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TechnoratiNEW YORK - It is one of the most affluent countries in the world, but still millions of people in the United States find it very difficult to put a nice meal on their dinner table.
Nationwide, more than 36 million people, or nearly 13 percent of the total population, lived in poverty last year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau report released this week. 
Among those officially considered "poor," over one third are children, most of them non-white minorities such as African Americans, Latinos, and Asians.
The data reveals continued inequality and concentration of wealth in the United States, with the top 20 percent of households receiving over 50 percent of the nation's income, while the lowest 20 percent got just a little over 3 percent.
"The impact of race, ethnicity, and gender is extremely disturbing," notes Roberta Spivek of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), a Quaker organization involved in numerous campaigns for economic and social rights.
According to the data, more than 8 percent of non-Hispanic whites, about 10 percent of Asians, over 20 percent of Hispanics, and some 24 percent of African Americans are "poor."
Although the Hispanic poverty rate went down by about 1 percent last year, African Americans and non-White Hispanics are still about three times more likely than whites to be poor.
Single mothers figure among the nation's poor who suffer the most. "Being a single mother has an alarming effect," Spivek noted, reflecting on the gender-specific aspect of the numbers.
The data shows that more than 28 percent of women raising their children without husbands are condemned to suffer from poverty. Those married but impoverished are estimated to be around 5 percent.
The official poverty threshold in 2006, which many experts believe to be too low, was $20,614 for a family of four, about $16,000 for a family of three, around $13,000 for a family of two and a little over $10,000 for an individual.
Last year, according to the census report, about 47 million Americans had no access to health insurance. Once again, official figures suggest that most of those who lack health care are individuals and families from non-white minorities.
In Spivek's analysis, Hispanics, American Indians, and Alaska natives are three times more likely than whites to lack access to medical care.
Noting that currently the U.S. government spends about $720 million a day on the war in Iraq, Joyce Miller, a human rights activist associated with AFSC, said that amount could buy school lunch for 1 million children.
With that money, according to her, the government could also provide over 400, 000 children with health care.
Recent studies point out that over 23 million Americans seek emergency food each year. According to a study carried out by the California-based Institute for Food and Development Policy, about 13 million American children worry where their next meal is coming from "because their parents do not earn enough to pay for food, rent, heat, health care, and transportation."
The AFSC figures on the Iraq war are based on a statistical analysis done by Nobel Prize-winning economists Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes of Harvard University.
Their analysis includes $410 billion in Iraq supplemental funding bills, $160 billion embedded in the Pentagon's annual budget, $290 billion for Iraq veterans' medical expenditures, and $191 billion in interest on the war debt.
"America's shameful poverty rate should lead every one to ask how we want to spend our tax dollars," said Miller, "on war or on education, health care, job training, and affordable housing?"
"Reducing poverty is not rocket science. We can go a long way by investing in education, health care, job training, and housing," she added.
In collaboration with a number of human rights groups, AFSC has led calls for a substantial increase in the minimum wage. It claims to have generated more than 100,000 phone calls to Congress in the last two years.
The phone call campaign helped encourage Congress' passage earlier this year of the first minimum wage raise in a decade. Many groups note, however, that even at the new rate, the federal minimum wage has failed to keep pace with inflation, and today's lowest-wage earning workers are worse off than those who earned minimum wage salaries decades ago.
AFSC and other humanitarian groups are now campaigning to make the minimum wage a true "living wage" and to increase human needs spending in the federal budget. But President George W. Bush has threatened to veto those increases by reasoning that the nation "can't afford it," according to AFSC.
In urging the Congress to adopt the human needs spending bills, the AFSC's Spivek said the nation should spend $720 million a day on ending poverty, not on war.
"It's a question of political will and citizens' action," she added in a statement. "It's a question of redirecting our resources away from war and tax breaks for the highest-income households, towards the common good."
Copyright © 2007 OneWorld.net.
39 Comments so far
Show AllOne thing -- the poor are 70 FEMALE. Journalists never like to point this out. Lefties don't even point it out.
