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Today's Top News
Study: Already High Level of Poverty Likely to Get Worse
Ranks of American Poor Forecast to Grow Until at Least 2017: Study
2010 Census Bureau figures recently revealed that the US poverty level had skyrocketed and noted that the population of poor Americans had climbed to 46.2 million. A new study released today by Indiana University compounds that bad news by predicting that things are likely to get worse before they get better.
A soup kitchen in Detroit. The report said Michigan had one of the highest rates of poverty, with minorities among the hardest hit. Photograph: Mark Blinch/Reuters As reported by The Guardian:
The report warns that the numbers will continue to rise, because although the recession is technically over, its continued impact on cuts to welfare budgets and the quality of new, often poorly paid, jobs can be expected to force many more people in to poverty. It is also difficult for those already under water to get back up again.
"Poverty in America is remarkably widespread," concludes the study, At Risk: America's Poor During and After the Great Recession. "The number of people living in poverty is increasing and is expected to increase further, despite the recovery."
And the reason? According to John Graham, one of the authors of the report, it was surprising. As he told the Guardian:
"The unique feature of the great recession is not just the high rate of unemployment, but the long duration of unemployment that millions of Americans have experienced. [For] a lot of these long-term unemployed, the job that they had won't exist when they go back in to the labour market."
The deeper and more troubling cause, however is a man-made disaster: the politically driven budget-cutting austerity strategy that has followed the financial crash in 2007.
The Indiana University study says that the numbers of people falling into poverty is also likely to grow because of severe cuts to state and federal welfare budgets.
"The states by their constitutions all have to have a balanced budget each year. A lot of states are already in the process of cutting back their safety net programs at the same time that poverty is increasing," said Graham. "Their needs are going up but the programs are receiving less support. It's going to continue because the revenues of state governments are not increasing as rapidly as is needed and the federal government will be under a lot of pressure because of its large deficit to decrease funding given to the states."
And things are likely to get much worse if unemployment benefits are not extended. This represents another political battle that played out in Washington at the end of 2011 and will return as Congress picks up a future extension later this month. According to Reuters:
If the long-term unemployed lose their unemployment insurance benefits before the economy produces enough well-paying jobs, the ranks of the "new poor" will continue to swell steadily through 2017, the study found.
"Many of the 'new poor' are the former middle class," broadcaster Tavis Smiley, who requested the study, said in a statement. "Poor people are not moochers and welfare queens, as some would like you to believe."
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37 Comments so far
Show AllWhy are we still calling this a "Recession" and saying that it's "technically over?? For WHOM?
It is neither a recession or depression, it IS a paradigm change that channels all resources out of the hands of the 99% and into the hands of the 1%.
The 2010 figures cited were compiled prior to most of the uemployed running out of unemployment insurance benefits, and prior to many foreclosures being completed. Unless the 2011 figures are cooked to understate the problems, they will present a much bleaker picture.
The study fails to mention a big reason for poverty -- namely the extreme wealth of the few. Here's what that commie Adam Smith had to say in the Wealth of Nations:
"Wherever there is a great property, there is great inequality. For one very rich man, there must be at least five hundred poor, and the affluence of the few supposes the indigence of the many."
The wealthy control the economy and our "representatives" for their personal benefit. We have the obscenity of health care executives making $100 million a year while paying for health care is the #1 source of personal bankruptcy in the US. The Pentagon is building the F-22 fighters for $400 million EACH!!! while our schools lack music teachers and librarians and millions of kids go hungry. One stinking fighter could fund a large-size school district for a year.
Unless we can wrest control from the rich, our country will continue to swirl down the toilet.
Yes, it is sad we "Americans" have been asleep as the commons have been systematically removed. Who do we blame for our negligence?
This is not to say that there are no evil actors; that is a given. To fight or object to others because they are powerful and in control is failing to see the power that is ours, i.e. the power we extended while we were asleep. No one will ride in on a white horse to save us.
