After 7 Years, We’ve Got 99 Problems

• As President Bush’s days of power draw to a close, one thing is clear: We’ve got a lot more problems now than we did seven years ago.
• We started to think about it and came up with 99 of them, everything from less money to more war and a planet in crisis. Check out our new doc, “We’ve Got 99 Problems, But A Human-Animal Hybrid Ain’t One.”
• Here’s a sneak peek:

• Problem: Surge Failure —

  In January 2007, President Bush announced a plan to send a 20,000-troop “surge” to Iraq to quell the violence and provide military cover while the Iraqi government took over the ruling of its own nation. Today, the Iraqi Minister of Defense says the government will be unable to take over its own security until at least 2012. [Chicago Tribune] [The Guardian]

• Problem: Starvation-

  According to the USDA, the number of hungry families in the United States rose 26 percent between 2001 and 2006. Worse, the number of families with the least access to enough food rose 32 percent. That’s 1.3 million American families, not including the homeless. [USDA]

• (Problem: Sorry, We Meant to Say “Low Food Security”- In 2006 the U.S. Department of Agriculture attempted to sugarcoat the hunger issue by banning the word “hunger” from official documents, replacing it with the more opaque “very low food security.”) [Washington Post]
• Problem: Expensive and Inefficient Health Care — In 2006, America’s health care costs spiraled to an all-time high of over $2 trillion (or $7,026 per person). In a report by the World Health Organization, America ranks 37th in health care quality, despite spending more per person than any other country in the world. [LA Times] [WHO]
• Problem: Toxic Lack of Prosecution of Polluters — Under the current administration, the EPA sharply decreased the prosecution of criminal cases against polluters. New prosecutions, new investigations, and total convictions all plummeted by a third. [Washington Post]
• And that’s just five. Hey, we know it’s not a comprehensive list, so we have one question for you: What’s Your Problem? Write in and let us know at miccheck@americanprogressaction.org.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2008/01/99problems.html

Private Reply to Danielle (Dani) Cutler

Private Reply to Danielle (Dani) Cutler

Private Reply to James Booth

Private Reply to Danielle (Dani) Cutler