers.

More than 4.4 million people are on welfare, an 18% increase during the recession. The program has grown slower than others, causing Brookings Institution expert Ron Haskins to question its effectiveness in the recession.

As caseloads for all the programs have soared, so have costs. The federal price tag for Medicaid has jumped 36% in two years, to $273 billion. Jobless benefits have soared from $43 billion to $160 billion. The food stamps program has risen 80%, to $70 billion. Welfare is up 24%, to $22 billion. Taken together, they cost more than Medicare.

The steady climb in safety-net program caseloads and costs has come as a result of two factors: The recession has boosted the number who qualify under existing rules. And the White House, Congress and states have expanded eligibility and benefits.

Conservatives fear expanded safety-net programs won't contract after the economy recovers. "They're much harder to unwind in the long term," says Michael Tanner of the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.

Other anti-poverty experts say the record caseloads are a necessary response to economic hardship. "We should be there to support people when the economy can't," says LaDonna Pavetti of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal-leaning think tank. –USA Today

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Millions Can Find Only Part-Time Or Lower-Paying Jobs

Beyond the 15 million Americans who have no jobs at all, millions more are caught in part-time or limited jobs that don't pay them enough to maintain their standard of living — much less contribute to the strong consumer spending needed to power the nation out of the economic doldrums.

Economists have a technical term for these people: underemployed.

The surge in underemployment that began during the recession cut almost evenly across all major industries and occupations and affected workers in all age groups, the Labor Department data showed, and hit especially hard older people — some of whom have reluctantly opted to file for early Social Security benefits.

The number of involuntary part-timers — who on average worked just 23 hours a week in the second quarter — had been easing down since spring but rose again in August. The figure is double the pre-recession level and the highest since record-keeping began in 1955.

The problem is even bigger than the official numbers suggest. Another group of underemployed is not tracked by the government but may be almost as large: workers shunted into full-time jobs that pay far less than their old jobs.

These workers' new paychecks offer only a shadow of the middle-class lifestyles that their skills, education and experience once helped them secure.

Full time or part time, many of the underemployed are young adults with college degrees. Sum estimated that half of the college-educated workers 25 and younger who started work this year landed in jobs that didn't require bachelor's degrees — jobs such as waiting tables, bartending and retail sales.

Research suggests that underemployment is particularly menacing and long-lasting for new workers. They typically don't get the employer-supported training that can advance careers. And starting out at lower-level jobs and pay usually stunts earnings for years to come.

Also, "higher-skilled workers can push out lower-skilled workers who could do the job," said Susan Houseman, senior economist at the Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo, Mich. That may partly explain the difference in jobless rates — 4.6% for college graduates in August and 10.3% in the same month for those with only high school diplomas.

But serious as underemployment can be for the young, experts and government statistics indicate that older workers have been hit even harder.

Among those 55 and older, the ranks of involuntary part-timers reached 1.3 million this spring, a 122% increase from three years earlier. By comparison, the number of part-timers ages 20 to 24 rose 90% over the same period, to 1.5 million.

The job market is showing signs of slight improvement, but the private sector still isn't creating many new full-time jobs. And the high unemployment rate has allowed employers to hold down wages and, in many cases, choose to hire overqualified workers.

At the same time, plunges in home values and sharp drops in the value of 401(k) accounts and other retirement investments have caused many older workers to stay in the workforce longer than they had planned — and to need income more urgently if they lose their jobs. –LA Times