Showing posts with label Social Unrest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Social Unrest. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Another JOLT of Bad News on Jobs
Ellen Freilich
Reuters Jul 12, 2011
As if last week’s dismal employment report was not enough, the clumsily-dubbed Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, offers similarly discouraging signals. No wonder finding a job feels tough: there are nearly five workers (4.7) out there for every open position.
Credit Suisse Economist Henry Mo puts it rather starkly:
Labor demand is simply not strong enough to support a complete job recovery. Even if all job vacancies were filled overnight, almost 11 million workers would still be left unemployed.
Total job openings in May were about 40 percent above the trough of 2.1 million openings in July 2009. But the number is still more than one-third below pre-recession levels (4.56 million in 2007).
Weak labor demand is not limited to just a few sectors, like construction. It’s broad-based. That suggests a cyclical shortfall in aggregate demand, rather than a structural issue, Mo said.
Recent research from Goldman Sachs corroborates the notion that the job market rut is due to a weak economy rather than a mismatch in skills and available jobs. Goldman economists, like Federal Reserve officials, are still holding out for a second-half recovery. But they admit the prospects are looking dimmer, particularly with Europe’s debt crisis spreading and Washington still haggling over the debt ceiling.
The risks remain clearly on the downside. The biggest ones over the next month lie on the fiscal side, both in the US and in Europe
Reuters Jul 12, 2011
As if last week’s dismal employment report was not enough, the clumsily-dubbed Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, offers similarly discouraging signals. No wonder finding a job feels tough: there are nearly five workers (4.7) out there for every open position.
Credit Suisse Economist Henry Mo puts it rather starkly:
Labor demand is simply not strong enough to support a complete job recovery. Even if all job vacancies were filled overnight, almost 11 million workers would still be left unemployed.
Total job openings in May were about 40 percent above the trough of 2.1 million openings in July 2009. But the number is still more than one-third below pre-recession levels (4.56 million in 2007).
Weak labor demand is not limited to just a few sectors, like construction. It’s broad-based. That suggests a cyclical shortfall in aggregate demand, rather than a structural issue, Mo said.
Recent research from Goldman Sachs corroborates the notion that the job market rut is due to a weak economy rather than a mismatch in skills and available jobs. Goldman economists, like Federal Reserve officials, are still holding out for a second-half recovery. But they admit the prospects are looking dimmer, particularly with Europe’s debt crisis spreading and Washington still haggling over the debt ceiling.
The risks remain clearly on the downside. The biggest ones over the next month lie on the fiscal side, both in the US and in Europe
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Nightmare vision for Europe as EU chief warns 'democracy could disappear' in Greece, Spain and Portugal
By Jason Groves
The Daily Mail Online
15th June 2010
+ EU begin emergency billion-pound bailout of Spain
+ Countries in debt may fall to dictators, EC chief warns
+ 'Apocalyptic' vision as some states run out of money.
Democracy could ‘collapse’ in Greece, Spain and Portugal unless urgent action is taken to tackle the debt crisis, the head of the European Commission has warned. In an extraordinary briefing to trade union chiefs last week, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso set out an ‘apocalyptic’ vision in which crisis-hit countries in southern Europe could fall victim to military coups or popular uprisings as interest rates soar and public services collapse because their governments run out of money. The stark warning came as it emerged that EU chiefs have begun work on an emergency bailout package for Spain which is likely to run into hundreds of billions of pounds.
Crisis point: Demonstrators protest cuts announced by the Government in Malaga last week in an echo of the Greek crisis. A £650 billion bailout for Greece has already been agreed. John Monks, former head of the TUC, said he had been ‘shocked’ by the severity of the warning from Mr Barroso, who is a former prime minister of Portugal. Mr Monks, now head of the European TUC, said: ‘I had a discussion with Barroso last Friday about what can be done for Greece, Spain, Portugal and the rest and his message was blunt: “Look, if they do not carry out these austerity packages, these countries could virtually disappear in the way that we know them as democracies. They've got no choice, this is it.” ‘He's very, very worried. He shocked us with an apocalyptic vision of democracies in Europe collapsing because of the state of indebtedness.’ Greece, Spain and Portugal, which only became democracies in the 1970s, are all facing dire problems with their public finances. All three countries have a history of military coups. Greece has been rocked by a series of national strikes and riots this year following the announcement of swingeing cuts to public spending designed to curb Britain’s deficit. Spain and Portugal have also announced austerity measures in recent weeks amid growing signs that the international markets are increasingly worried they could default on their debts.
Dictatorships: An end to democracy in Europe could see a return of figures ruling dictatorships. General Franco was dictator of Spain until 1975; Georgios Papadopoulos led a military junta until 1973; and Antonio de Oliveira Salazar ruled as Portugese president until 1968
Other EU countries seeing public protests over austerity plans include Hungary, Italy and Romania, where public sector pay is to be slashed by 25 per cent. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who visited Madrid last week, said the situation in Spain should serve as a warning to Britain of the perils of failing to tackle the deficit quickly. He said the collapse of confidence in Spain had seen interest rates soar, adding: ‘As the nation with the highest deficit in Europe in 2010, we simply cannot afford to let that happen to us too.’ Mr Barroso’s warning lays bare the concern at the highest level in Brussels that the economic crisis could lead to the collapse of not only the beleaguered euro, but the EU itself, along with a string of fragile democracies.
DICTATORSHIPS
GREECE: Georgios Papadopoulos was dictator from 1967 to 1974.The Colonel led the military coup d'etat in 1967 against King Constantine II amid political instability. He was leader of the junta which ruled until 1974. Papadopoulos was overthrown by Brigadier Dimitrios Ioannidis in 1973. Democracy was restored in 1975.
The Daily Mail Online
15th June 2010
+ EU begin emergency billion-pound bailout of Spain
+ Countries in debt may fall to dictators, EC chief warns
+ 'Apocalyptic' vision as some states run out of money.
Democracy could ‘collapse’ in Greece, Spain and Portugal unless urgent action is taken to tackle the debt crisis, the head of the European Commission has warned. In an extraordinary briefing to trade union chiefs last week, Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso set out an ‘apocalyptic’ vision in which crisis-hit countries in southern Europe could fall victim to military coups or popular uprisings as interest rates soar and public services collapse because their governments run out of money. The stark warning came as it emerged that EU chiefs have begun work on an emergency bailout package for Spain which is likely to run into hundreds of billions of pounds.