The poor may be non-white mostly, but they are also women mostly.
The pathetic feminist movements neglect this basic fact. Where are the women on this?
Neil Uecke September 2nd, 2007 2:17 pm
"...We know where the Republicans stand; we didn’t know the Democrats would deceive us in the last election...."
Get over it. Dems = Bush enablers
Being 66 and living a lone existence on $287 SS with no outside assistance other than from children very rarely tends to make life fairly limited. Some things one can't cut back on such as utilities, you would think. But over a twenty one year period, I have learned many ways to do without. Food lack has created health problems but I will face that when it becomes critical. I learned long ago NOT to go into debt - of any sort - after struggling to pay off little loans from loan sharks my former husband used to deal with. If I need something I wait until I can pay for it upfront. I can see why many are down and out now and that is because they insisted living "high on the hog" when they were "in the money". In years past having to deal with the welfare social system just to get food stamps was a very soul-crippling experience for me and I vowed it was better to do without than to be treated like scum. So I don't deal with any "handout programs" period! Telling the admins total truth about my situation only brought ridiculing remarks, ie "no one can live on just that much". Well, I did live on almost nothing, eating a lot of peanut butter and crackers and oatmeal and buying at salvage stores, sometimes having to sort through the foods I opened and getting rid of the weavils and whatever sort of bugs had invaded. But I'm still here and kicking, not so high now but still slowly going from day to day. Owing someone is not conducive to my mental peace, so doing without many things, living a simple life, I find I am rich beyond words. I have the joy of waking up to the sun rising, listening to the water behind my home gurgling along and the birds chirping all around me, the beautiful "silence" of nature.
STUFF doesn't bring contentment or security. I have it very hard as far as doing without stuff to make life easier but not nearly as hard as those who have to live and sleep in cardboard containers or in the underground subways of the world and I am very grateful for all things in my life. Frugality is a very good lesson learned in life. Begging is very demeaning and I feel the welfare system of this country is a force that keeps many down and out, even though they think it is helping people.
If this country's tax dollars was spent in a sensible intelligent way, no one would be doing without the necessities of life. That is really all one needs, the necessities. All the fine fancy clothes, jewels, cars, expensive restaurant meals etc. etc. ad nauseam, is a result of EGO, "KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES". When this ever stops, then there will be no one who goes hungry or homeless or without means of health care.
Now I've said my piece, even though not in an educated manner as the rest of the comments but at least I am being honest, unlike most of our whole governing system that this country and the world can't seem to be or has any idea of how to be. I am sure there are not many (except the WEALTHY)who can't see the gross waste going on with the tax dollars of all those who are struggling day to day working to stay alive and keep this totally out-of-control system going. One other comment: we need to keep our noses out of other countries lives. Who the hell are we that we think we need to "fix" other societies! Integrity and compassion are two virtues that need to be learned by those who don't have them.
'Old and disabled' is all the MORE reason to emigrate (not to concede to failure to ever being able to meet one's genuine needs) to some society with a real world concern for all its inhabitants, not just the ones in gated communities.
Personally, Thailand is my goal for my Golden Years, in the hope they might actually BE Golden there. Check into the cost of living there, not in some village where you carry your water, but in urban centers like Bangkok, where a brief hospital overnight stay to repair a serious injury will run you about $500! Not $5,000.
Getting there and getting established WILL be challenging, but what is a better life worth?
I'm a Viet Nam Marine Corps combat veteran, disabled totally by PTSD that the warm, fuzzy VA refuses to grant is service-related despite testimony by 3 of their psychiatrists. I was used to further the elitist colonial agenda of the American uberclass, then tossed.
