America's claim to shame: highest level of poverty in industrialized world

[dajoki]

great article by Katrina vanden Heuvel. please read entire article.
---------------------------------------------------------------------The Nation
http://www.thenation.com/blogs/edcut?bid=7&pid=24486

Posted 09/26/2005 @ 12:22am

Why Bush is Wrong on Poverty

In his September 15 speech to the nation, President Bush asserted that poverty in America is mostly restricted to the nation's Southern states. Like a lot of right-wing ideologues when it comes to issues of race and poverty in America, he's in denial.

<<snip>>

America's claim to shame is that it has the highest level of poverty in the industrialized world. Bush's four and a half years of trickle-down theories have failed miserably. The poor have become even poorer. The nation's poverty rate has climbed from a 27 year low of 11.3 percent to 12.7 percent last year. Thirty seven million Americans are living below the poverty line, a group so large, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter pointed out in a post-Katrina cover article, that it amounts to "a nation of poor people the size of Canada or Morocco living inside the United States."

Bush may talk about addressing poverty in this rich nation, but his coldhearted agenda has made the problems much more pronounced. His administration gave a massive tax break to corporations and the wealthiest individuals in his first term; since then, despite evidence of rising income inequalities, a growing sea of red ink, and $200 billion needed to fight the war in Iraq and another $200 billion we will spend to rebuild the Gulf region, Bush has ruled out repealing any of his tax cuts for the rich.(And this while household incomes failed to rise for five consecutive years--for the first time on record.)

Bush leads a Republican party that has refused to increase the minimum wage (stuck at $5.15 an hour since 1997), tried to cut Medicaid, food stamps, housing for the poor, Social Security, and promoted "faith-based initiatives" to rally "armies of compassion" that are supposed to assist the poor through the right-wing panacea of charitable, religious giving. His Gulf Opportunity Zone is a sham. And while this White House tries to cut worker's pay in rebuilding the Gulf region, it lines the pockets of those poster boys of corruption--Halliburton and KBR--with no-bid contracts. As Derrick Jackson wrote in the Boston Globe last week, Bush's plan "will squeeze yet more pulp out of the poor."

[NVMojo]

1. the media has helped shield poverty in America from Americans ...

another way they propped up this corrupt administration ...

[dajoki]

2. there has never been...

such a divide between rich and poor in my lifetime. and there is no middle class left.

[Clark2008]

26. Well it slapped them - and the rest of middle-class America -

upside the head during Katrina, didn't it.

Can't keep a secret like that for long.

[1932]

3. Not only do we have a lot of poor in the US, I think US policies are re-

sponsible for a lot of the poverty in the rest of the world.

I wrote this in another thread:

{T}he world is more polarized in terms of wealth and the way people actually live than ever before. It has gotten especially bad since the early 70s. The New Deal closed the gap between the wealthiest and poorest in America, but neoliberalism has opened the gulf between America and the rest of the world, and the same tools for exploitation abroad (debt, wealth concentration, disappearance of the middle class, making a few powerful families more powerful, sabotaging true progressive political impulses, destroying the idea of the government as the entity that looks after the welfare of its citizens) are now being turned on Americans to undo the gains of the New Deal.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x2113651#2115769

[dajoki]

5. you are absolutely correct n/t

[Erika]

4. Never think W is our president. He is the corporate world king

and he represents globalist stockholders. It's shown in his every action. Even working conservatives are catching on. Fianlly.

[dajoki]

6. they are the ones voting...

against their own best interests.

[MN ChimpH8R]

8. They will be sitting there with their begging bowls

and still voting for Repukes happy in the knowledge that gays can't get married. :sarcasm:

[dajoki]

9. that is true...

i don't think it is sarcastic at all.

[Clark2008]

27. Not true. The poor, by and large, voted for Kerry.

Annual Income - Bush Kerry
Under $15,000 - 36% 63%
$15-$30,000 - 42% 57%
$30-$50,000 - 49% 50%
$50,000-$75,000 - 56% 43%
$75-$100,000 - 55% 45%
$100-$150,000 - 57% 42%
$150,000-$200,000 - 58% 42%
Above $200,000 63% 35%

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2004/pages/results/states/US/P/00/epolls.0.html

It was the rich and middle class who voted for the Shrubster.

[dajoki]

29. that is still too many...

for shrub. states like w. virginia and the south have no reason to vote repub but it's the bible thumpers.

[dajoki]

7. kick

[GreenPartyVoter]

10. Boy, we are so special

[dajoki]

11. aren't we ...

thanks to *

[Igel]

12. Do Germany and Sweden, when calculating their

poverty figures, include government subsidies/entitlements?

It's something that's been bugging me recently. I've been forced to think about the assumptions used in comparing various sorts of statistical data, and can't stop when I put down my work and log in to DU or the NYT.

[dajoki]

13. government subsidies and entitlements...

will not lift someone out of poverty, if your income is that low to qualify for benefits.

[bluedawg12]

17. Agree, I want a better life for poor, good life for all

and we need to hit this hard, because this is not about entitlements- this is about changing this nation from the ground up.

Starting with strong public education of all American kids-

then, going to good paying jobs with benefits for all Americans.

That means stop destroying blue collar jobs.

[dajoki]

21. that will only happen...

when we remove the ass-backward * regime.

[Igel]

18. That's true.

I'm talking about comparing reported rates.

US figures are always 'earned income'; but entitlements aren't earned, and "agregate income" isn't the metric used. I'm including not just welfare and housing subsidies, but also unemployment, food stamps, and the effect the tax code has on net income.