Crisis point: Demonstrators protest cuts announced by the Government in Malaga last week in an echo of the Greek crisis. A £650 billion bailout for Greece has already been agreed. John Monks, former head of the TUC, said he had been ‘shocked’ by the severity of the warning from Mr Barroso, who is a former prime minister of Portugal. Mr Monks, now head of the European TUC, said: ‘I had a discussion with Barroso last Friday about what can be done for Greece, Spain, Portugal and the rest and his message was blunt: “Look, if they do not carry out these austerity packages, these countries could virtually disappear in the way that we know them as democracies. They've got no choice, this is it.” ‘He's very, very worried. He shocked us with an apocalyptic vision of democracies in Europe collapsing because of the state of indebtedness.’ Greece, Spain and Portugal, which only became democracies in the 1970s, are all facing dire problems with their public finances. All three countries have a history of military coups. Greece has been rocked by a series of national strikes and riots this year following the announcement of swingeing cuts to public spending designed to curb Britain’s deficit. Spain and Portugal have also announced austerity measures in recent weeks amid growing signs that the international markets are increasingly worried they could default on their debts.
Dictatorships: An end to democracy in Europe could see a return of figures ruling dictatorships. General Franco was dictator of Spain until 1975; Georgios Papadopoulos led a military junta until 1973; and Antonio de Oliveira Salazar ruled as Portugese president until 1968
Other EU countries seeing public protests over austerity plans include Hungary, Italy and Romania, where public sector pay is to be slashed by 25 per cent. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who visited Madrid last week, said the situation in Spain should serve as a warning to Britain of the perils of failing to tackle the deficit quickly. He said the collapse of confidence in Spain had seen interest rates soar, adding: ‘As the nation with the highest deficit in Europe in 2010, we simply cannot afford to let that happen to us too.’ Mr Barroso’s warning lays bare the concern at the highest level in Brussels that the economic crisis could lead to the collapse of not only the beleaguered euro, but the EU itself, along with a string of fragile democracies.
DICTATORSHIPS
GREECE: Georgios Papadopoulos was dictator from 1967 to 1974.The Colonel led the military coup d'etat in 1967 against King Constantine II amid political instability. He was leader of the junta which ruled until 1974. Papadopoulos was overthrown by Brigadier Dimitrios Ioannidis in 1973. Democracy was restored in 1975. 
SPAIN: General Francisco Franco led Spain from 1936 until his death in 1975. At the end of the Spanish Civil War he dissolved the Spanish Parliament and established a right-wing authoritarian regime that lasted until 1978. After his death Spain gradually began its transition to democracy.
PORTUGAL: Antonio de Oliveira Salazar's regime and its secret police ruled the country from 1932 to 1968. He founded and led the Estado Novo, the authoriatan, right-wing government that controlled Portugal from 1932 to 1974. After Salazar's death in 1970, his regime persisted until it eventually fell after the Carnation Revolution. But it risks infuriating governments in southern Europe which are already struggling to contain public anger as they drive through tax rises and spending cuts in a bid to avoid disaster. Mr Monks yesterday warned that the new austerity measures themselves could take the continent ‘back to the 1930s’. In an interview with the Brussels-based magazine EU Observer he said: ‘This is extremely dangerous. 'This is 1931, we're heading back to the 1930s, with the Great Depression and we ended up with militarist dictatorship. ‘I'm not saying we're there yet, but it's potentially very serious, not just economically, but politically as well.’ Mr Monks said union barons across Europe were planning a co-ordinated ‘day of action’ against the cuts on 29 September, involving national strikes and protests.David Cameron will travel to Brussels on Thursday for his first summit of EU leaders since the election. Leaders are expected to thrash out a rescue package for Spain’s teetering economy. Spain is expected to ask for an initial guarantee of at least £100 billion, although this figure could rise sharply if the crisis deepens. News of the behind-the-scenes scramble in Brussels spells bad news for the British economy as many of our major banks have loaned Spain vast sums of money in recent years. Germany’s authoritative Frankfurter Allgemeine Newspaper reported that Spain is poised to ask for multi-billion pound credits. Mr Barroso and Jean-Claude Trichet of the European Central Bank are united on the need for a rescue plan. The looming bankruptcy of Spain, one of the foremost economies in Europe, poses far more of a threat to European unity and the euro project than Greece. Greece contributes 2.5 percent of GDP to Europe, Spain nearly 12 percent. Yesterday’s report quoted German government sources saying: ‘We will lead discussions this week in Brussels concerning the crisis. It has intensified to the point that the states do not want to wait until the EU summit on Thursday in Brussels.”’ At the end of last month the credit rating agency Fitch downgraded Spain, triggering sharp falls on stock markets. On Friday the administration in Madrid continued to insist no rescue package was necessary. But Greece said the same thing before it came close to disaster. Yesterday the European Commission and the statistics authority Eurostat met to consider Spain‘s plight as many EU countries consider the austerity package proposed by the Madrid administration insufficient to deal with the country‘s problems.
Monday, January 11, 2010
America slides deeper into depression as Wall Street revels
The Telegraph, 10 January 2010
Is history repeating itself? President Obama has been accused by some economists of making the same mistakes policymakers in the US made in the Great Depression, which followed the Wall Street crash of 1929.
The labour force contracted by 661,000. This did not show up in the headline jobless rate because so many Americans dropped out of the system. The broad U6 category of unemployment rose to 17.3pc. That is the one that matters. Wall Street rallied. Bulls hope that weak jobs data will postpone monetary tightening: a silver lining in every catastrophe, or perhaps a further exhibit of market infantilism. The home foreclosure guillotine usually drops a year or so after people lose their job, and exhaust their savings. The local sheriff will escort them out of the door, often with some sympathy –– just like the police in 1932, mostly Irish Catholics who tithed 1pc of their pay for soup kitchens. Realtytrac says defaults and repossessions have been running at over 300,000 a month since February. One million American families lost their homes in the fourth quarter. Moody's Economy.com expects another 2.4m homes to go this year. Taken together, this looks awfully like Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. Judges are finding ways to block evictions. One magistrate in Minnesota halted a case calling the creditor "harsh, repugnant, shocking and repulsive". We are not far from a de facto moratorium in some areas. This is how it ended between 1932 and 1934, when half the US states declared moratoria or "Farm Holidays". Such flexibility innoculated America's democracy against the appeal of Red Unions and Coughlin Fascists. The home siezures are occurring despite frantic efforts by the Obama administration to delay the process.
