The DISH

Unbossed and unbought news and information you can use

Vol. 12 Issue 52…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…December 27, 2009

Intuit's Vibe

Remember My Forgotten Man

By E. Y. Harburg/Jay Gorney (1932)

They used to tell me I was building a dream

And so I followed the mob.

When there was earth to plow or guns to bear,

I was always there, right on the job.

They used to tell me I was building a dream

With peace and glory ahead -

Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread?

Once I built a railroad, I made it run,

Made it race against time.

Once I built a railroad, now it's done -

Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once I built a tower, up to the sun,

brick and rivet and lime.

Once I built a tower, now it's done -

Brother, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits, gee, we looked swell

Full of that Yankee Doodle-de-dum.

Half a million boots went slogging through hell,

And I was the kid with the drum.

Say, don't you remember they called me Al,

It was Al all the time.

Why don't you remember, I'm your pal -

Say, buddy, can you spare a dime?

Once in khaki suits, ah, gee, we looked swell

Full of that Yankee Doodle-de-dum.

Half a million boots went slogging through hell,

And I was the kid with the drum.

Say, don't you remember they called me Al,

It was Al all the time.

Why don't you remember, I'm your pal -

Buddy, can you spare a dime?

Bit of History

Jeffrey D. Sachs

Born November 5, 1954, Jeffery David Sachs was raised in Oak Park, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan. After graduating from Oak Park High School, Sachs attended Harvard College, where he earned his B.A. summa cum laude (1976). Sachs earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in economics from Harvard. While still a graduate student, Sachs was invited to join the Harvard Society of Fellows. He became an Assistant Professor in 1980 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1982. At age 29, Sachs became a full economics professor with tenure at Harvard, one of the youngest in the university's history.

Sachs became the Galen L. Stone Professor of International Trade, the Director of the Harvard Institute for International Development at the Kennedy School of Government (1995-1999), and the Director of the Center for International Development (1999-2002). During his tenure at Harvard, Sachs became known for his work as an economic advisor to governments in Latin America and Eastern Europe, and the former Soviet Union. A trained macroeconomist, Sachs led many countries in the transition from communism to market economies.

In 1985, Bolivia was undergoing hyperinflation and was unable to pay back its debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Sachs, an economic advisor to the Bolivian government, drew up an extensive plan, later known as shock therapy, to drastically cut inflation by liberalizing the Bolivian market, ending government subsidies, eliminating quotas, and linking the Bolivian economy to the US Dollar. After Sachs' plan was implemented, inflation fell from 20,000% per year to 11%. Though according to critics, it left the country worse off than before due to a rise in unemployment, a fall in industrial output, and a fall in per capita GDP.

In 1990, the Polish government introduced shock therapy to break from communism. Sachs and ex-IMF economist David Lipton advised the rapid conversion of all property and assets from public to private ownership. After initial economic shortages and inflation, prices in Poland eventually stabilized. In late 1991, the Russian government invited Harvard to give advice on reproducing the Polish experience. Sachs later resigned in protest against the ineptness and corruption of the Kremlin administration.

From 2000 to 2001, Sachs was Chairman of the Commission on Macroeconomics and Health of the World Health Organization (WHO), and from 1999 to 2000 he served as a member of the International Financial Institution Advisory Commission established by the U.S. Congress. Sachs has been an advisor to the World Bank, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, WHO, the IMF, and the UN Development Program. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; the Fellows of the World Econometric Society; the Brookings Panel of Economists; the National Bureau of Economic Research; and the Board of Advisors of the Chinese Economists Society, among other international organizations.

In March 2002, Sachs resigned from Harvard to become Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. He is currently the Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development and a professor for Columbia's Department of Economics and Department of Health Policy and Management. He teaches classes at the School of International and Public Affairs and the Mailman School of Public Health. Sachs is also a Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, and the founder and co-President of the Millennium Promise Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending extreme poverty and hunger.

From 2002 to 2006, Sachs served as Director of the United Nations Millennium Project Millennium Development Goals, eight internationally sanctioned objectives to reduce extreme poverty, hunger, and disease by the year 2015.