I don't recall other countries' figures specifying 'earned income', and wonder what kinds of numbers they're using. Am I trying to compare bananas and sea urchins?

[dajoki]

22. i don't know what other countries use...

but i don't THINK it makes any difference in poverty rates. i could be wrong.

[zann725]

14. What really says it all is: "Humanity Plaza" which has been featured on

the "Today" show with cutie Katie Couric the last two days.

As you may recall, the last time Rockfeller Plaza was re-named by MSM was a week prior to the 2004 Election, when it was eerily named "Democracy Plaza." I remember getting chills the first time I heard that name. Knowing that the powers-that-be always name something the exact opposite of what it is, I remember thinking... there goes the election!

Now they're trying to convince us that by building on-camera a handful of pre-fab houses for a handful of Hurricane victims (to be relocated WHERE?)...that this Admin's response to Katrina and the poor (mostly black Americans) was indeed "Humane." Unfortunately I'm forced to watch "Humanity Plaza" each morning on the TV at the gym. As I do, I daily curse the screen, and say 'How about the millions of other homeless "victims" of Hurricane Shrub's 2 Terms?'

I have a Social Worker friend who said that our city here found millions of $$ to house and take care of about 2,000 Katrina victims, while over 40,000 already homeless in our area fell to the back of the "assistance" list, and remain without shelter and aid of any (or limited help at best). If we are a TRUE Democratic society, we help ALL our citizens in need.

I emailed my question re: this to Katie yesterday, and for some reason can NOT access that email account of mine today??? Have they "closed" me down for questioning this Admin's. true "humanity?" Naw...probably just an email glitch.

[dajoki]

15. Good point...

i'd like an answer to that also.

[bluedawg12]

16. This is interesting- now do the poor vote?

Because the dwindling middle class doesn't care, and the elite upper class is actually affronted by the poor.

And, unless we tap into 1/3 of this nation that is poor, in order to affect change and a better life for all...what do we do with this info.?

[dajoki]

20. that is a good question...

our leaders are paid well to explain this to the public and also do something about it. have they been? NO!!

[AzDar]

19. IMHO, the breakdown is just beginning. It's going to get a lot worse..

Deficit, fuel-costs, healthcare-costs, all skyrocketing; jobs shipped overseas never to return...We ain't seen nothin' yet.

[Julius Civitatus]

23. Let's not forget the WORKING POOR...

A vast amount of the American population are just above the poverty line, yet they can barely keep up (health care costs, huge debt, minimal salaries that barely keep you fed, alarming housing prices, etc). The middle class has no longer the buying power it once had, and the promise that the more you work, the greater the reward no longer applies in our minimum-wage society. Average Americans are more overworked than ever, yet make less money (in relative terms) than before.

America is definitely closer now to the class structure of the 19th century than it has ever been since the New Deal. Thanks to the Gingrich-Norquist perverted economic theories, the Republicans have turned America a bit closer to a society like Brazil.

[dajoki]

24. and worker protections...

have been taken away also.

[BoogDoc7]

25. Question...

What's poverty?

[dajoki]

30. i'm not sure...

what income they use, but if you're in poverty you'll know it.

[ladylibertee]

28. Totally embarrassing for the Divided States of America

:sarcasm:

[RedCloud]

31. the highest level of poverty in the industrialized world

This message needs to be restated ad infinitum until even the most dimwitted repug gets it!

Let this along with Social Security be another major talking point.

[dajoki]

33. i'm with you...

richest country in the world if you're a CEO.

[Real Time]

32. more shame

This is for everyone who wants to know the TRUTH.

Please go to justacitizen.com and sign the petition requesting our government/Bush Admin to release the DOJ-IG Report.

"Sibel Edmonds"
The most gagged person in America.

www.justacitizen.com/

The ACLU is also asking the Supreme Court to reverse the D.C. appeals court's decision to exclude the press and public from the court hearing of Edmonds' case in April. The appeals court closed the hearing at the eleventh hour without any specific findings that secrecy was necessary. In fact, the government had agreed to argue the case in public. A media consortium that included The New York Times, The Washington Post, and CNN intervened in the case to object to the closure.

Edmonds, a former Middle Eastern language specialist hired by the FBI shortly after 9/11, was fired in 2002 and filed a lawsuit later that year challenging the retaliatory dismissal.

It is way past time for a little bit of critical thinking. The Attorney General cites two reasons to justify the unconstitutional and panic driven assault.

Reason one: To protect certain diplomatic relations - not named since obviously our officials are ashamed of admitting to these relations.

Reason two: To protect certain U.S. foreign business relations. Let’s take each one and dissect it (I have given up on our mass media to do that for us!) For reason one, since when is the Department of Justice, the FBI, in the business of protecting ‘US sensitive diplomatic relations?’ They appear to be acting as a mouthpiece for the Department of State. Now, that’s one entity that has strong reasons to cover up, for its own self, what will end up being a blunder of mammoth scale. Not internationally; not really; it is the American people and their outrage they must be worried about; they wouldn’t want to have a few of their widely recognized officials being held criminally liable; would they?

I am doing all I can to get Sibel story out for, "us" The American Peaple.

The truth will set us free!!!!

[dajoki]

34. welcome to DU Real Time

if you want me to start a thread with that i will. just let me know. or you can wait till you have enough posts to do it, it won't take long if you keep posting.

[Name removed]

35. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[dajoki]

36. this is the anti-robin hood...

administration, they take from the poor so the rich can have more. nothing will change unless we change those in power.