How anybody can see imminent inflation in the dying embers of core PCE, just 0.1pc in November, is beyond me. Mr Rosenberg is asked by clients why Wall Street does not seem to agree with his grim analysis. His answer is that this is the same Mr Market that bought stocks in October 1987 when they were 25pc overvalued on Shiller "10-year normalized earnings basis" – exactly as they are today – and bought them at even more overvalued prices in 2007, long after the property crash had begun, Bear Stearns funds had imploded, and credit had its August heart attack. The stock market has become a lagging indicator. Tear up the textbooks.
Is history repeating itself? President Obama has been accused by some economists of making the same mistakes policymakers in the US made in the Great Depression, which followed the Wall Street crash of 1929.
The labour force contracted by 661,000. This did not show up in the headline jobless rate because so many Americans dropped out of the system. The broad U6 category of unemployment rose to 17.3pc. That is the one that matters. Wall Street rallied. Bulls hope that weak jobs data will postpone monetary tightening: a silver lining in every catastrophe, or perhaps a further exhibit of market infantilism. The home foreclosure guillotine usually drops a year or so after people lose their job, and exhaust their savings. The local sheriff will escort them out of the door, often with some sympathy –– just like the police in 1932, mostly Irish Catholics who tithed 1pc of their pay for soup kitchens. Realtytrac says defaults and repossessions have been running at over 300,000 a month since February. One million American families lost their homes in the fourth quarter. Moody's Economy.com expects another 2.4m homes to go this year. Taken together, this looks awfully like Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath. Judges are finding ways to block evictions. One magistrate in Minnesota halted a case calling the creditor "harsh, repugnant, shocking and repulsive". We are not far from a de facto moratorium in some areas. This is how it ended between 1932 and 1934, when half the US states declared moratoria or "Farm Holidays". Such flexibility innoculated America's democracy against the appeal of Red Unions and Coughlin Fascists. The home siezures are occurring despite frantic efforts by the Obama administration to delay the process.
This policy is entirely justified given the scale of the social crisis. But it also masks the continued rot in the housing market, allows lenders to hide losses, and stores up an ever larger overhang of unsold properties. It takes heroic naivety to think the US housing market has turned the corner (apologies to Goldman Sachs, as always). The fuse has yet to detonate on the next mortgage bomb, $134bn (£83bn) of "option ARM" contracts due to reset violently upwards this year and next. US house prices have eked out five months of gains on the Case-Shiller index, but momentum stalled in October in half the cities even before the latest surge of 40 basis points in mortgage rates. Karl Case (of the index) says prices may sink another 15pc. "If the 2008 and 2009 loans go bad, then we're back where we were before – in a nightmare." David Rosenberg from Gluskin Sheff said it is remarkable how little traction has been achieved by zero rates and the greatest fiscal blitz of all time. The US economy grew at a 2.2pc rate in the third quarter (entirely due to Obama stimulus). This compares to an average of 7.3pc in the first quarter of every recovery since the Second World War.
Fed hawks are playing with fire by talking up about exit strategies, not for the first time. This is what they did in June 2008. We know what happened three months later. For the record, manufacturing capacity use at 67.2pc, and "auto-buying intentions" are the lowest ever.
The Fed's own Monetary Multiplier crashed to an all-time low of 0.809 in mid-December. Commercial paper has shrunk by $280bn ($175bn) in since October. Bank credit has been racing down a hair-raising black run since June. It has dropped from $10.844 trillion to $9.013 trillion since November 25. The MZM money supply is contracting at a 3pc annual rate. Broad M3 money is contracting at over 5pc. Professor Tim Congdon from International Monetary Research said the Fed is baking deflation into the pie later this year, and perhaps a double-dip recession. Europe is even worse. This has not stopped an army of commentators is trying to bounce the Fed into early rate rises. They accuse Ben Bernanke of repeating the error of 2004 when the Fed waited too long. Sometimes you just want to scream. In 2004 there was no housing collapse, unemployment was 5.5pc, banks were in rude good health, and the Fed Multiplier was 1.73.
The Fed's own Monetary Multiplier crashed to an all-time low of 0.809 in mid-December. Commercial paper has shrunk by $280bn ($175bn) in since October. Bank credit has been racing down a hair-raising black run since June. It has dropped from $10.844 trillion to $9.013 trillion since November 25. The MZM money supply is contracting at a 3pc annual rate. Broad M3 money is contracting at over 5pc. Professor Tim Congdon from International Monetary Research said the Fed is baking deflation into the pie later this year, and perhaps a double-dip recession. Europe is even worse. This has not stopped an army of commentators is trying to bounce the Fed into early rate rises. They accuse Ben Bernanke of repeating the error of 2004 when the Fed waited too long. Sometimes you just want to scream. In 2004 there was no housing collapse, unemployment was 5.5pc, banks were in rude good health, and the Fed Multiplier was 1.73.
How anybody can see imminent inflation in the dying embers of core PCE, just 0.1pc in November, is beyond me. Mr Rosenberg is asked by clients why Wall Street does not seem to agree with his grim analysis. His answer is that this is the same Mr Market that bought stocks in October 1987 when they were 25pc overvalued on Shiller "10-year normalized earnings basis" – exactly as they are today – and bought them at even more overvalued prices in 2007, long after the property crash had begun, Bear Stearns funds had imploded, and credit had its August heart attack. The stock market has become a lagging indicator. Tear up the textbooks.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Could the US become a "Banana Republic"?
WASHINGTON (CNN) – A leading fiscal mind on Capitol Hill and a one-time Obama Cabinet pick sounded the alarm Sunday over the projected long-term financial challenges the country faces. “This deficit is driven by us,” New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg candidly said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union when asked about the federal government’s projected $1.42 trillion operating deficit for the 2009 fiscal year. “You talk about systemic risk. The systemic risk today is the Congress of the United States,“ the Ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee told CNN Chief National Correspondent John King, “that we’re creating these massive debts which we’re passing on to our children. We’re going to undermine fundamentally the quality of life for our children by doing this.” “Now you can’t blame that on [former President] George [W.] Bush,” Greg said, noting that using the Obama administration’s projections the budget deficit for the next ten years is $1 trillion per year. And Gregg said that during the same ten-year period, public debt as a percentage of gross domestic product would increase from 40 percent - which Gregg called “tolerable but still too high” - up to 80 percent. The figures, Gregg told King, “mean we’re basically on the path to a banana-republic-type of financial situation in this country. And you just can’t do that. You can’t keep running these [federal] programs out [into the future] and not paying for them. And you can’t keep throwing debt on top of debt.” “Standards of living will drop if we keep this up,” Gregg also said.After repeated promises from the White House that the final health care reform bill will be deficit neutral, Gregg said a Democratic plan to avoid otherwise automatic Medicare cuts without having a funding source for the projected expense of $250 billion over the next decade was “gamesmanship.” Asked about criticism leveled Sunday by former Republican-turned-Democrat Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania that Republicans were being obstructionist in the health care reform debate, Gregg replied, “Well, I suppose he has to call us something now that he’s left the party.” Responding to the Democratic charge that the GOP is “the party of ‘no,’” Gregg pointed to Republican health care reform proposals including his own and another co-sponsored by Republican Sens. Tom Coburn and Sen. Richard Burr, as well as a bipartisan proposal put forward by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Robert Bennett (R-UT).” Gregg said the versions of health care reform voted out of the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee would amount to “a huge expansion of government.”
