UN Hits Back at US Saying Parts of America are as Poor as Third World

[beetbox]

UN hits back at US in report saying parts of America are as poor as Third World

By Paul Vallely

Published: 08 September 2005


Parts of the United States are as poor as the Third World, according to a shocking United Nations report on global inequality. Claims that the New Orleans floods have laid bare a growing racial and economic divide in the US have, until now, been rejected by the American political establishment as emotional rhetoric. But yesterday's UN report provides statistical proof that for many - well beyond those affected by the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina - the great American Dream is an ongoing nightmare.

The document constitutes a stinging attack on US policies at home and abroad in a fightback against moves by Washington to undermine next week's UN 60th anniversary conference which will be the biggest gathering of world leaders in history.

The annual Human Development Report normally concerns itself with the Third World, but the 2005 edition scrutinises inequalities in health provision inside the US as part of a survey of how inequality worldwide is retarding the eradication of poverty.

It reveals that the infant mortality rate has been rising in the US for the past five years - and is now the same as Malaysia. America's black children are twice as likely as whites to die before their first birthday.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article311066.ece

[tsuki]

1. Hello, all Republicans. You are not dealing with constituency that

has been taught by the Murdock/Saudi News Corp to worship all things Conservative. Welcome to the real world, and you too, Bolton.

[RadiDem]

2. Read this report ! Documented proof of GOP war on America

how will bushco bury this ?

[shanti]

3. and getting poorer by the minute

we are on the downward slide into being a third world country ourselves due to the fascists.

[pinto]

4. Kick. Health care, it's for everyone.

[drhilarius]

5. "the infant mortality rate has been rising...

in the US for the past five years".

I've said it once before, and I'll say it once again: culture of life my ass.

[IndianaGreen]

20. Compare our infant mortality with Cuba's

and tell me which system is the most humane.

[0007]

34. That could be is a wake up call for folks that's on snooze control

and busy counting their shekels.

[Benhurst]

6. The World's Only Superpower. Yeah. Sure. NT

[Megahurtz]

42. Kick.

:kick:

[Jim Sagle]

7. They are NOT so poor, so STOP SAYING THAT!

:rofl:

[newswolf56]

8. The DemoPublican politicians of the United States and the oligarchy...

that owns them have been waging war on the poor for nearly 30 years. To those of us who understand the magnitude of the betrayal -- the horrific extent to which the poor and disabled have been victimized by BOTH parties -- this United Nations report is a welcome breath of truth. Perhaps it -- especially in the context of Katrina -- will serve as a wake-up call to the Democratic Party to renew its commitment to economic justice (though only John Edwards seems to truly understand the issue). If not, all of us who are not part of the oligarchy -- even people now comfortably employed -- are doomed to eventual disenfranchisement.

[Dhalgren]

10. True words, brother.

"All of us who are not part of the oligarchy -- even people now comfortably employed -- are doomed to eventual disenfranchisement." And assured slavery. We need to start a serious petition to the UN for relief. I think the only thing a humane world community can do is send in troops and help the majority of Americans get back on our feet and take back our democracy from the usurpers. We cannot do it ourselves without massive casualties and immense destruction - but if it comes to that...

[Trillo]

11. This last point you make is perhaps the saddest,

and simultaneously the brightest. Eventually, the pendulum swings. How hard and how many more people have to be hurt before it swings is what we don't know. If everyone has to become disenfranchised before the pendulum swings, then looking back in history for answers of what that future time might look like, suggests the swing will be bloodier.

Yay to the UN for telling the US leaders what they steadfastly deny (lie).

[bvar22]

21. Others who "GET IT":

The Congressional Black Caucus, Dennis Kucinich, Bernie Sanders,
The Progressive Democrats of America (PDA).

http://www.pdamerica.org/

[Kralizec]

9. Good find, Beetbox! I recommend this for a read. * has dug a huge hole

for himself this time. I hope to see more people and organizations standing up for themselves now.