After an adult life of mental illness and alcoholism that kept me unemployed most of the time, with my body finally crumbling from age and abuse I finally battled my way to the grand total of $660/month from Social Security. That's what the richest society in history deigns to give me to live on. That, and $230/month from the VA which actually admits than anything under $900/month is below the 'survival level' in America ... along with Sec.8 housing. My total 'benefits' amount to around $13,000 annually. AND $10,000 FOR A SINGLE MAN IS THE POVERTY LEVEL? REALLY? I wonder what their definition of 'poverty level' is. A good friend gave me a little pickup truck years back when he bought a new vehicle. It's solid, low-mileage, and it's been sitting in the garage for over a year now, because I can't afford to get it repaired. I just can't ever put $800 together, in cash, at one time. My 'credit' is, of course,long dead. So, broken body and all, I walk. I used to have a serviceable computer with which to stay in contact with the world I cannot personally reach, being housebound most of the time. But lacking the needed upgrades and augmentations to keep up with maniacal rate of 'improvement' in the computer industry, it gradually became useless. Another friend had bought it for me, a used iMac that was several years old at the time I got it.
Now it, too, has been sitting idle for a year because I lack the $ for a new OS, new hardware, and the technical help I require.
I'm so poor that even donating me things only lifts me up for a while. Because I can't afford to maintain what I'm given. On $13,000/year. $10,000 isn't the poverty level, not in this culture. Try 15,000, or 18. But America CAN'T AFFORD THAT. Right?
Bushshit! American can afford ANYTHING. Look at Iraq, Afghanistan, the pathetic Drug Prohibition War, $12,000,000,000 shipped to Iraq in cash on pallots for informal dispensation to connected Republican contractors, no accounting ... or even results required.
We have become A NATION OF CHUMPS. Most Americans live on the crumbs of the feasting by the uberclass.
And if you think Australia is your dream come true, sorry Charlie. My best friend is an 'Oz' native and worse disabled than me. Most of her social support services were pulled recently in economizing measures by the party in power that is the Oz version of Republicans. Like Canada, the only difference between their Chief Executive and King George is the accent.
Liberals and progressives Down Under are more up against it then we are here.
Naaaa. I'll take Thailand, thanks. Even my meager American income is almost middle-class there. I know it's not Shangri-La. No society is. But they're all Buddhists and so am I. And they LIVE Buddhism, every day. I'll take IT over Christianity any day of the week.
Buddhists aren't interested in converting anyone or conquering their countries for their betterment.
I love America and I'm sick to puking with what's it's become.
And now I'm too old, disabled and weary to put up with it anymore.
See ya in Pattaya.
If poverty was 10 times worse and half the population was homeless Bu$h the inferior would not care.
The only way he is going to care is if a homeless guy interfered with his vacation. Then he would give the guy a home until the execution.
Stop the war on people and start the war on the terrorism of poverty. Tom Edgar Australia. tomedgar@halenet.com.au
We'll spread democracy in other countries.....
Yes, this is a deplorable, unfair imbalance, and Bush deserves much blame. But also to blame are Congress and the 50% or more of American voters who have been brainwashed so thoroughly that they aggressively fight against any change in our costly, corrupt medical system which fails to provide inadequate care for 47 million people and erratic care for all but the wealthiest; who denounce welfare and call for its end; who see nothing wrong requiring students and their families to assume staggering debt burdens to acquire an education; who believe the lies they were told before the Iraq invasion about WMD and ties with al Qaeda.
Folks, we have a sick culture. It is now so controlled by the great corporations and their lackeys in Washington that the welfare and health of our people and our environment take a distant second place to corporate interests. Each new generation is so molded by the myths upon which our culture rests that they are unable to rebel and demand a better society. Sure people are emigrating. I wish I could, but I'm too old and disabled.
Dear Commondreams,
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For more information about the Freemoney Family Organization please visit:
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The President and Congress count on the American public complaining, but doing nothing. Reality will be when we vote every incumbant out of office. We know where the Republicans stand; we didn't know the Democrats would deceive us in the last election. Pork is the other white meat!
lillulu
"How long is the myth going to continue that America is the best country in the world"
??
reality check required here.. because the people who say that have never been to any other country...!!!
i dont know of any Australian who would want to live in the USA..
but i know quite a few americians who have moved here.. and would never go back..
Without poverty they'd have a much harder time getting inexpensive soldiers to help them grow the empire.