“You’re talking about taking the government and increasing it by $1-$2 trillion over the next ten years,” Gregg said. He added that he thought growing government at that rate would have a “very debilitating effect” on the overall economy and the ability of Americans to get health care in the future. At one point earlier this year, Gregg, who is not seeking re-election to his Senate seat in 2010, was President Obama’s choice to head the Commerce Department. But the fiscal hawk removed himself from consideration because of differences with the new administration on several policy issues.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Social Security strained by early retirements
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER
September 27, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) - Big job losses and a spike in early retirement claims from laid-off seniors will force Social Security to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes the next two years, the first time that's happened since the 1980s.
The deficits - $10 billion in 2010 and $9 billion in 2011 - won't affect payments to retirees because Social Security has accumulated surpluses from previous years totaling $2.5 trillion. But they will add to the overall federal deficit. Applications for retirement benefits are 23 percent higher than last year, while disability claims have risen by about 20 percent. Social Security officials had expected applications to increase from the growing number of baby boomers reaching retirement, but they didn't expect the increase to be so large.
What happened? The recession hit and many older workers suddenly found themselves laid off with no place to turn but Social Security. "A lot of people who in better times would have continued working are opting to retire," said Alan J. Auerbach, an economics and law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. "If they were younger, we would call them unemployed."
Job losses are forcing more retirements even though an increasing number of older people want to keep working. Many can't afford to retire, especially after the financial collapse demolished their nest eggs. Some have no choice. Marylyn Kish turns 62 in December, making her eligible for early benefits. She wants to put off applying for Social Security until she is at least 67 because the longer you wait, the larger your monthly check. But she first needs to find a job. Kish lives in tiny Concord Township in Lake County, Ohio, northeast of Cleveland. The region, like many others, has been hit hard by the recession. She was laid off about a year ago from her job as an office manager at an employment agency and now spends hours each morning scouring job sites on the Internet. Neither she nor her husband, Raymond, has health insurance. "I want to work," she said. "I have a brain and I want to use it."
Kish is far from alone. The share of U.S. residents in their 60s either working or looking for work has climbed steadily since the mid-1990s, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This year, more than 55 percent of people age 60 to 64 are still in the labor force, compared with about 46 percent a decade ago. Kish said her husband already gets early benefits. She will have to apply, too, if she doesn't soon find a job. "We won't starve," she said. "But I want more than that. I want to be able to do more than just pay my bills." Nearly 2.2 million people applied for Social Security retirement benefits from start of the budget year in October through July, compared with just under 1.8 million in the same period last year. The increase in early retirements is hurting Social Security's short-term finances, already strained from the loss of 6.9 million U.S. jobs. Social Security is funded through payroll taxes, which are down because of so many lost jobs.
The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that Social Security will pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes next year and in 2011, a first since the early 1980s, when Congress last overhauled Social Security.
Social Security is projected to start generating surpluses again in 2012 before permanently returning to deficits in 2016 unless Congress acts again to shore up the program. Without a new fix, the $2.5 trillion in Social Security's trust funds will be exhausted in 2037. Those funds have actually been spent over the years on other government programs. They are now represented by government bonds, or IOUs, that will have to be repaid as Social Security draws down its trust fund.
President Barack Obama has said he would like to tackle Social Security next year. "The thing to keep in mind is that it's unlikely we are going to pull out (of the recession) with a strong recovery," said Kent Smetters, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. "These deficits may last longer than a year or two." About 43 million retirees and their dependents receive Social Security benefits. An additional 9.5 million receive disability benefits. The average monthly benefit for retirees is $1,100 while the average disability benefit is about $920.
The recession is also fueling applications for disability benefits, said Stephen C. Goss, the Social Security Administration's chief actuary. In a typical year, about 2.5 million people apply for disability benefits, including Supplemental Security Income. Applications are on pace to reach 3 million in the budget year that ends this month and even more are expected next year, Goss said. A lot of people who had been working despite their disabilities are applying for benefits after losing their jobs. "When there's a bad recession and we lose 6 million jobs, people of all types are going to be part of that," Goss said.
Nancy Rhoades said she dreads applying for disability benefits because of her multiple sclerosis. Rhoades, who lives in Orange, Va., about 75 miles northwest of Richmond, said her illness is physically draining, but she takes pride in working and caring for herself. In June, however, her hours were cut in half - to just 10 a week - at a community services organization. She lost her health benefits, though she is able to buy insurance through work, for about $530 a month. "I've had to go into my retirement annuity for medical costs," she said. Her husband, Wayne, turned 62 on Sunday, and has applied for early Social Security benefits. He still works part time. Nancy Rhoades is just 56, so she won't be eligible for retirement benefits for six more years. She's pretty confident she would qualify for disability benefits, but would rather work. "You don't think of things like this happening to you," she said. "You want to be in a position to work until retirement, and even after retirement."
September 27, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) - Big job losses and a spike in early retirement claims from laid-off seniors will force Social Security to pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes the next two years, the first time that's happened since the 1980s.
The deficits - $10 billion in 2010 and $9 billion in 2011 - won't affect payments to retirees because Social Security has accumulated surpluses from previous years totaling $2.5 trillion. But they will add to the overall federal deficit. Applications for retirement benefits are 23 percent higher than last year, while disability claims have risen by about 20 percent. Social Security officials had expected applications to increase from the growing number of baby boomers reaching retirement, but they didn't expect the increase to be so large.
What happened? The recession hit and many older workers suddenly found themselves laid off with no place to turn but Social Security. "A lot of people who in better times would have continued working are opting to retire," said Alan J. Auerbach, an economics and law professor at the University of California, Berkeley. "If they were younger, we would call them unemployed."