[dweller]

12. a bit more of article

" Last month John Bolton, the new US ambassador to the UN, submitted 750 amendments to the draft declaration for next week's summit to strengthen the UN and review progress towards its Millennium Development Goals to halve world poverty by 2015.

The report launched yesterday is a clear challenge to Washington. The Bush administration wants to replace multilateral solutions to international problems with a world order in which the US does as it likes on a bilateral basis.

"This is the UN coming out all guns firing," said one UN insider. "It means that, even if we have a lame duck secretary general after the Volcker report (on the oil-for-food scandal), the rest of the organisation is not going to accept the US bilateralist agenda."

The clash on world poverty centres on the US policy of promoting growth and trade liberalisation on the assumption that this will trickle down to the poor. But this will not stop children dying, the UN says. Growth alone will not reduce poverty so long as the poor are denied full access to health, education and other social provision. Among the world's poor, infant mortality is falling at less than half of the world average. To tackle that means tackling inequality - a message towards which John Bolton and his fellow US neocons are deeply hostile. "


where is the whole report from the UN? anyone know?

dp

[CHIMO]

15. Human Development Report 2005

Download separate chapters or the whole document.


http://hdr.undp.org/reports/global/2005/

[dweller]

18. YO, you da ... um ...

CHIMO!

:hi:

thanks so much.
dp

[CHIMO]

19. You're Welcome n/t

[beetbox]

17. For Further Information

For further information, please contact:  Roberto Guimaraes, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, tel.:  [phone], e-mail:  [e-mail].



The Report of the World Social Situation 2005: The Inequality Predicament (Sales No. E.05.IV.5, ISBN 92-1-130243-5) may be obtained from United Nations Publications, Two UN Plaza, Room DC2-853, Dept. PRES, New York, NY 10017, USA; tel.:  [phone] or [phone], fax:  [phone], e-mail:  [e-mail]; or Section des Ventes et Commercialisation, Bureau E-4, Palais des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland; tel.:  [phone], fax:  [phone], e-mail:  [e-mail], Internet: http://www.un.org/publications.

http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2005/soc4681.doc.htm

Report on the World Social Situation 2005: The Inequality Predicament

Price: $ 15.00
Sales Number: 05.IV.5
ISBN: 9211302439
Year: 2005

Pages: 172
Binding: Paperback
Format: Print
Dimensions: 6x9
Type: Recurring

Publishing Agency: United Nations (UN)
Department: Department of Economic and Social Affairs

Published August, 2005.

In English.


The 2005 Report on the World Social Situation focuses on the international aspects of inequality. As emphasized by the ten-year review of the implementation of the Copenhagen Declaration and Programme of Action, there has been uneven progress in many areas of social development, with important regression in others. The main assumption of this report is that issues of equity and inequality have acquired such importance nowadays that it renders a difficult task to strengthen the development agenda without first addressing the segmentation of society that, among other reasons, rising levels of inequality have produced.

Subjects: Development (Social Sciences)

[alittlelark]

13. Please, let the ppl of the US wake up!!!

If the UN can do it.... BULLY for the UN!

[TomInTib]

14. Bolton - the great diplomat - should have some fun with this. n/t

[Lone_Star_Dem]

16. Good for the UN, shine your light on our problems!

Look at these points made, and after you do stop being "proud to be an American" until these facts change!

Child mortality is on the rise in the United States

The infant mortality rate in the US is now the same as in Malaysia

Blacks in Washington DC have a higher infant death rate than people in the Indian state of Kerala

Hispanic Americans are more than twice as likely as white Americans to have no health cover

Child poverty rates in the United States are now more than 20 per cent


edited first sentence for clarity

[AuntiBush]

22. When Bangladesh & Other 3RD World Countries Offer Aide,

well, what does that tell you. And still the Propoganda Machin is in full swing since late Friday claiming we're accepting it when in fact Bush is not. But hey, what's a few thousand or more American bodies floating 'round in cyst pools.

