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Welcome To The Oligarch Recovery: Majority Of Public School Students Are In Poverty For First Time In 50 Years

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Submitted by Mike krieger via Liberty Blitzkrieg blog,

“When they first come in my door in the morning, the first thing I do is an inventory of immediate needs: Did you eat? Are you clean? A big part of my job is making them feel safe,” said Sonya Romero-Smith, a veteran teacher at Lew Wallace Elementary School in Albuquerque. Fourteen of her 18 kindergartners are eligible for free lunches.

 

She helps them clean up with bathroom wipes and toothbrushes, and she stocks a drawer with clean socks, underwear, pants and shoes.

 

From the Washington Post article: Majority of U.S. Public School Students are in Poverty

It’s a recovery so lopsided only Timothy Geithner or an oligarch could love it. Since 2008, U.S. economic policy has concentrated on funneling as much money as possible to billionaires, keeping the poor alive and submissive through government programs, and squeezing the middle class to death while at the same time holding out the carrot of hope that things will return to how they were before (they won’t).

The latest evidence of this monumental cultural theft was highlighted yesterday in the Washington Post. Here are a few excerpts:

For the first time in at least 50 years, a majority of U.S. public school students come from low-income families, according to a new analysis of 2013 federal data, a statistic that has profound implications for the nation.

 

The Southern Education Foundation reports that 51 percent of students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade in the 2012-2013 school year were eligible for the federal program that provides free and reduced-price lunches. The lunch program is a rough proxy for poverty, but the explosion in the number of needy children in the nation’s public classrooms is a recent phenomenon that has been gaining attention among educators, public officials and researchers.

A “recent phenomenon.” Call me crazy, but that isn’t what you’d expect five years into a so-called economic recovery.

“We’ve all known this was the trend, that we would get to a majority, but it’s here sooner rather than later,” said Michael A. Rebell of the Campaign for Educational Equity at Teachers College at Columbia University, noting that the poverty rate has been increasing even as the economy has improved. “A lot of people at the top are doing much better, but the people at the bottom are not doing better at all. Those are the people who have the most children and send their children to public school.”

Again, this isn’t a economic recovery, it is theft. Until we can admit to ourselves what the idiots and thieves in power have done, nothing will change.

“When they first come in my door in the morning, the first thing I do is an inventory of immediate needs: Did you eat? Are you clean? A big part of my job is making them feel safe,” said Sonya Romero-Smith, a veteran teacher at Lew Wallace Elementary School in Albuquerque. Fourteen of her 18 kindergartners are eligible for free lunches.

 

She helps them clean up with bathroom wipes and toothbrushes, and she stocks a drawer with clean socks, underwear, pants and shoes.

America: Land of the Thief, Home of the Slave.

For more articles on the Oligarch Recovery see:

Welcome to the Recovery – McKinsey Survey Shows 40% of Americans Living Paycheck to Paycheck, Up From 31% in 2012

Welcome to the Recovery Part 2 – Washington D.C.’s Homeless Population Expected to Rise 16% in 2014

Welcome to the Recovery – U.S. Child Homelessness Hits Record as Poverty in Mass. is Highest Since 1960

An Open Letter to Sam Zell: Why Your Statements are Delusional and Dangerous

The Stock Market: Food Stamps for the 1%

 

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Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:01 | 5676614 Karaio
Karaio's picture

That's how you break a nation.

: - /

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:04 | 5676622 clade7
clade7's picture

we intentionally and fiancially slap chopped some folks....now all your future are belonging to us...(damn I miss Boris)

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:12 | 5676643 Headbanger
Headbanger's picture

No big deal.

Cause the way things are going, having kids will soon be illegal too!

BTW, is there anything in the Constitution about the right to have sex or children?

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:12 | 5676653 pods
pods's picture

I know that's a joke but it illustrates just how far we have fallen.