Sachs is the author of hundreds of academic articles and many books, including two New York Times bestsellers: The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time (Penguin, 2005) and Common Wealth: Economics for a Crowded Planet (Penguin, 2008). Sachs is the recipient of many honorary degrees, awards and honors, including the Sargent Shriver Award for Equal Justice (2005), the Padma Bhushan (2007), the highest honor bestowed by the Government of India, and he has twice been named one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by Time Magazine. He was also named one of the "500 Most Influential People in the Field of Foreign Policy" by the World Affairs Councils of America.

Sachs' critics include William Easterly, a professor of economics at New York University and author of White Man's Burden (2006), who disagrees with the notion that poor countries are stuck in a "poverty trap" from which there is no escape, except by massively scaled-up foreign aid, and economist Dambisa Moyo, who points out that Sachs' free market "development approach was made for countries such as Russia, Poland and Bolivia, whereas the aid-dependency approach, with no accompanying job creation, was reserved for Africa." Others point to the lack of real success in the countries Sachs supposedly helped by implementing his shock therapy, including Bolivia and the former communist countries of Eastern Europe that are now grappling with lower GDPs, declining personal incomes, higher suicide rates, and skyrocketing unemployment. (Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org , www.earth.columbia.edu and www.project-syndicate.org)

Politics Y2K9

Eastern Europe: Footprint of American Greed

By John Burl Smith

The world economic crisis has had a devastating impact on third world countries which were already struggling under mounds of colonial debt. Today, countries in Eastern Europe that were viewed as rising stars just two years ago are tittering on the brink, if they have not fallen over into the crevice of insolvency swamping the world. Grumbling, protests and scuffles have broken out from the Mediterranean (Greece) to the Balkans (Bulgaria) right up to the Baltic States (Lithuania and Latvia), and as far away as Iceland, over perceived corruption of their officials, drastic government spending cuts, inflation, tax hikes topped off with the sudden downturn in local economies due to the ongoing global market meltdown and financial turmoil.

Many blame the rapid economic transformations that occurred earlier in the decade across Eastern Europe, particularly by the Baltic States, based on the experimental model, known as "shock therapy," devised by Harvard trained Colombia professor Jeffrey Sachs. This economics theory advocates the sudden installation of price and currency controls, immediate end of state subsidies, and total trade liberalization within a country. It also includes wholesale privatization of previously publicly owned assets under the guise of pro-market reforms, such as those forced upon Chile in 1975. "Shock therapy" was supposed to herald an era of growth or "boom times, "but it actually created bubble-like growth fueled by easy credit, investment from dubious sources, unbridled speculation and shady property deals.

The entire region, known then as post communist and pro American "New Europe," was touted as shining examples of the benefits of free market economies over socialistic systems by capitalists. Emerging from Soviet control, the former Eastern bloc swallowed the capitalist dogma like sugar pills and now, following the collapse of the global banking system, everything has evaporated.

Lithuania implemented draconian neo-liberal inspired and IMF prescribed market reforms back in 2000; it is now reeling from the impact of the global downturn and rapid economic restructuring based on free market principles. Latvia's economy is staying afloat with a 7.5 billion Euro stand-by loan from the IMF ($9.8 Billion), as government austerity measures demanded by the "IMF's loan package" have thousands of enraged citizens in Vilnius, the capital, outside parliament chanting "thieves, thieves!"

Bulgaria has been rocked by street protests, where professionals, doctors, police officers, farmers and workers, who were protected under socialism, protested against poor pay and growing economic uncertainty and austerity. As the riots raged in this region, a scientific study published in Lancet, a UK medical journal, attributed over a million early deaths during the 1990s in the former "Soviet bloc" to "the shock doctrine." Frenzied paced mass privatization of state owned industries, price deregulations accompanied by drastic spending cuts in health and education and curtailed pension benefits were cited as instrumental in these deaths.

With thousands of demonstrators in Lithuania, Latvia and Bulgaria attacking government buildings and demanding their governments resign because of soaring unemployment, experts predict a regional increase of 15 to 18 million unemployed as jobs in Western Europe and the United States for immigrants disappear. These protests may be yet another indication that the worldwide economic crisis has morphed into a global social/cultural/political crisis. If that is the case, any current predictions about when the world economy may bottom out will become irrelevant, because economic programs will be trumped by political turmoil.