World's Poorest Nations Offering Katrina Help:
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0906KatrinaWorld06-ON.html

Asian Countries Offering Help to Flood Victims:
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-katrina-world,0,1091657.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

More then 90 Nations offering US Help for Katrina:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9231819/

Too many to note here. Better mirror these. They'll surely delete them for all of eternity.

[raccoon]

32. Thanks for those links.

I noticed Saudi Arabia wasn't on this list.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9233116/

Did they contribute anything, or offer to, that anybody knows of?

[DBoon]

23. I predict the average american lifespan will decline

This is a sure sign of a society that has become completely corrupt - when citizens health declines by the most basic measures.

This has happened in post-soviet russia, for similar reasons. The social fabric is being destroyed, the wealthy are looting from the poor, and the few social safety nets vanish.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

26. It may have already declined for the residents of the toxic dump formerly

known as the city of New Orleans(and hopefully will be again).

[Erika]

24. Yep

and the Bushbots keep their eyes closed as they wait for more tax cuts and consider themselves Christians.

[RageFist]

25. They WANT to be poor, don't you know?! n/t

[karynnj]

27. Many of the poorest area are in red states

[greekspeak]

28. Want some support for this contention?

Soon before I left SPringfield, Missouri for Tallahassee, FL, my friend shawna's girlfriend had a freind in town, a young woman from Romania. Sounds funny bear with me. Shawna wanted to show her some of the "sights." So we took her to a place south of town called Hootentown Bridge. Now I had not been there in a while. I had no idea what condition it was in when we went there. There were dead fish on the river bank of the toxic river. There was trash strewn everyplace on the river side. Across the road, there were trashed out trailers people were living in. Beside this group of trailers was a make-shift junk yard that apparently the people in the trailers had built.

The young lady from Romania was astonished at the squalor and dead fish. She finally said, "This looks like Albania." Albania? ALBANIA? Right there in America's heartland was a snapshot of Albania. What resonates in my mind now is that places like Hootentown can be found all over that area. Springfield I know has a neighborhood where there are dirt floors, no running water, and no electricity. People starve every day in all our communities. Now we have a city in which a large segment of the population was punished for its poverty with starvation, dehydration and exposure. How much of this can be found in America? It is everyplace. New Orleans, I fear, is only the tip of an iceburg of third world America. :cry:

[BiggJawn]

29. That's not entirely true....

Parts of the Third World get relief aid and food from international caring agencies.

Not aware of any UNICEF aid coming to Murka......

12.7% in poverty...

[raccoon]

33. And the official poverty rate is meaningless.

Because the way it's measured is ridiculous.

What is defined as "official poverty level" now? in 2004 it was

$19,307 for 4 people (source: http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/threshld/thresh04.html

The cost of living is certainly greater in some areas than in others, but how 4 people could make it on this amount, even in a place where the cost of living is low, I don't see. Unless they were VERY lucky in some ways, such as, lived in a paid-for house that was inherited from parents, grew a lot of their own food, etc.

I think you could take the official poverty level and multiply it by 2 and get a more realistic figure.

[Nihil]

40. I hear what you're saying ...

... but think about the difference between the American "poverty level"
and that of true Third World countries ...

[SillyGoose]

30. We can pay for Universal Health Care for Iraq but not for the US.

Thank you for posting this article. I'm glad the UN exposed the dirty little secret of escalting poverty in the US that this country tries to hide.

Reading that article made me very angry. We are ignoring a huge problem here. Hopefully this will force a serious discussion on getting universal health care for all Americans for starters. We spend billions of dollars on all sorts of things like unnecessary wars but can't take care of our own people. Its despicable that our priorities are so skewed.
-------------------------------------------------------------------

Bush Administration Ignores 44 Million Uninsured in U.S as it Awards Contract for Universal Health Care in Iraq

Reps. DeGette, Dingell, Brown Demand President Commit to Health Care for All Americans and All Iraqis April 30, 2003


WASHINGTON, DC - On the day that the Bush Administration awarded a contract to Abt Associates to provide universal health service to 25 million Iraqis within a year, U.S. Representatives Diana DeGette (D-CO), John D. Dingell (D-MI), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) called on President Bush to provide the same commitment to the 44 million Americans without health care coverage.