Job losses are forcing more retirements even though an increasing number of older people want to keep working. Many can't afford to retire, especially after the financial collapse demolished their nest eggs. Some have no choice. Marylyn Kish turns 62 in December, making her eligible for early benefits. She wants to put off applying for Social Security until she is at least 67 because the longer you wait, the larger your monthly check. But she first needs to find a job. Kish lives in tiny Concord Township in Lake County, Ohio, northeast of Cleveland. The region, like many others, has been hit hard by the recession. She was laid off about a year ago from her job as an office manager at an employment agency and now spends hours each morning scouring job sites on the Internet. Neither she nor her husband, Raymond, has health insurance. "I want to work," she said. "I have a brain and I want to use it."
Kish is far from alone. The share of U.S. residents in their 60s either working or looking for work has climbed steadily since the mid-1990s, according to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. This year, more than 55 percent of people age 60 to 64 are still in the labor force, compared with about 46 percent a decade ago. Kish said her husband already gets early benefits. She will have to apply, too, if she doesn't soon find a job. "We won't starve," she said. "But I want more than that. I want to be able to do more than just pay my bills." Nearly 2.2 million people applied for Social Security retirement benefits from start of the budget year in October through July, compared with just under 1.8 million in the same period last year. The increase in early retirements is hurting Social Security's short-term finances, already strained from the loss of 6.9 million U.S. jobs. Social Security is funded through payroll taxes, which are down because of so many lost jobs.
The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that Social Security will pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes next year and in 2011, a first since the early 1980s, when Congress last overhauled Social Security.
Social Security is projected to start generating surpluses again in 2012 before permanently returning to deficits in 2016 unless Congress acts again to shore up the program. Without a new fix, the $2.5 trillion in Social Security's trust funds will be exhausted in 2037. Those funds have actually been spent over the years on other government programs. They are now represented by government bonds, or IOUs, that will have to be repaid as Social Security draws down its trust fund.
President Barack Obama has said he would like to tackle Social Security next year. "The thing to keep in mind is that it's unlikely we are going to pull out (of the recession) with a strong recovery," said Kent Smetters, an associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. "These deficits may last longer than a year or two." About 43 million retirees and their dependents receive Social Security benefits. An additional 9.5 million receive disability benefits. The average monthly benefit for retirees is $1,100 while the average disability benefit is about $920.
The recession is also fueling applications for disability benefits, said Stephen C. Goss, the Social Security Administration's chief actuary. In a typical year, about 2.5 million people apply for disability benefits, including Supplemental Security Income. Applications are on pace to reach 3 million in the budget year that ends this month and even more are expected next year, Goss said. A lot of people who had been working despite their disabilities are applying for benefits after losing their jobs. "When there's a bad recession and we lose 6 million jobs, people of all types are going to be part of that," Goss said.
Nancy Rhoades said she dreads applying for disability benefits because of her multiple sclerosis. Rhoades, who lives in Orange, Va., about 75 miles northwest of Richmond, said her illness is physically draining, but she takes pride in working and caring for herself. In June, however, her hours were cut in half - to just 10 a week - at a community services organization. She lost her health benefits, though she is able to buy insurance through work, for about $530 a month. "I've had to go into my retirement annuity for medical costs," she said. Her husband, Wayne, turned 62 on Sunday, and has applied for early Social Security benefits. He still works part time. Nancy Rhoades is just 56, so she won't be eligible for retirement benefits for six more years. She's pretty confident she would qualify for disability benefits, but would rather work. "You don't think of things like this happening to you," she said. "You want to be in a position to work until retirement, and even after retirement."
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Anti-Government Protests Draws Tens of Thousands to D.C.
By Emma Brown, James Hohmann and Joel Achenbach
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Tens of thousands of conservative protesters crowded outside the U.S. Capitol on Saturday, a massive demonstration aimed at stopping what organizers called the over-expansion of the federal government under the Obama administration. "Hell hath no fury like a taxpayer scorned," declared Andrew Moylan, head of government affairs for the National Taxpayer Union, urging protesters to call their representatives. "You're being ignored today by the media and some politicians."
The crowd -- loud, rambunctious and sprawling -- gathered at the foot of the Capitol after a march along Pennsyvania Avenue from Freedom Plaza. Invocations of God and former President Reagan by an array of speakers drew loud cheers, echoing across the Mall. On a windy, overcast afternoon, hundreds of yellow "Don't Tread on Me" flags flapped in the breeze, mingled with U.S. and Texas state flags. "We own the dome," the crowd chanted loudly, pointing at the Capitol. About 30,000 people registered online for the march, according to one of the rally's sponsors, FreedomWorks, a Washington-based group headed by former House majority leader Dick Armey (R-Tex.). FreedomWorks and other sponsors, including Tea Party Patriots and ResistNet, comprise a loose coalition of conservative groups that helped organize several health-care and anti-tax rallies during the spring and summer. The crowd surrounded the Capitol Reflecting Pool, spilling across Third Street and onto the Mall. The sound system was inadequate to the throng; speakers on stage, at the Capitol's West Front, were too distant to be intelligible to anyone near the edges of the rally. "You will not spend the money of our children and our grandchildren to feed an overstuffed government," Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) said of the Obama administration, drawing loud cheers from the throng. "Our history is decorated by those who endured the burden of defending freedom," Price said. "Now a new generation of patriots has emerged. You are those patriots." The protesters descended on Washington with a long list of grievances against a government that many complained is racing toward socialism. "Health care is not listed anywhere in the Constitution," said Brian Burnell, 45, who owns an insurance company on Maryland's Eastern Shore. "How Is That Hopey Changey Thing Workin' Out For Ya?" his placard read. "You want socialism?" said Susan Clark, a District resident marching with a bullhorn. "Go to Russa!" Participants in the demonstration spanned the spectrum of conservative anger at Obama, including opponents of his tax, spending and health-care plans and protesters who question Obama's U.S. citizenship and liken his administration to the Nazi regime. By 11 a.m., the route between Freedom Plaza and the Capitol was a sea of demonstrators chanting "USA!" and carrying signs such as, "Taxed enough