For instance, workers at the IKhMZ metallurgical plant in the city of Pervomalski, Kazakhstan were laid off without notice on 12-10-08 and the plant closed. Workers were owed over $300,000 in back wages, so they organized a strike committee, and 13 of the workers began a hunger strike. Some weeks later, the strike gained national publicity when one of the hunger strikers was hospitalized and 200 more workers joined the hunger strike. Management bowed to the pressure and agreed to pay the workers the back wages they were owed.

Poland, another rising star of Western-style free-market neo-liberal World Bank and IMF privatization is at the brink; its currency has declined 48% against the euro, and Hungary's has fallen by 30%. Eastern European Governments are cutting public services to reduce spending in order to shore up their currencies and working people have risen up in protest. Thousands of people in Poland, Latvia, and Bulgaria have taken to the streets, expressing anger that their social safety net has been shattered.

Latvia, like Iceland, is bankrupt, and on February 18^th the government collapsed. At the same time, demonstrators took to the streets of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, as depositors rushed to pull their money out of local banks. The banks imposed a limit on withdrawals, so protesters set up a tent city in the center of Kiev surrounding the parliament building, demanding the government's resignation. Truck drivers began parking their rigs and blocking roads to protest their indebtedness due to Ukraine's falling currency.

Those willing to take to the streets in icy mid-winter temperatures appear to be simply ordinary citizens balefully recanting how they are fed up with decades of government corruption, pilfering of the public purse, incompetence, nepotism on a historical scale and the widening chasm between the extravagant lifestyles of their elected leaders, while they struggle with skyrocketing rent, increasing heating (gas, electricity) and food costs. The US footprint of misery and economic disaster in this part of the world grows daily. What will happen when the people of Eastern Europe stop blaming their governments and start pointing their fingers at the US? (Sources: www.worldpress.org/Europe/3298.cfm#down, www.montrealgazette.com, www.monstersandcritics.com, http:///news/world/Greek.html, and http://hubpages.com)

A Tremor in the EU!

By John Burl Smith

Some think the European Union and the euro zone may not survive the latest US inspired economic tremors. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said recently: "The European Union is facing an unprecedented situation due to the economic crisis and needs to work at different levels to restore credit flow. The zone's economy is expected to contract by 2% this year." General Motors wants a bailout from European governments to save 32,000 jobs that are at risk. General Motors' sales in the Baltic countries fell off by 57% late 2008.

Hungary, once a model for how the American free market model can replace Soviet-bloc economics, is being squeezed by the cash crunch as its currency value drops, but Western Europe has declined their bailout requests. The global economy is decelerating at the fastest pace on record. Forty percent of global wealth has been wiped out. The banking system is insolvent, unemployment is soaring, tax revenues are falling, the markets are in shock, housing is crashing, deficits are soaring and consumer confidence is at its lowest point in history.

Facing such pressures, Barroso's pessimism seems palatable when one looks at some of the numbers and see many ticking time bombs. Countries are in deep shock. For instance Ireland's external debt, $1.8 trillion, equals 900% of its $200 billion GDP. The United Kingdom's external debt of $10.5 trillion equals 456% of its $2.3 trillion GDP. Switzerland's external debt of $1.3 trillion equals 433% of its $300 billion GDP. Now that the credit markets are locked tight, renegotiating the terms of their loans is virtually impossible. U.S. banks are said to have a loan ratio of around 26-to-1, and European Banks have one that is around 60-to-1.

Conversely, Eastern Europe's problems are an indirect consequence of the libertine Alan Greenspan Fed monetary policies from 2002 until 2006, the period where Wall Street's asset-backed securitization Ponzi scheme took off. The riskiness of these Eastern European loans is now coming to light as the global economic recession in both east and west Europe is forcing Western banks to pull back. Refusing to renew loans or 'rollover' the credits, Western banks have abandoned thousands of borrowers with unpayable loans. The dimension of the Eastern European emerging loan crisis pales anything yet realized.

Well-informed sources believe the new concerns over bank exposures to Eastern Europe will define the next wave of the global financial crisis. Moreover, some say it will be even more devastating than the U.S. subprime securitization collapse, which triggered the entire crisis of confidence.

