A Dose Of Truth In A World Of Lies

September 2, 2010

by Al Doyle

Government statistics on the economy are a totally unreliable pile of lies and trickery, and the constant cries of "recovery" from the lapdog media are equally false. So how can a person get a more accurate handle on what's happening in America?

A growing number of reality-based reports can be found in print, on web sites and local TV news segments. Despite the fake happy faces and clichés coming from Washington, times are getting tougher by the day, and the truth is becoming too obvious to be contained.

Therecent series Invisible Families: The Homeless You Don't See by the Seattle Times is the kind of local investigative story that could be told in just about any city in America. Not everyone who finds themselves homeless these days is a drug addict or alcoholic. Falling wages, rising unemployment and the growing number of home foreclosures means that everyone from blue-collar types to formerly high-wage management personnel are without a place to stay - and the situation won't get better soon.

Move 2000-plus miles east to Dayton, Ohio, where demand for food pantries and emergency shelter is setting records and straining the capacity of local non-profit groups.

"We have never seen numbers like this," said Leigh Sempeles, executive director of Dayton's St. Vincent de Paul charitable operations. "These are unprecedented times."

The city's St. Vincent de Paul shelter has seen demand for overnight stays grow by 217 percent since 2008, and more than 200 dinners are served each night. When the Dayton shelter opened in 2005, a night with seven or eight families was considered a major event, but 36 families were housed on August 18. A dorm for single women designed to sleep 52 housed 92 visitors.

The Unemployed-Friends.com web site is gaining new members and visitors at a steady pace. Literally hundreds of real-life stories - generally light on self pity and heavy on determination and a willingness to tough it out - provides an undiluted view of reality that is light years removed from the spin and lies of the Beltway.

Outsourcing American jobs to low-wage places is far from a declining trend. Walgreen's will lay off 150 accountants at its Deerfield, Illinois headquarters along with another 150 accountants in other locations. That work will be handed over to the India-based outsourcing firm Genpact.

Great Depression II is far from being an exclusively American phenomenon. Japan and much of Europe are experiencing similar problems. British college graduates are facing the grimmest job market in decades.

"Any employment is better than no employment, even if it's about flipping burgers or stocking shelves." This advice to young British job seekers came from Carl Gilleard, executive director of The Association of Graduate Recruiters. When the head of a group that specializes in job placement is making such dour public statements, everyone but the most terminally clueless "sheeple" are catching on to the situation.