already," "The audacity of dope" and, "Czars belong in Russia." Most signs were handmade: "Socialism is UnAmerican," "King George Didn't Listen Either!" "Terrorists Won't Destroy America, Congress Will!" "The American Dream R.I.P." Many protesters carried the now-familiar poster of Obama made up to look like the Joker, captioned "Socialism." One man's sign read, "Having government manage your health care is like having Michael Vick watch your dog." Another sentiment: "Cash for Clunkers! Trade in your congressman!" "We're all endangered!" shouted a passerby, Dave Rue, 67, a retired Mobil Oil employee who had traveled from New Jersey. "We're endangered because they're pushing socialism on us." Some came to protest what they see as government interference with gun ownership. Shaun Bryant, 40, a leadership trainer, was among eight people who flew in from Salt Lake City. They fashioned a sign with a drawing of an AR-15 assault rifle and the words "We came unarmed from Montana and Utah . . . this time!" At the Federal Triangle Metro stop, demonstrators emerged from packed trains and broke into a rendition of "God Bless America" as they rode escalators to the street. "Nobody's standing up for us, so we have to stand up for ourselves," said Phil Chancey, 66, who drove to the District from Clinton, Tenn., for the rally. The sign he carried, deriding the president's health-care reform plan, read, "Obamacare Makes Me Sick." Debbie Wilson, 51, of Apollo Beach, Fla., flew to Washington last Sunday to make a week out of the protest. She drove to colonial Williamsburg in a rented car. "We want our country to go back to the roots of doing what our Founding Fathers wanted us to do -- less government in every aspect of my life," she said. "We walked the streets of Williamsburg, and it felt like we were learning how to be a patriot." Dozens of signs mentioned Rep. Joe Wilson, (R-S.C.), who jeered at Obama during his health-care speech to Congress on Wednesday night. Dee Meredith, 62 of Callao, Va., said she had never heard of Wilson before he shouted at the president, "You lie!" At the rally, Meredith waved a placard: "Thank You Joe Wilson." "We're the forgotten people, and he's given us a voice," she said. When Armey, in his address to the crowd, referred to Obama having pledged to uphold the Constitution, the protesters shouted at the president in absentia: "Liar! Liar!" Jeff Mapps, 29, a stagehand and labor union member from South Philadelphia, left home about 6 a.m. to come to the protest. He said he hadn't been involved in previous Tea Party demonstrations, but he watches Fox News host Glenn Beck "all the time" and he wanted to be a part of something he thinks will be historic. Beck has been drumming up support for the march. Holding a sign that said "Preserve, Protect, Defend" on a Red Line Metro train packed with conservative activists, Mapps fretted over a "blatant disregard for the Constitution." "We've been watching it for six to eight months," he said. "It was finally an opportunity to get involved. It's been boiling over . . . It's not just about health care. It's about so much more than that." Anna Hayes, 58, a nurse from Fairfax County, stood on the Mall in 1981 for Reagan's inauguration. "The same people were celebrating freedom," she said. "The president was fighting for the people then. I remember those years very well and fondly." Saying she was worried about "Obamacare," Hayes said: "This is the first rally I've been to that demonstrates against something, the first in my life. I just couldn't stay home anymore." Like countless others at the rally, Joan Wright, 78, of Ocean Pines, Md., sounded angry. "I'm not taking this crap anymore," said Wright, who came by bus to Washington with 150 like-minded residents of Maryland's Eastern Shore. "I don't like the health-care [plan]. I don't like the czars. And I don't like the elitists telling us what we should do or eat."
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Tens of thousands of conservative protesters crowded outside the U.S. Capitol on Saturday, a massive demonstration aimed at stopping what organizers called the over-expansion of the federal government under the Obama administration. "Hell hath no fury like a taxpayer scorned," declared Andrew Moylan, head of government affairs for the National Taxpayer Union, urging protesters to call their representatives. "You're being ignored today by the media and some politicians."
The crowd -- loud, rambunctious and sprawling -- gathered at the foot of the Capitol after a march along Pennsyvania Avenue from Freedom Plaza. Invocations of God and former President Reagan by an array of speakers drew loud cheers, echoing across the Mall. On a windy, overcast afternoon, hundreds of yellow "Don't Tread on Me" flags flapped in the breeze, mingled with U.S. and Texas state flags. "We own the dome," the crowd chanted loudly, pointing at the Capitol. About 30,000 people registered online for the march, according to one of the rally's sponsors, FreedomWorks, a Washington-based group headed by former House majority leader Dick Armey (R-Tex.). FreedomWorks and other sponsors, including Tea Party Patriots and ResistNet, comprise a loose coalition of conservative groups that helped organize several health-care and anti-tax rallies during the spring and summer. The crowd surrounded the Capitol Reflecting Pool, spilling across Third Street and onto the Mall. The sound system was inadequate to the throng; speakers on stage, at the Capitol's West Front, were too distant to be intelligible to anyone near the edges of the rally. "You will not spend the money of our children and our grandchildren to feed an overstuffed government," Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) said of the Obama administration, drawing loud cheers from the throng. "Our history is decorated by those who endured the burden of defending freedom," Price said. "Now a new generation of patriots has emerged. You are those patriots." The protesters descended on Washington with a long list of grievances against a government that many complained is racing toward socialism. "Health care is not listed anywhere in the Constitution," said Brian Burnell, 45, who owns an insurance company on Maryland's Eastern Shore. "How Is That Hopey Changey Thing Workin' Out For Ya?" his placard read. "You want socialism?" said Susan Clark, a District resident marching with a bullhorn. "Go to Russa!" Participants in the demonstration spanned the spectrum of conservative anger at Obama, including opponents of his tax, spending and health-care plans and protesters who question Obama's U.S. citizenship and liken his administration to the Nazi regime. By 11 a.m., the route between Freedom Plaza and the Capitol was a sea of demonstrators chanting "USA!" and carrying signs such as, "Taxed enough already," "The audacity of dope" and, "Czars belong in Russia." Most signs were handmade: "Socialism is UnAmerican," "King George Didn't Listen Either!" "Terrorists Won't Destroy America, Congress Will!" "The American Dream R.I.P." Many protesters carried the now-familiar poster of Obama made up to look like the Joker, captioned "Socialism." One man's sign read, "Having government manage your health care is like having Michael Vick watch your dog." Another sentiment: "Cash for Clunkers! Trade in your congressman!" "We're all endangered!" shouted a passerby, Dave Rue, 67, a retired Mobil Oil employee who had traveled from New Jersey. "We're endangered because they're pushing socialism on us." Some came to protest what they see as government interference with gun ownership. Shaun Bryant, 40, a leadership trainer, was among eight people who flew in from Salt Lake City. They fashioned a sign with a drawing of an AR-15 assault rifle and the words "We came unarmed from Montana and Utah . . . this time!" At the Federal Triangle Metro