America’s poor face bleak Christmas
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ROCKVILLE — In the three years since she lost her job at a US childcare center, Sandra has stared austerity in the face each year when Christmas comes around.
This year is no different: the bundle of small logs in front of the fireplace in Sandra’s suburban home is not a treat meant as a decorative festive Christmas blaze, but is there to keep warm.
Two weeks before Christmas, there is no Christmas tree inside the house, no wreath on the door.
Sandra is just one of millions of Americans who are unemployed or underemployed, and facing another holiday season of belt-tightening and bleakness.
Ten percent of the US workforce is out of a job, and one in six workers is underemployed, meaning they don’t work enough hours to make a living wage..... MORE
Source: The Daily Tribune
URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20101219com3.html
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