The recession and store closings on West 8th St. in the Village

Recovery-What Recovery?

For several weeks now we've been getting happy news from our corporate-controlled media that we are coming out of the worst economic recession in history. We're in economic recovery they say. The news shows issue government stats that indicate instead of losing 500,000 jobs a month we are now shedding 200,000. Wow! Unemployment is about to hit 10% (It's at 9% in New York City) and a part-time job is the best you can do if you"re lucky enough to find a job at all. A headline in the September 2nd edition of Women's Wear Daily reports that "shop lifting is soaring" at a lot of clothing stores. Another fun fact of this so-called recovery is the closing of many retail stores in our area. But Wall Street has been having a swell time recently, right? Well that was a week ago. Lately stocks have been kind of flat or like today-down. I just don't think we're out of the woods yet folks. My advice is to not unbuckle your seat belt just yet. It might be another steep drop ahead on this roller coaster.

Pix From Montreal, Canada during 2009 R.A.C.E Conference 6/5/09

Snafu-You a Train Blues

Over the past few years the MTA has been supending A train service from 12AM-5AM. I live in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn and the A and C trains are my only options to get to work. The MTA offers the dredded "Shuttle Bus" service to Jay Street-Borough Hall where you can pick up a Manhattan bound A, C or F train. Now train service is supposed to resume at 5AM, so I usually will wait until service resumes. I have to get to work by 6AM so I'm hoping the MTA is true to its word. Not today. The train showed up around 18 minutes afterwards. Lots of people are wainting and like me, some of them might get into office disciplinary action for lateness. Even before this latest suspension of service the A seemed to crawl through the tunnel, thus making me late to catch my E train connection at West 4th St. This nonesense has been going on for most of the year, with hardly any C service on most weekends. If you have a job in these economic hard times then you are blessed. I know of many friends who have lost their jobs in this current financial meltdown. My supervisor told my that I'm on the company "radar scope" for past lateness. all of my latenesses are due to the snafu's of the MTA on the IND A, C, and E lines. I'm well aware that routine repairs must be made to the tracks, but some of the MTA's capital spending should be shelved during this Great Recession. Especially interior fix-up jobs like what's happening at the Jay Street/Borough Hall station. It's sad that people are losing their jobs due to the collapse of Wall St, but to lose a paycheck because of MTA incompetance is a outrage. I would like to know who does the dispatching on most Thursdays when the 4:45am train doesn't arrive till sometimes-5:15 or later? Soon we'll be paying more for this nonesense. Can a member of the working poor get a break?

DO NOT BELIEVE THE HYPE!

Don't believe in all the rosy upbeat news about the economy. Wall St is not and accurate gage for our current economic mess either. Thousands of people lost good paying jobs in April. Good paying jobs with health benefits that will never return. Recently, in the the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York over four thousand job hunters showed up for a jobs fair that was expecting less than a thousand. One poor guy confessed that since he recently lost his job that he was soon running out of money to pay for his mortgage. He's among millions across America in similar dire fates. Many are defaulting on credit card payments. Black-American unemployment is at 15%. Many Americans are only finding part-time employment trying to make ends meet. But, unfortunately for these hundreds of thousands there won't be any government bailouts. They aren't the Wall St. fat cats who were treated to billions or trillions of taxpayer dollars. We need to bail-out the American people. Unemployment will continue to rise, at least for the next year. Even president Obama warns of more job losses to come. We are not out of the woods yet. Not by a long shot!

General Motors recently stated they will temporarly shut down operations this summer. If you think this action will only affect GM's workers think again. This tempory shut down will probably affect GM's many parts suppliers. To cut to the chase, less money for all kinds of workers throughout the country to move our consumption-based economy! Many of these very same workers are saddled with high interest credit card payments and home mortages. Wall Street speculators and some finacial pundits have been harping recently that the worst of this recession is over. They see a slight uptick in the stock market and homes sales to folks who are in the market for their first home. Think again. Many of the millions who lost jobs and that means U.S. factory workers, may never again find jobs that pay a decent wage if the Wall Streeters don't stop outsourcing the American dream to cheaper wage environs overseas. Big bussiness in the U.S. doesn't even want to pay a poor bloke here a salary to answer a phone. Once again, we must confront the fact that our working class wages have stagnated to squat over the past 30 years. U.S. workers can no longer afford to move this rabid, consumption-based economy any longer simply because they don't make enough. Sure we can buy dissposable Chinese made DVD players, mp3's and cheap underwear from Honduras, but a new car (U.S. or foreign) or afford a mortage? Give us a break and a pay increase Wall Street! And Washington, there was a time when politicians spoke of a chicken in every pot. Now, you don't even offer us a pot to piss in! A temporary shut down of GM does not indicate the worst is over. It indicates that maybe the worst is yet to come. To rebuild America, lets start with decent, living wages and jobs for working Americans!

Angela Davis at the "Black Women and The Radical Tradition forum at the CUNY Graduate Center in New York City.  3/28/09