stop, demonstrators emerged from packed trains and broke into a rendition of "God Bless America" as they rode escalators to the street. "Nobody's standing up for us, so we have to stand up for ourselves," said Phil Chancey, 66, who drove to the District from Clinton, Tenn., for the rally. The sign he carried, deriding the president's health-care reform plan, read, "Obamacare Makes Me Sick." Debbie Wilson, 51, of Apollo Beach, Fla., flew to Washington last Sunday to make a week out of the protest. She drove to colonial Williamsburg in a rented car. "We want our country to go back to the roots of doing what our Founding Fathers wanted us to do -- less government in every aspect of my life," she said. "We walked the streets of Williamsburg, and it felt like we were learning how to be a patriot." Dozens of signs mentioned Rep. Joe Wilson, (R-S.C.), who jeered at Obama during his health-care speech to Congress on Wednesday night. Dee Meredith, 62 of Callao, Va., said she had never heard of Wilson before he shouted at the president, "You lie!" At the rally, Meredith waved a placard: "Thank You Joe Wilson." "We're the forgotten people, and he's given us a voice," she said. When Armey, in his address to the crowd, referred to Obama having pledged to uphold the Constitution, the protesters shouted at the president in absentia: "Liar! Liar!" Jeff Mapps, 29, a stagehand and labor union member from South Philadelphia, left home about 6 a.m. to come to the protest. He said he hadn't been involved in previous Tea Party demonstrations, but he watches Fox News host Glenn Beck "all the time" and he wanted to be a part of something he thinks will be historic. Beck has been drumming up support for the march. Holding a sign that said "Preserve, Protect, Defend" on a Red Line Metro train packed with conservative activists, Mapps fretted over a "blatant disregard for the Constitution." "We've been watching it for six to eight months," he said. "It was finally an opportunity to get involved. It's been boiling over . . . It's not just about health care. It's about so much more than that." Anna Hayes, 58, a nurse from Fairfax County, stood on the Mall in 1981 for Reagan's inauguration. "The same people were celebrating freedom," she said. "The president was fighting for the people then. I remember those years very well and fondly." Saying she was worried about "Obamacare," Hayes said: "This is the first rally I've been to that demonstrates against something, the first in my life. I just couldn't stay home anymore." Like countless others at the rally, Joan Wright, 78, of Ocean Pines, Md., sounded angry. "I'm not taking this crap anymore," said Wright, who came by bus to Washington with 150 like-minded residents of Maryland's Eastern Shore. "I don't like the health-care [plan]. I don't like the czars. And I don't like the elitists telling us what we should do or eat."
Thursday, June 4, 2009
Benefit spending soars to new highs
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
June 4, 2009
The recession is driving the safety net of government benefits to a historic high, as one of every six dollars of Americans' income is now coming in the form of a federal or state check or voucher. Benefits, such as Social Security, food stamps, unemployment insurance and health care, accounted for 16.2% of personal income in the first quarter of 2009, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports. That's the highest percentage since the government began compiling records in 1929. In all, government spending on benefits will top $2 trillion in 2009 — an average of $17,000 provided to each U.S. household, federal data show. Benefits rose at a 19% annual rate in the first quarter compared to the last three months of 2008. The recession caused about half of the increase, according to the report. Unemployment insurance nearly tripled in the past year. The other half is the result of policies enacted during President George W. Bush's first term.
Following the 2001 recession — when costs normally decline — social spending soared to pay for the Medicare drug benefit, expanded health care for children and greater use of food stamps. The safety net is working, advocates say. "We're not seeing the hunger we saw in the 1930s because the food stamp program is doing what it's supposed to do," says Florida food stamp director Jennifer Lange. What's driving the $209 billion increase in benefit costs from a year ago:
• Unemployment insurance. One-fourth of the extra spending covers jobless benefits, a program started in the Depression. The stimulus law, passed in February, increased benefits.
• Social Security. The bad economy has prompted a 10%-15% jump in early retirements, the program's actuary says. A 5.8% increase took effect January 1. Bottom line: $55 billion in new costs.
• Food stamps. Enrollment hit a record 33.2 million people in March, up 5.2 million from last year. The stimulus law boosted the size of the benefit. Average March benefit: $114 per person.
"The increase in social spending is still relatively modest given the severity of the downturn," says economist Dean Baker of the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research. "We're not France." Adam Lerrick, economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, says the benefits' explosion will eventually lead to an economic crisis. "We've seen this movie before in many countries. It always has the same ending," he says.
June 4, 2009
The recession is driving the safety net of government benefits to a historic high, as one of every six dollars of Americans' income is now coming in the form of a federal or state check or voucher. Benefits, such as Social Security, food stamps, unemployment insurance and health care, accounted for 16.2% of personal income in the first quarter of 2009, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reports. That's the highest percentage since the government began compiling records in 1929. In all, government spending on benefits will top $2 trillion in 2009 — an average of $17,000 provided to each U.S. household, federal data show. Benefits rose at a 19% annual rate in the first quarter compared to the last three months of 2008. The recession caused about half of the increase, according to the report. Unemployment insurance nearly tripled in the past year. The other half is the result of policies enacted during President George W. Bush's first term.
Following the 2001 recession — when costs normally decline — social spending soared to pay for the Medicare drug benefit, expanded health care for children and greater use of food stamps. The safety net is working, advocates say. "We're not seeing the hunger we saw in the 1930s because the food stamp program is doing what it's supposed to do," says Florida food stamp director Jennifer Lange. What's driving the $209 billion increase in benefit costs from a year ago:
• Unemployment insurance. One-fourth of the extra spending covers jobless benefits, a program started in the Depression. The stimulus law, passed in February, increased benefits.
• Social Security. The bad economy has prompted a 10%-15% jump in early retirements, the program's actuary says. A 5.8% increase took effect January 1. Bottom line: $55 billion in new costs.
• Food stamps. Enrollment hit a record 33.2 million people in March, up 5.2 million from last year. The stimulus law boosted the size of the benefit. Average March benefit: $114 per person.
"The increase in social spending is still relatively modest given the severity of the downturn," says economist Dean Baker of the liberal Center for Economic and Policy Research. "We're not France." Adam Lerrick, economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, says the benefits' explosion will eventually lead to an economic crisis. "We've seen this movie before in many countries. It always has the same ending," he says.
