Monday, October 16, 2006 Married?You're a minority since Bush took office Who knew that being a happily married woman with one kid, another on the way, a mortgage, 2 cars, and several credit cards would make me a minority? Well... in BushWorld it does: "According to the Census Bureau's 2005 American Community Survey (which was released in August but largely escaped public attention until now because of the large volume of data) the number of traditional households with married couples at their core stood at slightly more than 55.2 million, or 49.8% of the total. Marriage did not figure in nearly 55.8 million American family households, or 50.2%. More than 14 million of them were headed by single women, another 5 million by single men, while 36.7 million belonged to a category described as "nonfamily households," a term that experts said referred primarily to gay or heterosexual couples cohabiting while not formally joined in legal wedlock. In addition, there were more than 30 million unmarried men and women living alone, who are not categorized as families. And which states have the MOST unmarried couples living together? Surprise surprise! It is in the Bible Belt of the South. To see the stats state by state, check out the NYTs link. Wait a minute... here comes the zinger: "The trend represented a dramatic change from just 6 yrs ago, when married couples made up 52% of 105.5 million American households." Oh snap! Who came into power 6 yrs ago? Ahh yes. Mr Family Values himself: Bush and his cabal of ghouls and fiends who have done more to destroy and screw over the Middle Class American family in order to fatten up the wallets of the wealthy than anyone else before them.: "It indicated that efforts by Pres Bush and his GOP allies, who over the past 5 yrs have made a concerted effort to shore up traditional marriage and families through tax breaks, special legislation and church-sponsored campaigns is bearing little or no fruit." Well... color me shocked! And even my uber-wingnut Repuke father-in-law who is a CPA (Hubby's parents refuse to speak to us or have anything to do their grand-daughter or their own son b/c I am Catholic, and Hubby and I are Dems. I know... I know... the nerve of us, huh?) has admitted that the Bush tax cuts really do nothing for the average American due to rising living costs and that it is actually far more financially adventatious for people to merely cohabitate or remain single, especially if they have children that they receive child support payments for, and/or if they receive alimony or social security or some kind of pension money. So... encouraging people to remain single or simply to live together due to America's deteriorating financial situation for the Middle Class seems to do FAR MORE damage to marriage than "The Gays" daring to get married to each other, huh? Has anyone told the wingnuts? |