The London Independent leads with the headline “The Great Depression” today.

1.1 million Ohio residents alone recieve food stamps, nearly 10% of the Ohio population, and more are elegible.

…and this is no April Fools.

Update:

Michael Nystrom over at depression2.tv has written a very incisive article on what he calls “The April Fools Rally”, posing the question:

Given the economic situation for the majority of Americans, why on earth did the Dow rally 391 points?

In today’s April Fool’s Day rally, Wal Mart stock was up 2.3% – $1.40 per share, or $5.6 billion. Meanwhile, GM, Ford & Toyota all announced that their US car sales dropped by double digits last month.

In order to buy cars, citizens need good jobs that pay well. But not only has Wal Mart destroyed thousands of community businesses and better paying jobs across the country with its ultra low priced, shoddily produced, imported products; its wages are so low that many employees can barely afford to feed themselves properly, and proper health care is out of reach. Wal Mart managers are therefore trained in directing employees to Federal welfare assistance for health care and yes, food stamps. Forget about buying a new car on $7.00 per hour ($14,000 per year).