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Iowa City troubled by surge in downtown beatings
April 23, 2009
By NIGEL DUARA, Associated Press Writer
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - Gangs of men punching people on the street at random. Street fights where bystanders sometimes cheer, and where those who try to intervene sometimes get beaten themselves. Police in this quintessential college town say there's been a dramatic rise in unprovoked beatings in the downtown area next to the University of Iowa over the last several months. Though the mix of young people and alcohol often leads to fighting, police say the intense violence and random nature of the attacks have them worried. "It isn't always a matter of somebody putting themselves in harm's way," Iowa City police Sgt. Troy Kelsay said. "Now it seems like it's just for the sheer pleasure of it, that's what seems to be different." Police don't break out statistics for the downtown area near campus, but they point to several disturbing incidents in the past month alone:
_On March 27, a college-aged man was assaulted at about 2 a.m. downtown. Witnesses said six to 10 men ganged up on him, and when another man tried to intervene, he too was knocked unconscious. Police say the assailants then ran along a downtown street, punching other men as they passed.
_On April 2, a 22-year-old man was smoking outside a downtown bar when six men approached him and asked for cigarettes. As he was handing them out, the men knocked him to the ground and took the whole pack. Later, the same man walked past a group of men who knocked him to the ground and stole his watch.
_On April 6, a man woke up to bystanders helping him sit up. The man told police someone he didn't know knocked him unconscious. He didn't realize his jaw was broken until a hospital visit the next afternoon.
_On April 16, two college-age men stepped outside a bar to smoke at about 1:15 a.m. After an argument with others, one of the men was pushed to the ground, then kicked and punched by several people. He suffered a broken nose and a head cut requiring staples to close.
"I really don't understand the motivation for the violence," Iowa City Mayor Regenia Bailey said. "It's severe and concerning that people find this acceptable and people are seeking this out."
Kelsay said police have stepped up late-night patrols downtown, but they have had a hard time tracking down suspects because they usually can't find witnesses. And sometimes those who see a beating actually cheer on the attackers, he said. "It's become an unfortunate part of the bar culture in Iowa City," Kelsay said. Some Iowa City officials think a recent proliferation of bars and liquor stores downtown is partly to blame. There are 46 businesses permitted to sell liquor in the nine-square-block area next to the 29,000-student campus—a 50 percent increase from a decade ago. Next month, the City Council will consider a measure backed by a planning commission that would require future bars to be 500 feet apart and ensure 1,000 feet between liquor stores. City officials earlier rejected such moves. "With too much of a concentration (of establishments) such as bars and liquor stores, it becomes overburdened with that type of use," said Karen Howard, an associate planner in the city's Urban Planning Department. "We want to have a downtown that's open not just in the evening, but to a whole variety of people." Bailey said the city also has sought help from the University of Iowa. Together, the school and city launched an "alcohol summit" in March to address binge drinking and suggest nonalcoholic alternatives. Students acknowledge there's a problem, but few seem intent on resolving the situation. "It's easy to blame alcohol," said 20-year-old Justin Boltz, an Iowa undergraduate. "I don't know if there's a solution." Thomas Reynolds, a 19-year-old Iowa student, said he noticed the violence picking up last summer, when a friend was hospitalized after being beaten by a man asking for a cigarette. But Reynolds also seemed resigned to the problem and didn't think the city's zoning plan would help much. "Then they'll just make the bars bigger," Reynolds said. "You'll still see 100 people outside."
By NIGEL DUARA, Associated Press Writer
IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - Gangs of men punching people on the street at random. Street fights where bystanders sometimes cheer, and where those who try to intervene sometimes get beaten themselves. Police in this quintessential college town say there's been a dramatic rise in unprovoked beatings in the downtown area next to the University of Iowa over the last several months. Though the mix of young people and alcohol often leads to fighting, police say the intense violence and random nature of the attacks have them worried. "It isn't always a matter of somebody putting themselves in harm's way," Iowa City police Sgt. Troy Kelsay said. "Now it seems like it's just for the sheer pleasure of it, that's what seems to be different." Police don't break out statistics for the downtown area near campus, but they point to several disturbing incidents in the past month alone:
_On March 27, a college-aged man was assaulted at about 2 a.m. downtown. Witnesses said six to 10 men ganged up on him, and when another man tried to intervene, he too was knocked unconscious. Police say the assailants then ran along a downtown street, punching other men as they passed.
_On April 2, a 22-year-old man was smoking outside a downtown bar when six men approached him and asked for cigarettes. As he was handing them out, the men knocked him to the ground and took the whole pack. Later, the same man walked past a group of men who knocked him to the ground and stole his watch.
_On April 6, a man woke up to bystanders helping him sit up. The man told police someone he didn't know knocked him unconscious. He didn't realize his jaw was broken until a hospital visit the next afternoon.
_On April 16, two college-age men stepped outside a bar to smoke at about 1:15 a.m. After an argument with others, one of the men was pushed to the ground, then kicked and punched by several people. He suffered a broken nose and a head cut requiring staples to close.
"I really don't understand the motivation for the violence," Iowa City Mayor Regenia Bailey said. "It's severe and concerning that people find this acceptable and people are seeking this out."
Kelsay said police have stepped up late-night patrols downtown, but they have had a hard time tracking down suspects because they usually can't find witnesses. And sometimes those who see a beating actually cheer on the attackers, he said. "It's become an unfortunate part of the bar culture in Iowa City," Kelsay said. Some Iowa City officials think a recent proliferation of bars and liquor stores downtown is partly to blame. There are 46 businesses permitted to sell liquor in the nine-square-block area next to the 29,000-student campus—a 50 percent increase from a decade ago. Next month, the City Council will consider a measure backed by a planning commission that would require future bars to be 500 feet apart and ensure 1,000 feet between liquor stores. City officials earlier rejected such moves. "With too much of a concentration (of establishments) such as bars and liquor stores, it becomes overburdened with that type of use," said Karen Howard, an associate planner in the city's Urban Planning Department. "We want to have a downtown that's open not just in the evening, but to a whole variety of people." Bailey said the city also has sought help from the University of Iowa. Together, the school and city launched an "alcohol summit" in March to address binge drinking and suggest nonalcoholic alternatives. Students acknowledge there's a problem, but few seem intent on resolving the situation. "It's easy to blame alcohol," said 20-year-old Justin Boltz, an Iowa undergraduate. "I don't know if there's a solution." Thomas Reynolds, a 19-year-old Iowa student, said he noticed the violence picking up last summer, when a friend was hospitalized after being beaten by a man asking for a cigarette. But Reynolds also seemed resigned to the problem and didn't think the city's zoning plan would help much. "Then they'll just make the bars bigger," Reynolds said. "You'll still see 100 people outside."
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