Remove power from the powerful by becoming less dependent on them. Let us find our own voice, one that is inclusive, and expansive, with actions that destabilize and destruct the present system we rail against. Take power back, and the fight the 1% want to have to gain superiority doesn't happen. They lose.
Yes, it is sad we "Americans" have been asleep as the commons have been systematically removed. Who do we blame for our negligence?
This is not to say that there are no evil actors; that is a given. To fight or object to others because they are powerful and in control is failing to see the power that is ours, i.e. the power we extended while we were asleep. No one will ride in on a white horse to save us.
Remove power from the powerful by becoming less dependent on them. Let us find our own voice, one that is inclusive, and expansive, with actions that destabilize and destruct the present system we rail against. Take power back, and the fight the 1% want to have to gain superiority doesn't happen. They lose.
Unfortunately, while "the 1%" may be a clever slogan, it has little basis in reality. The real percentage of the population that benefits from or is invested in the capitalist status quo also includes the professional, white collar occupations that comprise the "coordinator class". These occupations dominate the upper two quintiles or 30-40% of the population. I am a member of the coordinator class myself, albeit a "class traitor", but I am the only one in my workplace. Even in far poorer countries like Venezuela, and even with a vigorous elected government attempting to empower the poor, the affluent coordinator class has foiled most of the most effective measures through control of the media and often, violence.
So, between the coordinator class and the vast ranks media-brainwashed Mr. Blocks (look it up if you need to), a majority stands to resist the radical change we sorely need. Job #1 will be media-related action before any other progress.
Little Eichmanns. I know many of them and deal with them every day.
Just as William Blum has spoken about how Americans embrace their serial chain saw baby killer leaders, the very comfortable among us -- the rich as opposed to the wealthy, who rule the rich -- also live off of the suffering of the many and turn their callous blind eyes away from it.
I don't believe, however, they occupy the top to quintiles of the population, but closer to 10%, because a lot of former secure and prosperous jobs that used to belong to that category no longer exist.
Good comment.
Too many people parrot things without reflection. Though less than 1% actually have any say in deciding the course of events, a sizable percentage occupies relative positions of privilege and insures that the programs decided by the elite will be implemented.
Media related action? that seems to depend entirely on the less than 1%. At any point, 'alternative' sites such as CD can be interrupted in numbers of ways as can their readers/contributors.
Who is Mr. Block?
"Mr. Block is legion," wrote Walker C. Smith in 1913. "He is representative of that host of slaves who think in terms of their masters. Mr. Block owns nothing, yet he speaks from the standpoint of the millionaire; he is patriotic without patrimony; he is a law-abiding outlaw .. [who] licks the hand that smites him and kisses the boot that kicks him .. the personification of all that a worker should not be."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr._Block
Thank you pjd412
I just heard an interesting statistic yesterday. The six Walton heirs to Sam Walton (Walmart) make more income in a year than 90 million Americans on the lowest tier. Inequality much? Also, if we want to reclaim our democracy and start getting real representation for we the people, we must get a constitutional amendment to the constitution that states that corporations are not people and money is not free speech. Find your nearest Move-to-Amend group or Occupy. And find an Occupy the Courts on 1/20/12. If we the people do not rise up and get this done, it's going to be a whole lot worse than this study predicts.
Dfairly -- Apt Adam Smith quote.
Adam Smith is supposedly the patron saint of 'market' fundamentalists but they like to quote him very, very selectively.
As dire as this report is, what makes them think that everything might turn around in 2017? Perhaps they are conceding that after 2017, they don't have a clue what will happen.
Actually, there is no compelling reason to believe that this economic decline comes with an expiration date. The impact of peak oil and global climate chaos-- huge economic shocks -- are waiting eagerly in the wings.
Ideologically, the plutocracy is willing to sacrifice the Middle Class-- and just about everything else -- to make sure that its own immense piece of the pie keeps on growing. They own both political parties, they have neutered democracy and the Bill of Rights, they control the mass media, they command the military, the police, the prison systems, etc. -- so let the swelling masses of the poor eat Hostess Twinkies & catch up on the latest celebrity gossip.
