America enters a new Depression

While economists continue to debate whether America is tipping into a technical recession, the message from across the country is clear: the US economy stinks and is only getting worse.

We may not see families winding across the Dust Bowl, as they did in the Great Depression, but the situation for millions of ordinary workers is grimmer by the day. The stock market may be exhibiting epileptic symptoms, lurching from exuberance to despair and back, but the 'real economy' is desperately ill.

Food banks and charities across the country are reporting a surge in activity. Last Thursday, the governor of New Jersey visited one of the state's largest food banks to promise $1m in emergency aid after its stocks ran out. Thirty per cent more people are using the food banks, while donations have

fallen 20 per cent.

The Samaritans in New York say calls are up 16 per cent from last year, with most of the calls prompted by financial problems. In Los Angeles last week, a money manager killed his wife, three sons and mother-in-law before killing himself after suffering a major financial reverse. In many parts of the country, police are bracing for a rise in crime linked to the ailing economy. In parts of Georgia, police say the crime rate has more than doubled in recent weeks. Convenience store robberies and computer and car thefts are surging.

The New York Daily News reported last week that in the Bronx, where one quarter of the population live below the federal poverty line, robberies and murders are suddenly rising again.

In America's former industrial heartlands, states like Michigan, Indiana and Ohio, the problems are especially acute. Many are being caught in the pincers of job cuts and falling home values. One town in Indiana has had to ban yard sales because so many people were trying to raise cash by selling