37 Million Poor Hidden HERE in the Land of Plenty

[Clara T]

37 million poor hidden in the land of plenty

Americans have always believed that hard work will bring rewards, but vast numbers now cannot meet their bills even with two or three jobs. More than one in 10 citizens live below the poverty line, and the gap between the haves and have-nots is widening

Paul Harris in Kentucky
Sunday February 19, 2006
The Observer


The flickering television in Candy Lumpkins's trailer blared out The Bold and the Beautiful. It was a fantasy daytime soap vision of American life with little relevance to the reality of this impoverished corner of Kentucky. The Lumpkins live at the definition of the back of beyond, in a hollow at the top of a valley at the end of a long and muddy dirt road. It is strewn with litter. Packs of stray dogs prowl around, barking at strangers. There is no telephone and since their pump broke two weeks ago Candy has collected water from nearby springs. Oblivious to it all, her five-year-old daughter Amy runs barefoot on a wooden porch frozen by a midwinter chill.

It is a vision of deep and abiding poverty. Yet the Lumpkins are not alone in their plight. They are just the negative side of the American equation. America does have vast, wealthy suburbs, huge shopping malls and a busy middle class, but it also has vast numbers of poor, struggling to make it in a low-wage economy with minimal government help.

A shocking 37 million Americans live in poverty. That is 12.7 per cent of the population - the highest percentage in the developed world. They are found from the hills of Kentucky to Detroit's streets, from the Deep South of Louisiana to the heartland of Oklahoma. Each year since 2001 their number has grown.

Under President George W Bush an extra 5.4 million have slipped below the poverty line. Yet they are not a story of the unemployed or the destitute. Most have jobs. Many have two. Amos Lumpkins has work and his children go to school. But the economy, stripped of worker benefits like healthcare, is having trouble providing good wages.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1712965,00.html

[mntleo2]

1. Yep ~Ain't 'Merica Great?

Yes and we can just pretend that nothing like that exists as we pass by the homeless woman huddling in the doorway, walk right past the vet sitting in that old wheelchair with the broken wheel, or "forget" to tip that waitress running her butt off at Denny's so she can feed her kids and pay the rent. Just because Dennys gets by without paying a livable wage because they believe she can LIVE off those tips is not our fault is it? After all we do not want to "enable" anybody now do we? Of course the rich are not "enabled" every hour they sit on thier asses by the pool while the tax breaks keep rollin' in by the thousands, and corporations are certainly not "enabled" just because they go offshore in order to avoid paying taxes while expecting us to clean up the vile mess they left in our ground water, should we? Everybody should just be glad they have clothes and food ~ even if they DID have to huddle in the park with their kids before going to clean that nice rich lady's house...

Ain't 'Merica great?????

Cat In Seattle

[Greyhound]

3. Did you know that Denny's has a special exemption to the sub-minimum

wage that other restaurants pay? This was years ago so it may have changed, but I doubt it. At a time when the minimum was $4.85, the minimum for tipped employees was $2.10, Denny's exemption allowed them to pay $1.40!

[madrchsod]

2. hidden?

no we refuse to see those all around us who are.