The contract by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) seeks to “help facilitate rapid, universal health service delivery to the Iraqi population” including “basic health care available to 12.5 million persons” after six months and “25 million persons” after one year of program implementation. The Administration also requires all 25 million Iraqis to have maternal, child health care, and health information and education after six months of program implementation.

“The problems in Iraq are daunting. There is only one doctor for every 1,667 people compared to 1 for every 400 in the United States. Life expectancy is 60 years for men and 58 for women, compared to 74 and 79 in the United States. The country’s infrastructure is in shambles,” said Rep. DeGette. “If, despite all of these huge challenges, we can provide universal health care in Iraq within one year, we can certainly find a way to provide coverage to the 400,000 Coloradoans and 44 million Americans without health care coverage.”

“I’m pleased the Administration is taking quick action to ensure health care for Iraq’s people, but remain disappointed that the same effort is not being put forth to protect America’s uninsured,” said Rep. Dingell, Ranking Member, Committee on Energy and Commerce. “If the President were not wedded to an ill-conceived, over-inflated tax-cut, we could afford to take care of millions of our citizens who have no insurance.” ...
http://www.house.gov/commerce_democrats/press/108nr17.htm
(more at link)

[Lost4words]

31. Its true and getting worse IMHO! n/t

[Just Me]

35. US poverty has steadily increased over the last 25 years,...

,...with a bubble in the last 5 years. It's horrifying to me, the number of impoverished individuals in a country so rich in resources and wealth.

Clearly, the foreign and domestic policies here have moved further and further away from poverty eradication and into predatory profitteering ---> exploitation of others no matter what the consequences. America has lost her sense of humanity, I guess.

[researchok]

36. Well, there is a credibility gap

What kind of response does this merit?
http://sigcarlfred.blogspot.com/2005/09/update-pigs-arent-very-pretty-are-they.html

[Just Me]

38. Considering the BushCO/neoCON regime pathologically lies,...

,...to EVERYONE about EVERYTHING (especially with respect to their true plans and intentions involving the exploitation of our trust, our lives and our wealth), credibility isn't an issue under the circumstances.

You can choose to live in complete denial about your beloved leader. It doesn't change the facts that he and his regime have increased their own personal power and profits by intentionally exploiting the American people.

[Javaman]

37. Infant mortality rate up in past 5 years, poverty up in past 5 years...

I guess we do have to paint a picture for the dense American public. The American dream is a sham and always has been a sham, it's propagated by the manufacturers and advertizers to sell their crappy ass projects that we don't need all in the sake of this false American dream bullshit they cooked up years ago to make us believe we need their crap.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

39. Sad to say, the Republican rank-and-file, the poor deluded

folks who voted against their own interests in 2000 and 2004, have been inoculated against paying attention to the UN by about 25 years of right-wing propaganda.

I recall during the Reagan administration that some right-winger (I forget which one) wrote a diatribe about how the U.N. was full of Communists and consisted of "little countries" trying to "push the U.S. around." The right-wing has told its radio and magazine audience that the U.N. is an evil conspiracy that wants to destroy the sovereignty of the U.S. The pseudo-Christians are even told that the U.N. insignia are "the mark of the beast" foretold in Revelation. (In the Left Behind series, the anti-Christ is the head of the European Union!)

If "furriners" are saying something bad about the U.S., the Bushbots are conditioned to reject it. Encouraging xenophobia and American chauvinism is a key element in the Republicanite game plan.

Must...isolate....pawns....from.....other.....sources....of.....information.

[Megahurtz]

41. "The Great American Dream is an ongoing nightmare"

Well 'aint that the truth.:(