The problem we are going to have in the US will be significant: many Americans are now paying for their homes with unemployment insurance. We only get this for about a year, at the most. Therefore, millions of homeowners will eventually run out of this insurance, forcing an unprecedented amount of foreclosures. Since the unemployment rate started to skyrocket here a little over a year ago, I would suspect foreclosures will go up about October or so, with a massive number next year. Congress can pass an extension of these benefits, however. Instead of worrying about universal healthcare, I would worry about this major problem and would worry about creating jobs. There will be no real recovery in America unless Americans are working, and the consequences will be socially and economically devestating.

Already "tent cities" are becoming a more permanent part of city landscapes here in California and elsewhere in the west. Here in Sacramento the police used to break them up, then the city opened up a winter shelter but only for a couple of months. Now the tent city is back, and it is growing. I hate to think what the news headlines will be saying in about 3 months, when all those camps turn back into swamp with the winter rains.