The constitution was meant as rules for GOVERNMENT, not the PEOPLE.

pods

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:26 | 5676689 headhunt
headhunt's picture

'for the people by the people' - kinda of funny in today's world, in a fucked up sort of way.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:43 | 5676731 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

Hmm, since they brought up Lew Wallace Elementary School, here is a quote from the territorial governor of New Mexico during the days of Billy The Kid, Lew Wallace:

"All calculations based on our experiences elsewhere fail in New Mexico."

If you have read enough of my posts, you know that I belive that we (the US) are on the way down, but that school isn't in what we would call the best or wealthiest part of Albuquerque.  Go to the elementary schools that are in Del Norte HS's district, and it'll be very, very different.  Of course, you probably don't want to see how much debt most of those parents are in.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:50 | 5676758 Moe Hamhead
Moe Hamhead's picture

Or maybe Sandia, where the kids all drive new cars!

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:58 | 5676771 El Vaquero
El Vaquero's picture

Both my neice and nephew graduated from Sandia recently.  One doesn't have a car, and the other spent $3k on his.  Of course, his father is an engineer who seems to have decent financial sense, though I'm not sure how much debt he is in either. 

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 14:33 | 5676891 SuperRay
SuperRay's picture

Who gives a shit.  Not Cas Sunstein, not Eric Schmidt, not any 'elected' official.  The only thing the oligarchs care about is how do we make the transition from too many people to Just Us.  When they can use robots to do all the menial things that people are doing now, they won't need people.  They still need to generate wealth, which has been based on population growth for a few centuries now.  Once they've got the answer to this, they'll just fucking kill everyone not in the 0.1%.  But don't worry, just take care of yourself. Don't worry about anyone else.  That's what they're counting on.  

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 16:50 | 5677248 Pool Shark
Pool Shark's picture

 

 

The War on Poverty is over; Poverty won.

The USA will soon be occupied by the winning FSA forces...

 

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 18:17 | 5677461 nailgunnin4you
nailgunnin4you's picture

The only thing the oligarchs care about is how do we make the transition from too many people to Just Us.  When they can use robots to do all the menial things that people are doing now, they won't need people.

 

Listen to alex jones less, or anyone else whose shirt sales decline without a new perceived threat everyday. Over-population is a legitimate concern for actual environmentalists (the kind that are not supported by politicos), but the solution is not mass murder, a difficult and costly endeavour. A global one child policy would be a more moderate solution, halving the world's population every forty years. Alas, since governments see their population as soldiers and workers, you should get used to non-solutions that require new taxes and crowded aisles at walmart.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 14:32 | 5676893 Liberal
Liberal's picture

I don't understand. The DOW is near all time high! And the gas is so cheap I'm thinking of buying a house with the money not spent on gas. And like, Dear Obama created 18,000,000,000,000 jobs!

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 20:24 | 5677884 MalteseFalcon
MalteseFalcon's picture

How many of the students are new immigrants and imported poverty along with themselves.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:53 | 5676763 Bananamerican
Bananamerican's picture

"We 3rd worlded some countries"

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 14:08 | 5676797 yellowsub
yellowsub's picture

You mean state gov'ts adding a pension law in the state constitution didn't give away a long time ago...

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:14 | 5676654 Au Member
Au Member's picture

You didn't make those kids

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:31 | 5676700 markovchainey
markovchainey's picture

They'll probably make breeding mandatory.  Where else are they going to get replacement livestock?

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:46 | 5676728 TBT or not TBT
TBT or not TBT's picture

Duomo Arigato Mr Roboto.   Skynet don't need no stinkin' humans.   Long skin jobs.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:45 | 5676738 XqWretch
XqWretch's picture

Bring in the MexiCANS! Yes we CAN!

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 15:31 | 5677077 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

Maybe the US third world program will apply to the US as well?

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:48 | 5676754 junction
junction's picture

Fourteen of her 18 kindergartners are eligible for free lunches.

