The South is America's poverty belt, and Republicans want to make all of America more like the South

[doxydad]

The South has never been America's bright spot when it comes to things like poverty and health outcomes, but recent years show that there's always room for things to get worse:

North Carolina and a handful of other Southern U.S. states saw the biggest increases in the number of people living in what are known as "poverty areas" between 2000 and 2010, according to a new Census Bureau report. Poverty areas are places where more than 20 percent of the people live below the federal poverty line, which varies by family size. For a family of four, the poverty line in most states is an annual income of $23,850. [...]

Note that Southern states were five of the six biggest gainers. This should not be much of a shock, as Southern states consistently lag the rest of the country in good things like wages, economic mobility and access to health care, while leading it in bad things like poverty, obesity and general unhappiness. Another thing Southern states have in common is Republican political leaders that have spent the past decade shrinking the social safety net.

It's terribly sad and kind of a blot on the entire country that such a large region of the country could have such high poverty. But what's worse is that Republicans want to expand the policies that heighten the distress in the South across the entire country.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/07/02/1311236/-The-South-is-America-s-poverty-belt-and-Republicans-want-to-make-all-of-America-more-like-the-South

[RKP5637]

1. More afraid of these guys than "them" over there. n/t

[RainDog]

2. The religion that's predominant in the region is one of THE biggest problems

People are taught to reject science for belief in bullshit. When you teach this to a kid from birth, when authority figures in your community uphold these beliefs (whether for cynical reasons or not), when social conformity, which is so important to the belief system itself, as it is with every CULT, reinforces the beliefs and threatens those within the community with eternal death and torture if they don't agree with your pov...

Then that's a big part of the problem.

We also know it's a big part of the problem when we look at other nations and what sort of govt. they have - and, overwhelmingly, those nations that refuse to allow cults like the Southern Baptists to get a foothold in their nations are the same nations with better govts. for the most people - i.e. social safety nets, educational standards, rejection of shame if someone has a personal problem...

So, the south needs to be deprogrammed.