U.S. Child Poverty Second Highest Among Developed Nations: Report
A new report from UNICEF suggests it's possible. The latest edition of UNICEF's report on child poverty in developed countries found that 30 million children in 35 of the world's richest countries live in poverty. Among those countries, the United States ranks second on the scale of what economists call "relative child poverty" -- above Latvia, Bulgaria, Spain, Greece, and 29 others. Only Romania ranks higher, with 25.5 percent of its children living in poverty, compared with 23.1 percent in the U.S.
The term "relative child poverty" refers to a child living in a household where the disposable income is less than half of the national median income. Many critics argue that relative poverty isn't the same as real hardship, or absolute poverty.
But the report brushes that away. Poverty is "essentially a relative concept," it says. For example, a little more than a century ago, the wealthiest people in the world didn't have cars. It concedes, however, that the measurement has some weaknesses. First, a child's well-being doesn't always correspond to the parents' income. Second, comparing the relative poverty rates of various countries doesn't make sense unless the countries have similar median incomes.
Because of these weaknesses the report considers "child deprivation." To measure this, researchers produced a list of 14 items found in most middle-class households and counted the number of children whose families couldn't afford them. The list included Internet connection, new clothes, three daily meals, two pairs of properly fitting shoes, and "the opportunity, from time to time, to invite friends home to play and eat."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/30/us-child-poverty-report-unicef_n_1555533.html
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What have we come to!?!?
& R
the fact that, as baby boomers, we may well be the very LAST generation who remembers how much different,
how much better and more promising America once was for the average person.
I actually shock some younger people -- they sometimes disbelieve me -- when I tell them that
America did not always have a "homeless" problem.
I met a young woman a few years ago on a plane, and we were discussing the Iraq War and how it pulled
lower income people disproportionately from the populace. .She sighed, and said "Yes, the poor have always had to fight the wars".
I was shocked, especially since she seemed rather bright and was planning on majoring in history in college!
I told her this was NOT true, that this basically started with the Vietnam War and that
virtually EVERY able bodied male -- including each of FDR's five sons -- served in WWII.
Depressing. 
totally lopsided rich vs. poor incomes.