Michael Parenti on the American Empire
FSTV Keynote - Thu, 2007-08-23 (45 mins)
Michael Parenti discusses Empire at the Center for Creative Change, Antioch University.
http://www.freespeech.org/videodb/index.php?action=detail&video_id=10828...
An animal which engaged in self-mutilation in the manner of the present USA administration would be humanely put out of its misery by an animal protection agency.
The government IS NOT your government.
It’s still too early for a revolution. When more than 50% of them begin to scavenge trash dumps or eat grass for food, then they may realize that there is better way.
Revolutions always have started with one man.
Getting sadder as I age and try to make sense of this country. Rich take care of themselves and their own at the expense of all of the rest of us. All the statistics above only drive home the disparities.
Deepa, the St. Francis quote was much appreciated.
The poor are not parasitical people who refuse to work. Most do work--for employers who exploit them, and for a political and economic system that robs them.
After they are used up, and mentally and/or physically broken, they are thrown away--at which point they are labelled "parasites." In reality, they are productive people who have been parasitized into poverty, and often to the point of disability--nearly parasitized to death.
Single moms are poor because the job of raising, educating, and caring for children is regarded, in our society, as work that should not be compensated. We view it as part of the natural order of things that a military contractor or hedge fund manager (both of whom are criminals) should be compensated at a rate of upwards of $8,000 per day, while the laborers who cultivate and harvest food should get minimum wage--and that women caring for children should, literally, not be compensated at all, and live in beggary.
deepa September 1st, 2007 8:15 pm wrote:
"According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2005 median income for white households was $48,554,..."
That's around what we should be paying our representatives, the median income for Americans. Maybe if we tied their pay to performance, they would have to think more of all of us when they make decisions. I course it would never happen as they would have to make the change themselves.
There is no reason whatsoever to believe the US Census numbers are any less corrupted by the loyalbushie cancer that's sickened EVERY OTHER DEPARTMENT AND AGENCY. These are the loons who tried to leash the Surgeon General, and had cronies rewriting environmental reports, remember? 13% of the pop in poverty? Guarantee that's shaved by 5% easy. 47M without health insurance? Try 60M and counting.
Cheneybushrove = pathological lying of unmatched proportions. So why is everyone so quick to assume the Census Bureau is somehow still "honest?"
For Labor Day
Join in the battle
Wherein no man can fail
For who so fadeth and dieth
Yet his deed shall still prevail
William Morris
dcbeltway:
You are correct in your math regarding the number of homeless. The statistics which I mentioned tells that some of those who have become homeless in a night do not remain homeless. That is why your calculation of 1 million X 365(366) is not accurate.
Let me quote two articles in support of what I wrote about poverty in the US and also the link between poverty and racism in the US.
Jason Miller, “Blind Obedience to the Canons of Capitalism: Of Sick Societies, American Dalits, and a Nation of Lady Macbeths,†www. Smirkingchimp.com, 26.11.2006.
"Bearing in mind the nearly boundless resources of the United States, consider the following:
"Accomplishing a logic-defying feat, the wealthiest nation in the world has "attained" the highest rate of homelessness amongst developed countries. 3.5 million human beings experience homelessness each year in the United States. Almost a million are homeless every night.
"In the most heavily militarized nation in the history of the human race, 30% of its homeless men are military veterans. What happened to "support the troops"? Obviously once military personnel return home, the slogan changes to "good riddance to bad rubbish."
"Ready for some "shock and awe" on the home front? According to the National Mental Health Association, "on any given night, 1.2 million children are homeless" in the United States (4)."
"For Black History Month: Lessons not Learned" by Mary Shaw, www.smirkingchimp.com, Feb 4 2007.
"The Declaration of Independence proclaims that all persons are created equal. But, while we no longer practice slavery in this country, are people of color truly equal in our society?
"While African-Americans are certainly much better off than they were in centuries past, the socio-economic disparity between the races remains pronounced in the U.S. today.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2005 median income for white households was $48,554, while that of black households was only $30,858.
