In about five hours, at 10AM Eastern time, the U.S. Census Bureau will hold an online news conference where they'll announce the findings from their annual "Current Population Survey for 2008," as it relates to income, poverty and health insurance coverage. Everything you need to know about the event and the release of census data relating to it may be found:
RIGHT HERE.
Shortly after the event commences, sometime between 10AM and 11AM, you'll be able to go right to the data at the top of the Census Bureau's website, which is linked: HERE. Additional information and guidance related to accessing follow-up (localized) data may be found at the links, above, as well.
Stating the obvious, since the event concerns data gathered for 2008, statistical information relating to the last 8-1/2 months will not be available until the publication of next year's report. Nonetheless, the newly-released info should be loaded with interesting statistics.
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Over the past couple of weeks, prior to the availability of this morning's latest numbers (covering calendar year 2008), I think it's important to note that there's been a vast array of information coming to the forefront--some of it being provided to us without the spin, but much of it being parsed out with a happy news twist to it which is quickly negated if one takes the trouble to look more closely at the data when that deeper dive is being facilitated--which is downright gloomy. This isn't "doom and gloom," by the way; it is reality.
I've picked some of (what I think are) the most informative and well-documented (in most cases, anyhow) pieces that dovetail with this morning's Census Bureau data, if you'd like to learn more about the real deal. (See below.)
IMHO, this data does represent our reality. It is pretty damn ugly, too. But, I truly feel it is--at least most of it--fixable.
The question is--with so many "converging emergencies" facing us now in our nation's economy, alone, never mind solutions for our nation's healthcare crisis(x), global warming, our dire search for efficient energy solutions for our society to replace our crazed dependence upon fossil fuels, war, and a myriad of other pressing problems--will we have the fortitude as a nation to effectively address these matters?
(x)=please note that while this morning's Census Bureau Report extensively addresses health insurance coverage of the population, I've stayed away from focusing upon that in this diary, since almost every other diary on this blog is covering the topic. (But, please consider this a head's-up for that!)
So, here's more (primarily from just the past few days) on our other, immediate, socio-economic issues...
UNEMPLOYMENT/EMPLOYMENT
"How Bad Will Unemployment Get And What Can We Do About It?" (Naked Capitalism, 9/9/09)(x)(x)(x)
"Gallup Economic Monthly: Job Creation Not Happening" (Gallup Organization, 9/3/09)
"Weakest employment market since the Great Depression" (Credit Writedowns/Naked Capitalism, 9/3/09)
"Unemployment: The Harder You Look, The Uglier It Appears" (Economic Policy Institute via Naked Capitalism, 9/2/09)
POVERTY
"Surge in Homeless Pupils Strains Schools" (New York Times, 9/6/09)
"Food Stamps Usage Surges Among The Employed" (Financial Times, 9/6/09)
"Hidden pockets of elderly said to be in poverty" (Associated Press, 9/4/09)
"People in poverty increased at least 12.7% in 2008" (Economic Populist, 8/19/09)
"Number Of Poor In U.S. Likely Increased By 1.5M Last Year: Report" (Associated Press via Huffington Post, 8/19/09)
HOUSING
"Treasury: Millions More Foreclosures Coming" (Calculated Risk, 9/9/09)
"Housing's `Poverty Effect' Fouls Up U.S. Rebound" (Bloomberg, 9/2/09)
"Real Cities in Uneasy Truce With Tent Cities" (Wall Street Journal via Naked Capitalism, 8/11/09)
CONSUMER SPENDING
"Record Plunge in U.S. Consumer Credit Signals Weakened Spending" (Bloomberg, 9/9/09)
STATE/MUNICIPAL LEVEL
"States in Distress" (New York Times, 8/4/09)
"States Forced to Cut Services to the Bone: The Opportunity Cost of the Bank Bailout" (Huffington Post/Arianna Huffington, 7/23/09)
MACRO VIEW
"Lunch With Dave" (David Rosenberg, formerly w/Bank of America, via Zero Hedge, 9/5/09) (x)(x)(x)
"The Two-Track Economy" (Baseline Scenario, 8/20/09)
"Social Safety Nets Mask Deflationary Depression" (Global Economic Analysis Blog, 8/12/09)
(x)(x)(x) = Diarist's top two "must-reads," from the past few days, related to this morning's Census Bureau Report.
I'm looking forward to seeing lots of diaries throughout the day on this Census Bureau Report story! It's as real as it gets, IMHO.