Thank you NMLib. Futher, we need to define who the "welfare queens" actually are. They would include the Koch Bros., the entire Bu$h family, and 99%of the 1%. These assholes, the so called "job creators" cost the true producers of this country a thousand times more than do those who are truly destitute. So why aren't we cutting their welfare benefits? You know what they are: corporate subsidies, interest free loans, allowing them to stash funds in off shore tax havens, etc. Corporations are supposed to contribute to society, not parasitcally feed from it. If they don't contribute, revoke their charter and if criminal activity is found, directly charge the CEO and board of directors with the crimes the corporation has committed against OUR society.
Why are you stopping there? Shareholders need to be held accountable as well. Fine them into the stone age as well.
Get rid of the elected officials. Vote for Rocky Anderson of the Justice Party.
I'm in, but what hope do we have for Congress and the SCOTUS?
Teddy Roosevelt announced that he refuses to work with a corrupt Congress. That's a start. FDR had a lot of enemies, but he managed to turn the country around. If the occupy movement supported the President, they could educate the public. The occupy movement in Wash D.C. doesn't approve of either the Republican or Democratic party. They're recommending the Justice Party or the Green Party as an alternative..
Demand socialism or communism. With more than 8% of the electorate voting for socialists or commies during th 30s the politicians supported FDR's New Deal, figuring that throwing a few crumbs to the workers would keep them from electing commies. When the "commie threat" disappeared forty years ago corporations and the politicians they own started withdrawing the crumbs they had previously tossed to the workers.
The New Poor started back in the 1980's when the Conservatives were voted into power. Remember the contract on America that started the right wing class war against the poor. Reagan loved to talk about the Welfare Queens but never talked about the Welfare Corporate Kings.Welfare reform has caused so much silent suffering for the new poor in this country. The right wingnuts tell America that Obama has more people on food stamps than ever before but the people should know that more people are poor because of right wing policies of cutting taxes of the rich, while waging two wars to starve the government of revenue needed to help Americans get living wage jobs building and repairing America. Why doesn't someone ask what do republicans recommend Obama do, let their fellow Americans, who they say we must protect from the terrorist with trillion dollar wars, starve on the streets?
genie, the rape of the 99% isn't left, right, or center. It isn't D or R. The whole system is corrupt and everybody in government had their hands in the cookie jar. But no cookie crumbs left to fall off the table anymore for the 99%. Time to wake up. It's all up to us now. And we can only take back our government for the people by putting aside all these labels and finger pointing. We are all in this together or we will be crushed by the elite. They love all these divisive labels because it keeps us divided. I ain't goin' for it. United we stand, divided we fall. And I ain't fallen for it.
Part of our collective problem is that so many of the poor who vote do so AGAINST their own best interests. Many of them vote single issue (pro life for example) without regard for so many other problems that beset their lives. Many believe that they are poor because government is 'too big' that another group (welfare queens, 'illegal aliens', minorities etc etc) are getting the breaks they should). Many of the poor ardently support the wars, many of their young went to fight because it was the only work they could find, even though these wars litlerally took food out of their rmouths. They will oppose the consumer protection agency while being in hock to 'pay-day' lenders. Its really very sad. But as I say all this I am also aware of the over arching 'blame the victim' mentality that exists, perhaps I'm being guilty of that too!
You imply that there is a way for us - you know, the dumb poor folk - to vote in our own interests. There is not. Therefore, it cannot be correct to say that "many of the poor who vote do so against their own best interests."
Look elsewhere to assign blame. How can those with the least power and no voice be to blame for the conditions in the country?
I hang among working class folks who vote against their own interests more often than the poor folks do.
Most working people are poor people, they just don't realize it.
What would voting in their interests be, and how does the way people vote affect anything? You cannot berate people for making the wrong choice when there is no good choice, and when it doesn't matter what they choose.
Hear hear!
All of those issues intentionally sensationalized and trumped up to make the people distracted and pitted against each other. Personally, I think it is mostly a smoke screen to make stealing elections in favor of people that are obviously a determent to the good of the people, plausible.