France is the EU bellwether; so goes France so goes the EU! Strikes earlier this year by angry workers venting their frustration over surging unemployment and the high cost of living in the euro zone idled trains, buses, planes, schools and government offices. Opinion polls showed around 75% of French voters back the protest movement, presenting Pres. Sarkozy with his toughest challenge since coming to power (5-2007). Upwards of 2.5 million people took part in the strike (1-29-09), emboldened labor leaders held more than 200 rallies and demonstrations across the country that drew even more supporters the following week.

The EU is watching France with great trepidation. The news media in the US has missed this phenomenon all together, but if the French protests are a leading indicator of a coming global trend, it will be only a matter of time until leaders start seeing a change in the headlines around the world. If headlines are about political and social chaos, consumer confidence that is so vital to a bottoming out (to say nothing of a recovery) will go farther south; then all bets are off.

During past disasters (The Great Depression, WWI and II, etc.), the Atlantic Ocean served as a kind of barrier, insulating one side from the other side's problem. Globalization and the dominance of the dollar have changed all of that. The US' John Wayne "lone man" may become the "forgotten man" as these huge crises -- global warming, food, water security, war, etc. - make one nation's security, the odd man out. Today, American imperialism is as futile as the Soviet-bloc adventure before Afghanistan. Dollar security has become a slippery slope that threatens to grease humanity's decent into a fate similar to that of our Neanderthal predecessor. (Sources: www.alternet.org, http://seekingalpha.com and www.spectrezine.org/europe)

Hood Notes

A Quiet X-Mas

By Dot

I slept late; the traditional sounds and smells of X-Mas failed to awake me this morning. I fully admit that I missed it. There were no screams of glee and laughter as children tore into presents.

Beyond the quiet of our house, there were no children outside riding bikes or roller blades; no loud sounds accompanying their escapades. It was quite eerie. Even the neighbors failed to make their usual rude appearance.

After tea, John and me went to our daughter's house to spend some time with her and the grandchildren; not total Scrooges, we carried them a few modest gifts. The house was a mess with wrapping paper, boxes, and bows strewn about, and in this mess sat my granddaughters playing make-believe with a pink and white dollhouse.

Even here, it was muted, not the exuberance one expects to experience. Maybe, it was my imagination; the quiet was within me. Have I finally found peace and learned to accept the contradictions of X-Mas? However, on the return trip home, there were still no children out. I noticed outside decorations adorned few houses, unlike previous years when nearly every home sported some Christmas ornaments, lights, bows or a tree crowding a front window.

After a late lunch, we went for a walk through our neighborhood. We saw few cars on the streets and no children playing, even though it was neither cold nor wet. Sure it was overcast and not a cheerful looking day weather-wise, but in previous years, this kind of weather did not keep happy kids inside.

Looking on the bright side, I thought maybe they were playing with a Wii, X-Box, computers or Nintendo, things that keep children inside. Deep down, I suspected otherwise. I surmise this quiet 2009 X-Mas is all about the nation's economic morass.

News You Use

Coalition on Human Needs

The Coalition on Human Needs (CHN) is an alliance of national organizations working to promote public policies which address the needs of low-income and other vulnerable populations. Its members include civil rights, religious, labor and professional organizations and those concerned with the well being of children, women, the elderly and disabled. CHN recently published a working paper entitled "If It's Jobless It's Not a Recovery."

Based on the November unemployment statistics, we know the dimensions of the nation's jobs problem are stunning. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, those unemployed include 49.4% of African American 16-19 year-olds and 16.9% of African Americans over 20. Overall, 27 million people in the U.S. are out of work or working fewer hours than they want and need. That's more than one in six workers.

A new analysis by the Center for Economic and Policy Research estimates that U.S. workers will lose more than $1 trillion in wages and salaries between 2008 and 2012, if current conditions proceed unchecked. For more see www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/reports/wage-deficit.

The nation can choose to allow this happen, or it can take action to increase employment. It can build today's economy and tomorrow's by creating jobs to meet community needs, and by efforts to allow those most left out by the current strangled job market to get back in.

