No posting for the rest of the week, but will return on Monday.

For those of you celebrating the season, we wish you happy holidays.  But however you spend this coming weekend, we hope your thoughts include those tens of millions unemployed because of corporate and financial industry greed enabled by the Bush and Obama administrations.

The following two articles bring the economic inequality and the plight of struggling, regular Americans in this country into sharper focus.

Akito Yoshikane writes at Working, In These Times:  "A new report details just how difficult the Great Recession has been for working families as more than 1 out of 3 households earned 200 percent less than the poverty line in 2009. The low-income threshold for a family of four last year was $43,512.

"During the Great Recession, between 2007 and 2009, the unemployment rate grew to its highest level in 25 years. With many Americans losing their jobs, the number of low-income families grew to 10 million in 2009, a quarter million increase from the previous year. The findings come as income inequality continues to grow, a grim reminder of how many working families are struggling to pay the bills with stagnant wages.

“The plight of these families now challenges a fundamental assumption that in America, work pays,” the report said.

"The Working Poor Families report says that since the recession began in 2007, more than 55 percent of America’s labor force has been affected by joblessness, reduced hours or were relegated to part-time work. The report writes: “When the recession hit, many working families joined the ranks of the unemployed or dropped out of the workforce altogether. Others continued to work but saw their incomes drop as businesses tightened their belts. The recession has been especially hard on men, who were more highly concentrated in the depleted manufacturing, construction and financial sectors.”

"The disparity between the rich and poor is also steadily growing. Income inequality has increased by 5 percent since 2007. The top 20 percent of households take in almost half the wealth, the report said. What’s more, the top earning families earned 10 times more than those at the bottom.

"A large reason for the gap is that wages have not increased even as productivity continues to rise. Wage stagnation has been one of the most common consequences of the downturn, according to one public opinion poll. As the Economic Policy Institute pointed out in August, wages “grew at less than half the rate they were growing during the period immediately prior to the recession.” From a long-term perspective, the real average hourly earnings have practically remained unchanged for 35 years. In other words, productivity growth has not transferred to wage gains."

Jim HIghtower highlights the avarice that makes corporations take the money and run courtesy of the government that protects Wall Street and ignores Main Street.

"The Federal Reserve, which controls America's monetary policy, says it is trying to invigorate job creation in our country by slashing interest rates to the bone. This move allows big corporations to borrow money for next to nothing, so they can expand and start hiring again.

"Great goal! How's it working out?

"Well, the first step has gone splendidly, with such giants as DuPont, Hertz, IBM, Microsoft, and PepsiCo rushing to grab the windfall. They've borrowed hundreds of billions of dollars at interest rates of less than one percent. However, there's been quite a stumble on step two of the Fed's plan. Rather than putting this enormous stash of cash to work for America, the corporations are simply squirreling it away for their own enrichment, refusing to spend it on the job expansion that our economy desperately needs.

"For example, Microsoft – one of the richest corporations on Earth – amassed nearly $5 billion under this "opportunistic borrowing" scheme, yet has put none of the cheap money into job creation. Instead, it is using a big chunk of it to buy back stock from its own shareholders – a move that merely profits the handful of rich elites who control Microsoft.

"Worse, such corporate powers as Hertz and PepsiCo are using the funds to take over competitors. These consolidations will actually cut jobs, while reducing consumer choices and raising our prices. Indeed, there's no provision in the Fed's program to keep the giants from investing the money in foreign expansion, thus offshoring more American Jobs.

"And there's the rub in nearly all of Washington's indirect job creation efforts – officials blithely dole out billions and even trillions to corporations and banks, with no strings attached. So the big shots and bastards gleefully grab the money and run."

The Scrooges have taken over this country with no Dickensian happy ending in sight.