What has changed?

"Their concerns must be our cause," said President Barack Obama in his first speech to Congress on Feb. 24, 2009. To demonstrate the focus of the goals of his administration he physically presented three persons with real life concerns. This is where change would be made. Now a year later here are the results.

Leonard Abess (Banker)
distributed his $60 million payout on retirement as majority stakeholder in Miami's City National Bancshares among current and former employees, deciphering amounts based not on job title but on years of service. Some janitors received more than vice presidents.

"The risk here is that people are going to lose hope. I worry about what it does to our society, having people out of work for so long and struggling so hard to find work and getting into despair and things like that. People want to work and need to work. It goes beyond making a living. A lot of people are very scared, and they're starting to lose their spirit."

He once inspired hope but is now greatly depressed at Wall Street's behavior. He sees Wall Street bonuses, and says "Wait a minute! Didn't anybody learn their lesson? "

Bob Dixson (Mayor) Greensburg, Kansas
Tornado devastated 95% of city. Federal money spent to rebuild - $20 Million. Another $20 million from state and donations. Half the residents left. Small businesses initially interested in Greensburg have been unable to procure loans. "We think we're about ready to land a company and bring in some jobs, but then reality hits. They don't have the cash. They can't get a loan."
"We're just trying to fill in the town."

The only way to lure people back is with jobs and the only way to create jobs is by bringing in employers. But in the continuing recession, Greensburg's redevelopment seems unlikely. Town redevelopment cost todate equals $50,000 per remaining citizen, but they have no jobs to sustain living there.

Ty'Sheoma Bethea (8th grade student) Dillon, S.C.
112 year old J.V. Martin Junior High School's gym is a converted boxing arena with a leaky ceiling and a wooden floor that buckles and slopes. During his campaign Obama visited J.V. Martin twice...once spending two hours touring the decrepit old building. "He's getting us a new school," she said.

Architects and CEOs flew in from across the country to propose plans for a new school. Gone would be the condemned auditorium with busted-out windows, the cold classrooms in mobile trailers and the dirt playing fields surrounded by barbed-wire fencing. School officials contemplated a $55 million proposal. "We just wanted a working ceiling, and now we were talking about having the finest of this, the best of that." Dillon's unemployment rate is 18 percent. Its largest employer is a chicken processing plant that pays $9 an hour. All six of the town's schools remain in various stages of disrepair.

"There was a lot of smoke, a lot of talk about getting a new J.V. Martin, but it's just gone nowhere," the mayor said.

The only stimulus money that arrived has gone to road resurfacing. The city struggled to procure a substantial loan in an unstable economy. With no immediate funding, CEOs stopped touring J.V. Martin, and architects moved on to other projects. The superintendent of school's budget will be cut by 15 percent next year, so that means slashing administration jobs, furlough teachers and no substitutes.

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The basic information used in the above article was taken from an article written by Washington Post Staff Writer Eli Saslow and published on 26 January 2010.