The Coalition on Human Needs, in responding to the urgency of growing numbers of families without work and unable to meet their basic needs, has come together around a set of job creation principles that have been posted on their website at http://chn.org/pdf/2009/CHNjobsagenda111209.pdf. CHN has also compiled a menu of concrete policy recommendations drawn from its member organizations. In short, the Coalition believes the evidence is clear that a sustainable recovery can only be achieved by creating jobs that build our economy by rebuilding communities, improving infrastructure, including schools, Head Start or child care centers, transportation, or other facilities, increasing energy efficiency, meeting our needs for education, health care, and care for children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.

Congress and the President acted to address the economic crisis last February. Those actions were deemed necessary and worthy. But more is needed to pull the nation out of this hole. Failure to act now will mean prolonged joblessness that will drag the economy down this year and for years to come. It will steal possibility from millions of children, harming them now and in lasting ways. An alarming case in point: of the record-breaking 49 million people struggling against hunger in new USDA findings, 17 million are children - an increase of 4 million children in just one year. Children in households that cannot always afford enough nutritious food tend to suffer ill health and fall behind in school, with potentially lifelong harm to their future earnings. These and other adverse consequences for unemployed adults and children will put a break on current and future economic development.

Our New Year's wish is for jobs, and for the support people need while the jobs are too few. We realize it is the holidays and wish you all the best! We also hope you will take the time to send an email to your U.S. Rep. and Senators, urging them to create jobs that help low-income people and strengthen the economy. Simply log on to http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/125/t/3748/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=28119. For more information, see CHN's job creation page: http://www.chn.org/issues/labor/jobcreation.html.

Disgruntled feels: Shocked! Public school children are indoctrinated to view the world through the lens of the majority or dominant ethnic group. As a child, I was so disappointed when the jolly old gent did not deliver Christmas presents to our house that I refused to pass on the myth to my children. Public school shot that notion to smithereens. Regardless how parents feel to the contrary, public school children will be inundated with the commercial Christmas. Today, school children are even more confused, because Santa Claus is thrown in with lighting the Menorah and reciting the principles of Kwanzaa. We recently attended my granddaughter's Christmas program. The school is roughly 99.9% black. Most of the parents that profess a religious belief claim to be Baptist. Yet, the program was more about Hanukkah than the birth of Christ. To say we were shocked would be an understatement!

Disgruntled says: I have no idea what is contained in either the Senate or House versions of the healthcare reform bill. But, I am leery. Healthcare and insurance companies' stock prices rose on news that the Senate had passed a bill. That is scary! I am reminded of no-fault automobile insurance, like the kind we have in Georgia, where every car on the road must be insured or the driver/owner can be arrested and possibly jailed for failure to have coverage. The insurance companies have law enforcement on their side working for them at taxpayers' expense, while they laugh all the way to the bank with mega-profits. Regarding healthcare reform, my greatest fear is that poor people who cannot afford it will be forced to choose between putting food on the table and buying health insurance.

Disgruntled wants to know: Earlier this month, the US national debt exceeded its $12.104 trillion limit. Congress must move quickly to raise the debt ceiling given a projected federal budget deficit for the current fiscal year of roughly $1.5 trillion; that astronomical amount probably does not include healthcare reform or Afghanistan troop escalation. To say the US is living well beyond its means would be an understatement. If the government acted as an average American household, bankruptcy and/or default would be realistic scenarios. Like households drowning in debt, all the US is managing to do is make interest payments, thanks to countries such as Japan and China that are willing to hold US-dollar denominated securities. What happens if they become disenchanted with this arrangement and decide not to finance our way of living?

DISHing It Up Hot!

Editor's Notes

By Dot

This issue represents the culmination of our twelfth (12) year of publication. Through good and bad times, sickness and health, we have strived to inject a dose of reality by telling you the truth. Rarely has it been pretty; generally it has been ugly, but it has been the truth as we understood it.

A psychologist's take on telling people the truth recently found its way to my in-box. Succinctly, according to his analysis, telling people the ugly truth may well be counterproductive, because people will embrace, rather than reject, their victimization. Abused humans hide behind a blind, like a hunter cowering from what is ostensibly his prey, rather than face the beast and slay it.