"The Bureau also reports that in 2001, 22.7 percent of blacks lived below the poverty level, while only 7.8 percent of non-Hispanic whites lived below the poverty level.
"And racism and race-based discrimination, while not politically correct in this day and age, are still rampant. People - especially white people - are just not comfortable talking about it.â€
Please also read:
"The Invisible People in a Land of Plenty" by Siv O'Neall, www.smirkingchimp.com, Mar 4 2007.
my guess about the lunch money statistic is this: 720 million dollars would buy lunch for 1 million children FOR A YEAR. That is, figure about $2 a meal wholesale to feed a child, and you've got about 720 million for a year.
So again to summarize: ONE DAY of spending for the Iraq war would feed a million children lunch FOR A YEAR!
The AFSC needs to upgrade their estimates. Assuming that the $720 million cost of the Iraq war is correct (it would be more if the long-term costs of disabled vets are taken into account), then their statement that this would provide 1,000,000 free lunches is a massive understatement. This works out to $720 per lunch! Assuming a more reasonable $5 per lunch, you could provide 144,000,000 free lunches per day. And taking into account that there are only about 180 days that kids go to school, it would provide 292,000,000 free lunches per day.
Needless to say, this obviously covers the 12,000,000 or so poor children in the US. You could probably provide free lunches for all the poor children in the Western Hemisphere.
Alternatively, suppose you took the money, about $260 billion annually, and divided it among the nation's poor. It works out to over $7,000 a person per year, enough to eliminate poverty in the US (or pretty close).
Really; do you think that those in Congress care about the well-being of American citizens in poverty? Those in Congress are bought and sold to serve the wealthy in America.
Voting serves as a tool to support the allusion of Democracy so that elected officials can continue to serve the wealthy.
“Power to the People,†not in this country.
The poverty threshold they quote is extremely ridiculous; 20,000 for a family of four? That amounts to just one person making 10$ an hour! All of those numbers need to be doubled; it is clear that the person who made them up has an income in the 150,000-200,000 range, and has no idea what it costs to live, and no, eating ramen three meals a day and sending your kids to school wearing the same clothes as they did two years ago is not living. It is dying. America pays most of it's citizenry a dying wage.
http://www.dreamingearth.net
Bush is no more a Christian than he is a Hindu or Muslim or Pagan. All religions that I know of encourage some minimum standard of morality.
The official poverty threshold in 2006, which many experts believe to be too low, was $20,614 for a family of four(both parents working full time at $5/hour!), about $16,000 ($8/hour)for a family of three, around $13,000 for a family of two and a little over $10,000 for an individual
That works out to be $5/hour for an individual! Nobody can live on that. It is criminal or simply Slavery 3.1 (XP). We can have a Democratic Capitalism! This phrase is a redundancy not an oxymoron! But we need to revision all our institutions. The IRS is a good place to look at:
If we used that self serving poverty level figure then recalibrated our "Marginal-progressive" income tax to be calculated not "nominally" but rather as a percentage of poverty level then we'd get some pressure from the top to rise the official poverty level! No tax extraction under 125% of poverty level then gradually increase the % per marginal increase. Also we can have the calculation of minimum wage worked out on a 1000 hour work year rather than the current 2000 hour. There is a family value plank!
Business models that are based on keeping wages bellow a living wage are illegitimate! Duh! "Well I can Make Millions if I can exploit workers" is a no brainer and must be understood a criminal!
There a great many other reforms to the Taxing system that must be envisioned. Once we start thinking along those lines the brilliance of our people will shine!
I would think that the economic figures are also effected by the fact that Bush is pumping up those figures with all the money he has borrowed to finance this war. Money that has to be paid back with interest. Is that figured into our supposed economic prosperity? The system has been rigged to favor those on the top of the economic ladder. And trickle down economics is nothing more than a plan to make all not included in there numbers subservient to the rich and their desires. A government that champions economic equality over special groups rather than the opposite will do more to fix this problem. The minimum standard should be the ability of people to work for a wage that is capable supporting their families. Fix these inequities and build a system around fairness and not the ability to take advantage of our fellow citizens hardship.