Don't forget, those are Michele O's free lunches, dog food posing as nutrition.  Those government approved vendors providing this portion controlled crap must be raking in a fortune.  Graft is good.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:58 | 5676778 Handful of Dust
Handful of Dust's picture

The Iron Heel by Jack London:

 

"The Iron Heel is a dystopian  novel by American writer Jack London, first published in 1908.

Generally considered to be "the earliest of the modern Dystopian", it chronicles the rise of an oligarchic tyranny in the United States. "

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Iron_Heel

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 18:39 | 5677527 trader1
trader1's picture

the oligarchy went live in 1789.

do not forget.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 15:19 | 5677036 snodgrass
snodgrass's picture

They are poor because the majority are hispanic and black. The Democrats are importing poor people to ensure they stay in power.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 16:30 | 5677208 hendrik1730
hendrik1730's picture

Happens in Belgium all the time since 1970-ies : if the population no longer votes socialist, the socialists replace the population ( massive import of muslims, illiterates, "refugees", .... ).

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 17:46 | 5677386 nobodysfool
nobodysfool's picture

Exactly! Until we start steralizing (inevitable) those young single welfare mom breeding machines who screw anything and everyone in sight continually while pumping out more government dependents on a staggering and unsustainable basis, the country will be on a path to higher taxes, bankruptcy of the middle class (actual taxpayers) & eventual socialism without fail. Unmarried?...One and done then sterilize!

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/unmarried-childbearing.htm

Liberals actually have a good idea here:

http://www.aleteia.org/en/politics/article/as-marriage-culture-collapses...

 

 

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:03 | 5676616 DetectiveStern
DetectiveStern's picture

We need capitalism back. It used to work pretty well.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:16 | 5676662 CH1
CH1's picture

We need capitalism back. It used to work pretty well.

Right. Never prefect, but usually quite effective.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:23 | 5676679 pods
pods's picture

Couldn't we just feed the ueber rich to the poor?

Betcha it would taste like veal.  Not like they have been laboring for their gains.

pods

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:44 | 5676740 XqWretch
XqWretch's picture

Probably taste more like pork

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:48 | 5676756 TBT or not TBT
TBT or not TBT's picture

The gamey tasting pork was usually stimulus fed.    Feed that to your pets.  

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 14:00 | 5676779 cossack55
cossack55's picture

Newspeak lesson #1:

Pork = Po*k

Ham = H*m

Bar-B-Que = B*r-*-*ue

God = Government

 

No further misspellings will be tolerated

WE are Watching

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 17:23 | 5677319 pauhana
pauhana's picture

One afternoon, a wealthy banker was riding in the back of his limousine when he saw two pathetic-looking men by the side of the road, eating grass. He ordered his driver to stop and got out to investigate. He asked the men, "Why are you eating grass?"

"We don't have no money for food," the first man replied.

"Then you must come with me to my house," insisted the lawyer.

"But, sir, I got a wife and three kids here," said the man.

"Bring them along!" replied the banker.

The second man exclaimed, "I got a wife and six kids!"

"Bring them as well!", the banker proclaimed as he headed back to his limo.

They all climbed into the car, and once underway, one of the men expresses, "Sir, you are too kind. Thank you for taking all of us with you."

The banker replied, "I'm most happy to do it. You'll love my place. The grass is almost a foot tall."

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 18:47 | 5677560 snodgrass
snodgrass's picture

We need individual freedom back and far far less govt. Then let the games begin.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 16:35 | 5677219 Cathartes Aura
Cathartes Aura's picture

a volunteer military looting other named land states, where only other'd peoples suffer, out of sight, out of amrkn minds

is this the "capitalism" that worked pretty well for you?

 

at what point in history was this "capitalism" working in amrka - dates please.

and exactly what happened & when do you believe it "disappeared"?

 

because your answer will tell how aware you actually are. . .