See this issue that we told you seventeen thousand times is important to people, well it tipped the scales. So people voted against all their needs to send a message. Total BS for simpletons.
So you think that the growing disparity of incomes in this country is a smokescreen to keep people distracted?
I think you have just created a smokescreen to distract from the disastrous right wing economic policies of the last 30 years coming home to roost.
Marlborough, I think maybe all of us have been voting against our own best interest for years. Like the poor you mentioned, we just didn't realize it. That's how we got in this mess. The elite have been orchestrating elections for years to get their bought and paid for puppets in office to do their bidding. It's only now that the middle class is waking up to the fact that they have been screwed all along. That they have been lied to all along. The poor folks haven't had any better choices than the rest of us. They just voted for those that they thought treated them with more respect when they lied to them.
As poverty figures climb, real estate figures will plunge. More people will walk away from their homes because they owe more than the property is worth.
........Waste, greed and stupidity are destroying this country. When the Titanic goes down, most will not survive the economic destruction. That's when the revolution will begin in this country.
You wait'n? What for?
i suppose it could be considered a positive thing when a study conducted by a university confirms what many have known to be true all along: that bursting bubbles, tax cuts for the rich and unchecked growth in military ventures/spending will have disasterous long-term implications on vast numbers of people.
methinks the climate change denier types still won't be convinced.
Reagans' trickle down and Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy job creators should be kickin' in any day now. And while these people live in poverty, go hungry, homeless, children scared for life, their are record profits, record CEO pay, record bonues.
It looks like we'll have two corporate stoooges to chose from for President, both annointed and funded by Wall St.
Two stooges to chose from? I think their other parties and people on our ballots. Choose one of those. We don't have to continue this lessor of two evils game. Your vote. Your choice.
That’ s odd, when I watch a commercial I don’t see any poverty? The families in the commercials are doing quite well. Perfect homes, perfect wives with husbands and children , and even dog is perfect. They seem to have all the latest electronic gadgets, and everyone fit and trim. They are all sitting around watching TV on their new 60 inch HD TV with 250 channels . And everyone has laptops too. Even the dog! The American dream is seems intact?
Hmm, I just don’t understand it?
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The supposedly the story goes something like this.
Many decades ago I can’t remember exactly, but a group of journalists from Russia toured the U.S. has the quests of American journalists. At the end of the tour some of the Russian journalists asked a question: How do you do it?
The Americans replied, do what? In the Soviet Union the Russians said we have to send people to the Siberia to get these kind of results. Every channel we watch, everywhere we go, the Russians said the message Is constant and consistent. Again, how you do it? The American journalists were completely at a loss has to what they were talking about.
It is interesting that although the unemployment level stays about the same, or even when it drops slightly, the only thing on the news is layoffs and closures. The statistics are based on a ratio of unemployed to the counted work force.
Without getting into the technicalities of how these statistics are compiled, which is deeply flawed, and different from how things are calculated in other countries, I will begin to believe there is a recovery when there is news of massive hiring (for fulltime permanent jobs with benefits) that outweighs news of layoffs and closures. Such news is just not there.
And if, or when, any massive hiring starts, it will be at wages far lower than the jobs formerly paid. Indeed, there will only be new hiring if wages go down. There is a quiet building consensus among Republicans (with plenty of Democrats going along of course) for a push to lower minimum wage in the next congress. Some propose abiolishing it.
The US is on a big-business led downward spiral to Honduras or El-Salvador conditions of misery - and the business community loves it. If there is a countervailing economic force under de-unionized "free market" labor conditions to prevent this, I'd love to hear someone explain what it could be.
Tavis Smiley is moderating a forum on solutions to American poverty to be broadcast live on C-Span tonight, Jan. 12th, at 6:30pm
See: www.c-spanvideo.org/schedule.
Growing poverty, hunger and suffering are screaming for our attention, humane solutions, action plans and hands-on caring and sharing so that human needs are met and terrible suffering is relieved.
"I am somehow less interested in the weight and convolutions of
Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent
have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops."
Stephen Jay Gould