THIS ADMINISTRATION DOES NOT CARE! period.
Greed. power. money, robbing the US treasury is all they give a damn about. So yes, it does matter who you vote for. Care to convince the simple minded trusting sheeple who elected Chimp & Dickwad? Good ludk!!
God help us all...
Every time I've gone to Canada on vacation, I've never seen the number of poor, dirty, and ragged-looking people I've seen in the USA. Yes, I know Canada has a smaller population; I'm speaking about the proportion of poor in each country. There are less panhandlers in Canada, and even they look better off and healthier than their American counterparts. How long is the myth going to continue that America is the best country in the world? Our tax money goes for unnecessary wars and war profiteering for the super rich. They hate any social programs that help American citizens, e.g. Social Security which they're trying to stamp out.
"Noting that currently the U.S. government spends about $720 million a day on the war in Iraq, Joyce Miller, a human rights activist associated with AFSC, said that amount could buy school lunch for 1 million children."
Wait a moment.
$720 million a day could buy lunch for 1 million kids????
Is the author suggesting that we feed kids at a cost of $720.00 PER CHILD PER LUNCH???
A no-bid contract to Halburton, I presume?
Liberty & Justice
SJ
www.spartacusjones.com
Deepa said: Every day more than one million Americans become homeless. More than 3.4 million Americans become homeless every year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Deepa I think your numbers are a little off if 1 million people become homeless everyday that is 365 million per year more than the US population. I think you meant to say thousands. However, 3.4 million a year is horrible and deeply alarming.
As far as the White-controlled gov't you are referring to I see tons of white people who are homeless in DC and a lot of poor people in America are also white and barely scrapping by and I say that because there are a ton of poor white boys in the military without alot of job prospects or educational opportunities. Homelessness cuts across the races although I do think people of color are higher in numbers amongst the homeless but please lets not make this into a color issue as its an issue that impacts all of us.
Every day more than one million Americans become homeless. More than 3.4 million Americans become homeless every year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
There are no government developmental plans to uplift the people living in places like Skid Row, expect for keeping more police in such places so that the people living there remain there. The people who live there are condemned to poverty by the society and the government. Hospitals "dump" the poor, and old, who are sick and not even able to walk, and mentally challenged at Skid Row. Some of these activities were caught on tape. What it shows is that the poor are treated like a TRASH, not as fellow humanbeings with human dignity and value. As the trash is dumped in trash cans, so the American poor are dumped in TRASH CANS LIKE SKID ROW. Not many in Los Angeles have seen Skid Row and the plight of the people living there. The "outsiders" know about these people only on TV news. These "righteous" people say that Skid Row is not a place where a "righteous" person should go. I think the attitude and mindset of American society and government should change from labelling the "poor" as "lazy" or "addicts" or "criminals". This mindset is making the American society from seeing the larger picture of socio-economic apartheid that is being furthered by the white-controlled government. It is a shame that the community that had used minorities as SLAVES continue to expect them to be in the same socio-economic status even in the 21st century.
Let me quote the words of Francis of Assissi: "Basically I was giving the middle class a slap in the face. My poor garments said, “Don’t you see that it is you who are the thieves? That it is you who reduce your fellow citizens to poverty? You, Peter di Bernardone, you have grown rich only by squeezing the last drop of sweat out of your workers, and you live and thrive on the tears of those who worked for you before and who now, unemployed and enfeebled, lie begging alms on the steps of the churches of Assisi." "It is the poor one who saves: Middle-class rich boy that I was, I never would have thought that it would be the poor who would be my salvation. Owing to the upbringing I had received at my mother’s hands, as well as the attitude of the church I had been attending up until that time, I had always thought that it was we rich and well-to-do who would be the ones to rescue the poor. The latter depended on us, it seemed, and our generosity was their salvation. Without us they would have been destined to death. What blindness was ours and mine! The truth was just the contrary, and now life was demonstrating this to me. It was the poor who would be my salvation, and not I theirs. It was they who would put me back on my feet."