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 18:42 | 5677545 trader1
trader1's picture

father, forgive them for they know not what they do

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 19:15 | 5677627 GeorgeHayduke
GeorgeHayduke's picture

Careful with the harsh reality there Cathartes. It doesn't go over very well here in the land of revisionist history and cognitive dissonance.

Also, don't expect any replies of substance that address your question. The Zeroes here cannot answer it in any way, but they can fire off humorless one liners and insult you...or ignore you. Perhaps it's better to not let those incongruent thoughts enter their mind where it does not compute with the fantasy world they envision for themselves.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 17:19 | 5677310 jabhagsb
jabhagsb's picture

Or is our current state of affairs the inevitable outgrowth of capitalism?  Just asking, I don't know.  

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 17:53 | 5677406 SuperRay
SuperRay's picture

It's the inevitable outcome of empire. As generations unfold, the elite build their power base, often simply by having large families that carry on and build on the founders achievements. As the powerful come together, they learn how to limit power for others and enhance their own. The pattern of the rise and decline of most empires.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 19:09 | 5677612 nailgunnin4you
nailgunnin4you's picture

Or is our current state of affairs the inevitable outgrowth of capitalism?  Just asking, I don't know.  

Personally I believe true capitalism has never been attempted. I also believe the unfettered capitalist utopia many zerohedgers envision can never exist. Why pick on capitalism, or any isms? Our current state of affairs is a product of our evolution as territorial, shit tossing apes. Socialist shit tossing apes, capitalist shit tossing apes, it does not matter what method we use to delegate resources and capital. Humans, like the herds of buffalo that instinctively runaway from a small pride of lions even though they'd be better off facing them, are evolutionarily flawed.  Thought experiment: Hypothetically we are given, or we even created, the perfect capitalist utopia on earth today. Now what? Are humans mentally capable of maintaining this fair system for all. A quick look at human history would suggest not.  It's not all bad news though, we are waaay overdue for an asteroid impact on earth that will wipe out all life as we know it. Life gets a do-over, humans, not so much.
Sun, 01/18/2015 - 19:11 | 5677619 nailgunnin4you
nailgunnin4you's picture

No paragraphs? Why did zerohedge choose this comment format and why has it not been replaced with something that is not horribly shit?

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 22:43 | 5678398 Milestones
Milestones's picture

Nail---Yow will not get comments if yor italize  lead off w/o guotes is in the first line.--no, I don't know why-one of the house rules I guess.        Milestones

Mon, 01/19/2015 - 15:42 | 5680619 nailgunnin4you
nailgunnin4you's picture

Thanks Miles

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:03 | 5676617 kowalli
kowalli's picture

Recovery right around the corner

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:14 | 5676658 pods
pods's picture

No worries, Chalky's got a pen.............

Fuck, Aerosmith just popped into my head.  Great.

pods

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:05 | 5676620 JustObserving
JustObserving's picture

The top 0.1% now have more wealth than the bottom 90% in the land of the free.  Government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:09 | 5676644 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

But taxing *that* would be un-Merkin'

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:26 | 5676660 Ignatius
Ignatius's picture

It's not so much taxing it as working against how the .01% are structurally locking in their gains and actively preventing people from working their way up and out of this mess.  People can do this, if given the structure and opportunities.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:34 | 5676712 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

No offense, but the US hasn't seen real "class mobility" since before I was born and you had to pass a "paper bag test" to even apply.

It has, no doubt, become much worse in the interval between, but the main difference is that it's "happening to white folks too".

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:48 | 5676751 Ignatius
Ignatius's picture

"No offense..."

None taken.  The mature industries have all but been corporatized with many barriers to entry.  The school system is set up to train plebes for those low wage corporatized jobs, not to breed competition.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:53 | 5676761 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

When your profiteering depends on getting people addicted to products that give them heart disease and cancer, maintaining a new flow of gullible customers becomes extremely important to, pardon the pun, growth.

