Thursday, August 30, 2007

American Poverty


American poverty has often featured on this post for the simple reason that the nation that claims to be the richest , the most democratic and the most socially mobile also demonstrates the contradictions of capitalism and how it fails to provide for not just a few but for many .


Latest figures confirm the failure of capitalism


More than one in ten Americans, or 36.5 million people, live in poverty in the United States, with children and blacks the worst hit, an annual report by the US Census Bureau .


12.8 million children under the age of 18, or around one-third of the poor, existed in 2006 on incomes below the threshold used by the Census Bureau to determine who lives in poverty.


Total number of Americans without health coverage had risen by three million to 47 million.


Three times more black people -- 24.3 percent -- lived in poverty than the 8.2 percent of white people who did.


To put the figures in perspective - The number of poor out of the total US population of 302 million was equivalent to the entire state of California , one-and-a-half times the population of Malaysia or nearly everyone in Poland living in poverty.


Analysts argue that economic growth was benefiting only the already-haves, and slammed the reports findings, on children in particular, as unacceptable.
"I looked at the bottom 20 and 30 percent, and income is not rising," Ron Haskins of the Brookings Institution think-tank told AFP. "At the very most, I would say the story at the bottom is mixed but I certainly would not say we are improving either income or, certainly not, earnings at the bottom," he said.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Having a lower class, or poor people, or even a lot of poor people, dos not mean capitalism has failed. It means those who are poor have failed.

Better to just give them handouts then eh? They failed, either because they are too stupid or too lazy, so why make them keep trying?

Now which is fair?

Fair is not everyone getting the same thing, or spreading the wealth. Fair is everyone gets and KEEPS what they DESERVE and EARN.

The fetal United States proved communism doesnt work. Some people by blood and by nature are lazy. Sorry to break your misty dream but not all are created equal! Sure, it isn't nice to say, but it is true! Like so many other things. Blind yourself to the truth, and you will fail, just like governments who do.

Anonymous said...

"Three times more black people -- 24.3 percent -- lived in poverty than the 8.2 percent of white people who did."

All because of "the man" right? "That man" who makes people get off their ass and motivate themselves beyond the status quo to become successful?

I'm sure it's also "the man" who causes something like 70% of black babies to be born out of wedlock, right??

Like I said, not all are created equal.

That sounds worse than I mean though. Do not think "equal" in terms of equal value. All people are important and deserve freedom.

Think equal in terms of abilities.

You see a golden retriever on the street, what do you assume its behavior will be?

Same for a pit bull?

It works for people too. There is nothing wrong with it, it's just not PC. Think about that.