Jan I don't blame you for moving. My husband and I have been considering becoming Quality of Life Refugees also and moving overseas. It gets harder by the day to make it in America for so many.
Hey, isn't Cleveland not too far from Canada? Can we borrow Mr. Kucinich here? He just may be electable in Canada against the Bush-clone/clown that we're stuck with.
Seriously, one of the reasons I moved here is the different values regarding quality of life and income.
In the US, you're either rich, poor, or trying to be rich, or trying to avoid being poor.
What happened to "frugality?" There is NO support for "voluntary simplicity" in the bipolar US -- you're either poor, or you're not.
Wouldn't it be great if, in the face of the coming decline in energy and other resources, the US government were willing to reward people who were willing to live on less?
Sorry for hijacking this thread. I have no argument with the article, except for it's implicit strengthening of the "woe is me" view of "poverty," when in a world gone right, there should be an article about the "nouveau frugal" and how they're changing the public's opinion of the relationship between quality of life and income.
Being a quality-of-life refugee from the US, I have no doubt that very few of the 36 million people cited as poor are voluntarily so, nor are they much enjoying their frugality.
This type of reporting, as we all know, rarely shows itself in the U.S. media; or else on page 19. This is not only a national disgrace, it is a moral and humanitarian disgrace.
As long as this country is led by millionaires and billionaires, there is no end in sight to this horrific situation.
Having said the above, I must AGAIN bring forth the name of Congressman Dennis Kucinich...
This is a man who grew up living in a car on occasion!
This is a man who currently lives in a "normal" American community in his home state of Cleveland, Ohio.
This is a man who has seen, felt, and REMEMBERS poverty. This is a man who has always--and STILL DOES--champion the "We The People" who represent the working, struggling, tax-paying citizens of this country.
This is a man who wants to end the murderous American rampages in Iraq and Afghanistan--and stop cold the soon-to-be assault on Iran.
This is a man who wants to take the "blood money" and turn it into "Love money" and return this land to its rightful owners--"We The People"!
In short: This is THE Man we have all waited for!!!
This is about Dennis Kucinich and "We The People" against the Corporate States of America. (C.S.A.) If we don't support this chance to regain our country and support this man at THIS TIME in history, we have failed, not only Mr. Kucinich and "We The People"--we have failed future generations.
Americans spend 720 million dollars a day on the war in Iraq...
Funny that there was not enough money for family services and educational programs or help for Katrina victims or any other services provided by our government, but 720 million a day for an unnecessary war is not a problem.
Wake up America!
I think that we need to give a 'trickle up' economy a try. The only thing that ever trickles down is G O P.
Annika: Some "feminists" are more concerned with allowed these poor women the "wonderful" (so-called) right of abortion than with worrying about how to change what needs to be changed to pull these women out of their poverty. Instead, many of these "feminists" argue that the single moms should not have had their "unwanted" children. Those children are to blame, I guess. Anyway, I never chose to conceive a child and yet I'm in no better shape financially now, at 54, than I was at 24. Oh, except for the health insurance--I had it back then, when I rarely, if ever, needed it.
leomanBK: The computer I am communicating with right now was given to me four years ago by a kind-hearted soul who knew I wanted to be a writer. I used it as I put myself through school trying to get a decent job. Now that I am an adjunct professor, I'm still working with it. However, each day I find out there's something else I can't do with it because the version I have is "not supported" any longer. Every computer for itself.
In terms of health insurance, let me tell you a little story: I recently began playing baseball for the first time in my life. In May, I missed a pop up and it hit me in the eye. For a few stitches, 2 Tylenol, a few pictures of my head (empty) and face (ugly), and a quick exam, I've struggled to pay $246.50 per month. Today, I found out that I was only paying the "doctors' bills" (well over $1,500), because I received a bill from the hospital for more than $5,100 for the same treatment. All that for a small black eye. I can't even imagine getting a more serious illness. It's an absolute disgrace. More and more I'm realizing how this society is reflection of the DEATH CULTURE that has killed civilizations for millennia.