Nearly 1 in 3 U.S. children poor, Census says

[OhioChick]

Source: Reuters

2 hours 5 minutes ago

WASHINGTON — The number of children in the United States considered poor rose by 1 million in 2010, the U.S. Census said on Thursday, with nearly one in three of the youngest Americans now living in poverty.

"Children who live in poverty, especially young children, are more likely than their peers to have cognitive and behavioral difficulties, to complete fewer years of education, and, as they grow up, to experience more years of unemployment," the Census said.

In 2010, when the Census survey was conducted, 32.3 percent of children across the country were poor, compared to 30.8 percent in 2009.

That was mainly due to a rise in the number of children living below the federal poverty threshold, defined as an annual income of $22,314 for a family of four, to 15.7 million from 14.7 million in 2009.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45346041/ns/us_news-life/#.TsWucbJBmt8

[Newest Reality]

1. That poverty will bring a GREAT

cost to all of us, even those who live in gated communities.

The poverty is about now and the experiences and suffering of those it weighs down and slowly suffocates in the wealthiest country on the planet. Yet, it is also about the future that this poverty will create and it is becoming far too late to mitigate those results, yet, like our impact on the climate, quicker action would save many of us the misery and ill-effects to come. No action is a ticket we all will buy to a preventable travesty that, make no mistake, will be shared by more than the poor.

Many of those who are financially secure or viable will not be immune to the potential increase in transmittable diseases that can increase in spread without sound medical care and preventions. Those who are not the new Underclass may find themselves spending more money and time to protect themselves from the ravages and crime that comes with desperation and basic need. The money could have been spent on pro-active means, help and prevention. And yet, you most go out there in the growing desert of humanity where hunger and homelessness continue to build while twenty homes for each homeless person sit vacant and decaying and there is so much food on the shelves.

When the numbers of malnourished, insecure, traumatized children increase and they manifest the results of a meager and harsh upbringing, what kind of citizens do you expect for the future? What kind of world do we create when we cannot manage, in the midst of plenty, to properly raise and nurture such a large number of our children? Can we even find the compassion to feel the lives they will inherit and the opportunities and status they will reap from our failure?

So, let it go on. I can't find much optimism for a better future for any of us when we are participating in something that is about so much more than just today's economy and even rich vs. poor and political game playing. We are, in effect, screwing ourselves in many ways, and our children, being living human beings, are the most important part of the future bar none, so we change this or get what we will truly deserve and it does not look very noble, good or justifiable. It's a true shame.

Oh, we are not all in this together? I think that's going to become more obvious on this course, only in a negative and sorrowful sense.

[pitohui]

17. it brings NO cost to those in gated communities, that's why they want it this way

at some point we have to give up the fantasy that threatening people in gated communities w. imaginary diseases is going to make them all that worried about poor children, when it is clear that there are 7 billion people in the world and most (virtually all) of the burden of transmissible disease is borne by the poor and those crowded together

just as most (virtually all) of the burden of violent crime and war is borne by the poor and middle class

the people in gated communities LIKE it that there's a huge gap between rich and poor, the more different the poor is, the more non-existent the middle class, the more impossible it is that one of their precious youngsters could think of us as human beings and fall in love with a middle class person

we're NOT all in this together

it's time to stop making the mistake that our opponents think of us as human beings or respects us as beings equally deserving of life, health, and happiness -- because they don't

we need to be clear-eyed about reality

[Skittles]

2. as long as the 1% gets theirs

:puke:

[valerief]

4. Making rich people rich is the MOST important thing in the world.

It makes perfect sense, because...because...freedom, bootstraps, liberty, individualism. Yeah, take that!

[GreenPartyVoter]

6. Yep.

[Amonester]

3. Third world country status at full throttle speed!

I hope the generously bribed politicians are happy... :sarcasm:

[alp227]

5. According to Thom Hartmann's conservative timeslot competitor LIMBAUGH

those kids should just go dumpster diving. (Both shows run 12-3PM Eastern, if you didn't know what I meant.)

And...can anyone explain in a non-Heritage Foundation way why these kids are poor if they get to play Angry Birds on iPads and play video games???

This is a disgrace to the country. I bet that some of these kids have FAR more potential to be constructive to society than do those kids born in the Lucky Sperm Club.

[defendandprotect]

7. Shame on the dead beat "Uncle Sam" -- Obama and the Democrats --

for permitting this GOP Third World America -- !!!

[Cal Carpenter]

8. How does anyone have any illusions anymore?

Rec'd.

[midnight]

9. Washington and Wall Street live high off the hog while 1out of 3 children live in poverty...

[closeupready]

18. Yup.

nt

[DeSwiss]

10. K&R

[Starry Messenger]

11. k&r

[woo me with science]

12. There is NO EXCUSE for this.

Not in this country, with this country's wealth.

SHAME on the one percent. SHAME on Washington. SHAME on Obama and every politician who wants to make Americans pay for what these thieves have done.

[Major Nikon]

13. Bachman says if they can't provide for their kids, they shouldn't have them

:eyes:

[No Joe]

14. It's a lifestyle choice. They WANT to be poor!

:sarcasm:

[woo me with science]

15. Poverty is good.

It creates motivation. :eyes: :puke:

[pitohui]

16. if you want to get poor, have a child, if you want to stay poor, have a child

i don't know any intelligent people my age or younger, capable of doing math, who had more than one child, and most had zero children, if you have a basic level of intelligence and ability to think ahead, you can figure out that having babies is a losing proposition that costs tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years

and i don't wanna hear from the cheapskate religious crowd that doesn't plan to educate their child and who therefore is in denial that educating a child these days costs probably 100K...if you have a baby and your "plan" is that the child should live their entire life in student loan indentured servitude and lost opportunities because you're too cheap to provide for them then you are not the kind of person whose thoughts i respect

the religious bullshitters claim that children are cheap because THEY'RE cheap and they don't plan to provide for their children fully, of course, life gets in the way when they find themselves hit up for private elementary/high school education costs at the overpriced religious school because they're afraid of the public school

children are a wonderful way to impoverish yourself, it's a double whammy, many women lose their entire investment on their careers when they have children, so there's the lost income over a lifetime, plus the expenses incumbent on feeding, educating, housing the child

there are 7 billion people in the world, we don't need any more, so i suppose it is right for society to punish people who have children but it's a little ridiculous...yes, stop giving tax breaks and other considerations that entice idiots who can't do math to have kids, yes, stop giving tax breaks to religions that entice suggestible morons to keep popping out babies...but jobs should pay enough for someone to have one child anyway, you have to have some new generation coming up, just not all these billions and billions and billions

[freshwest]

19. They'll just have to get a job then, won't they? Bunch of little moochers.

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[sarcasmo]

20. Will the republicans call the children Lazy?