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More than half a million jobs were lost in the US in November, the largest loss in a single month since 1974. Though initially the announcement had a negative effect on the markets, by the end of the day Wall Street again forgot about the little guy, the Dow closed up 260 points.
The more than 1.2 million jobs lost over the past 3 months, and the 11th straight month of job losses, bring the unemployment rate to 6.7 per cent, the highest in 15 years.
Also this week the Department of Agriculture released figures that show food stamp beneficiaries increased by 17 percent in the past year. That’s more than 31.6 million or 1 out of every 10 people in the US receiving food stamps or taking part in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. TRNN spoke to Dedrick Muhammad of the Institute for Policy Studies. Muhammad says that 6.7 percent is not the true unemployment number because it does not include the underemployed and those who have stopped looking for work. Muhammad also says that the bailout is a “trickle down” bailout, that by giving money to the wealthiest institutions somehow this is supposed to help the middle class and working class.

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Dedrick Muhammad

Dedrick Asante-Muhammad is Director of the Racial Wealth Divide Project at CFED. As Director, Dedrick's responsibilities include strengthening CFED's outreach and partnership with communities of color, as well as strengthening CFED's racial wealth divide analysis in its work. CFED Racial Wealth Divide Project will also lead wealth-building projects that will establish best practices and policy recommendations to address racial economic inequality.

Dedrick comes to CFED from the NAACP, where he was the Sr. Director of the Economic Department and Executive Director of the Financial Freedom Center. Dedrick's past civil rights experience also includes his time at Reverend Al Sharpton's National Action Network, where he first worked as the National Crisis Coordinator and then as the National Field Director. Dedrick's professional work in economic equity began at United for a Fair Economy (UFE) where he was coordinator of the Racial Wealth Divide Project. While at UFE, Dedrick co-founded the State of the Dream report and has been a regular co-author of this annual report. Pursuing his work in economic and racial equity, Dedrick went on to the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS) where he worked in the Inequality and Common Good Program, under the leadership of Chuck Collins.