With headlines blaring about the economy in turmoil, what is the average American thinking when they read this:

The U.S. financial system this weekend faced its gravest crisis in modern times, as regulators resorted to triage on Wall Street to contain the spreading damage from a meltdown in the housing and mortgage market.

Especially coupled with the knowledge that far too many women are flailing in the American economy:

When the unemployment rate for women went from 4.6 percent in July to 5.3 percent in August, it was the largest one-month spike in the jobless rate for women in more than 33 years.

Black women were hit even harder, as their unemployment rate jumped 21 percent, from 7.5 percent in July to 9.1 percent in August.

Among single mothers and women with families, unemployment climbed to 9.6 percent in August — the highest level in 15 years….

About 43 percent of all working women earn half or more of their family’s income…

My granny was a single mom: a woman who rebuilt her life after my grandfather ran off with another woman and sold their home, which granny re-purchased working three jobs while raising two children. The woman was a rock. She taught me hard work and earning my own keep as a stop-gap. And to get my education.

She worked menial jobs at minimum wage — cooking for a local school, scrubbing floors, doing people’s washing and ironing and baking on the side…anything to make ends meet.


One thing I learned watching her was that in tough economic times, the first things to go are luxuries. When folks can barely afford groceries, they cut back on outside hires for housework, yard work, you name it. Workers on the margins with a scanty education, often single moms with no safety net, get hit first.

But it isn’t just single mothers, it’s also women at retirement age feeling the current pinch:

While some women are working late in life because they want to, others work because they have to….

A worker in 2008 needs annual earnings of at least $4,200 to earn enough credits for the earnings to count in one’s work history. Thus, some part-time work – more likely done by women – won’t qualify.

Also, more women than men cycle in and out of the work force because of child-care or parent-care reasons, which can cut into the highest earning years.

As a result, the average woman’s monthly Social Security retirement benefits check, as of December 2006, was $905 for women, compared with $1,178 for men….

I’ve lost count of the number of older women I’ve spoken with at the drug store, calculating which of their medicines they could afford and still be able to eat for the month. And with a limited budget or a fixed income, the rising cost of everything makes things all the tighter:

Bottom line is that food prices are up 7 percent this year. Fuel is up more than 16 percent….

"I am slightly anxious, yes, and worried more about young families with children and the elderly on fixed incomes," said Lynda Sceiford. "Good nutrition is so important for them, and it’s getting harder to afford."…

And I have a feeling it’s going to get worse instead of better. These are all issues around the kitchen tables of women in America — the question is which candidate cares more about them? We’ve dug ourselves into a deep financial hole under the last eight years of Republican laissez-faire, "I got mine, screw you" economics. Those 8 years weren’t really such a bargain for the rest of us, were they?


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