I reject this analysis! I believe that people, armed with the truth, can overcome oppression and bring an end to victimization. Sure, there are people who, when faced with the ugly truth, throw their hands up in surrender. Many are former DISH readers, who, rather than engage in dialogue, merely sent a text demanding "Take me off this list!" Sometimes in bold letters, they just wrote "UNSUBSCRIBE!" I believe these cowards are the exceptions rather than the rule; they are in the minority.

As we enter our 13^th year, The DISH staff makes a single promise and that is to tell you the truth. And, when we get it wrong, we will tell you that too!

In return, we ask that you continue to share your insights, news and views as so many of you have done over the years. We owe much of our success to your contributions. We would also appreciate it if ever so often you visit our website at www.thedish.org. Thank you!

It has been a wonderful twelve years! We look forward to the year ahead. And, from our family to yours, happy New Year!

Mailbox, E-Mails, Faxes and Telephone Calls

Email www.vdare.com ...Americans Are Hell-Bent on Tyranny...By Paul Craig Roberts...Obama's dwindling band of true believers has taken heart that their man has finally delivered on one of his many promises--the closing of the Guantanamo prison. But the prison is not being closed. It is being moved to Illinois, if the Republicans permit. In truth, Obama has handed his supporters another defeat. Closing Guantanamo meant ceasing to hold people in violation of our legal principles of habeas corpus and due process and ceasing to torture them in violation of US and international laws. All Obama would be doing would be moving 100 people, against whom the US government is unable to bring a case, from the prison in Guantanamo to a prison in Thomson, Illinois. Are the residents of Thomson despondent that the US government has chosen their town as the site on which to continue its blatant violation of US legal principles? No, the residents are happy. It means jobs. The hapless prisoners had a better chance of obtaining release from Guantanamo. Now the prisoners are up against two US senators, a US representative, a mayor, and a state governor who have a vested interest in the prisoners' permanent detention in order to protect the new prison jobs in the hamlet devastated by unemployment. Neither the public nor the media have ever shown any interest in how the detainees came to be incarcerated. Most of the detainees were unprotected people who were captured by Afghan war lords and sold to the Americans as "terrorists" in order to collect a proffered bounty. It was enough for the public and the media that the Defense Secretary at the time, Donald Rumsfeld, declared the Guantanamo detainees to be the "780 most dangerous people on earth." The vast majority have been released after years of abuse. The 100 who are slated to be removed to Illinois have apparently been so badly abused that the US government is afraid to release them because of the testimony the prisoners could give to human rights organizations and foreign media about their mistreatment.

Email www.prnewswire.com...Despite Forecasts, Most Americans Believe US Economy Is Still in Recession and Fear the Worst Is Yet to Come -- Despite some signs and predictions that the U.S. economy is rebounding, most Americans' opinion of the economy has remained steady since the summer, with 53% saying they believe the economy is in trouble, and 45% feeling the economy has not yet bottomed out and will still get worse (vs. 49% in July). The survey conducted by StrategyOne also indicates that the recession is taking an emotional toll, with two-thirds of Americans saying the recession has significantly changed their general outlook on life. When asked to describe the current state of the US economy, 41% say it is in a deep recession and another 12% believe the economy is in a 1930's-style economic depression. Just over one-third (34%) say the economy is in a mild recession, while only 5% of Americans say the economy is doing fine. "Despite some indications suggesting the economy is strengthening, Americans are as concerned as they were in July that the current slowdown will become a protracted problem that doesn't have an immediate end in sight," said Bradley Honan, Senior Vice President of StrategyOne. "With consumer spending accounting for two thirds of the economic activity in the country, these feelings could turn into a self-fulfilling prophecy." Less than one-third (30%) today say the economy has bottomed out and is getting better, with 28% feeling that way in July 2009. Lastly, while 18% today believe the economy is at the bottom and is getting neither better nor worse, 21% felt that way in July. To the extent some believe the economy is recovering, it is a feeling that is particularly pronounced among high income earners and households. Only 25% of those living in households making less than $50,000 annually believe the economy has hit bottom and is getting better. By contrast, 36% of those in households making $100,000 or more report the economy has hit bottom and is now getting better.