This ain't about retention anymore.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:53 | 5676762 TBT or not TBT
TBT or not TBT's picture

Indeed.  Now, Barack is even bigger on community college than he was on community organizing. 

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 14:42 | 5676928 SuperRay
SuperRay's picture

Don't worry, he's going to take a stand and tax the rich.  He'll tell us in his State of the Oligarchy speech.  He's on our side.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:16 | 5676663 CH1
CH1's picture

But taxing *that* would be un-Merkin'

ALL taxing is immoral.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 15:23 | 5676882 GoinFawr
GoinFawr's picture

Yeah, 'sif we'd be knickled and dymed if everything was privately owned. I know that's plain silly to argue against because somebody's deluded, self-interested hero from ancient times said it must be so, if only everyone would embrace the glory of a socially unmitigated bellum omnium contra omnes; 'greed' would be the control, rather than the Achilles Heel, dontcha know. 'Fraud', 'collusion', 'collaboration' couldn't exist (or be deemed illegal, anyway). After all, I am constantly assured that Perfect Knowledge would be just low hanging fruit, ripe to be plucked from the trees,  if only there were no private resources wasted on wastefully wasteful civil oversight funded by the public. Eg. You need look no further than at the honesty that has always been practiced by the tobacco industry, and bear in mind how "dilution is the solution" was so successfully used for decadess to protect North America's great inland seas (from pesky examination).

Eg.

Back your car across my private sidewalk 5coppers/x

Drive it down my private street 10 coppers/trip

x my private bridge 5 coppers/x

25k breaths of my privately owned breathable air will be a bargain at 10 pieces of silver/day

You witnessed 5 hours of my sunlight today, that'll be 60 coppers

My Mars through a telescope, 15 coppers/view, thank you very much

Etc.

The ability to pay separates the wheat from the chaff, wot?

I mean, it's not as if price would go up contantly because private shareholders expect their companies earning to grow.

Indeed, power + amorality always brings out the best in people, it simply must, regardless of all evidence to the contrary (or the empty premise of neoliberalism falls to the ground.)

 

 

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 15:24 | 5677052 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

Kevinearick, is that you?

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 16:38 | 5677073 GoinFawr
GoinFawr's picture

No Fred, this is your conscience; I know we haven't spoken in awhile...

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 17:56 | 5677415 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

Good one and spot on. I need to work on that :)

Tue, 01/20/2015 - 02:19 | 5682828 GoinFawr
GoinFawr's picture

I resemble that remark, Chuck.)

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:38 | 5676719 Captain Willard
Captain Willard's picture

So tell us what responsibility the parents have to make these kids breakfast and wash their faces? I assume they have running water, food stamps and a bar of soap?

I certainly share your anger over the "system", but I assume you make your kids breakfast like the rest of us do. Anyone can do it.

When you deprive "poor" people of their agency as humans by reciting ritual liberal incantations, it doesn't help matters.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 15:50 | 5677126 SmackDaddy
SmackDaddy's picture

these people have de-evolved to the point where they cant take care of themselves.  take the "homeless" for example.  so easy a caveman could do it....  yet there there they are...

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:33 | 5676709 Fun Facts
Fun Facts's picture

"The top 0.1% now have more wealth than the bottom 90% in the land of the free. Government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich."

in the bigger picture.....

80 men now control more wealth than half the population of the planet.

No one should expect a good result from that [even if they weren't psychopaths, pedophiles and criminals].

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:05 | 5676621 Ignatius
Ignatius's picture

One irony here is that this poverty witnessed in the public schools is a direct result of the school system itself - obedience training masquerading as education.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 14:55 | 5676960 JuliaS
JuliaS's picture

I wonder if the school system borrowed bells from Pavlov's conditioning experiments of if it was other way around.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:04 | 5676625 p00k1e
p00k1e's picture

 Here in Michigan, more people are graduating high school than there are jobs available for the graduates.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:10 | 5676647 headhunt
headhunt's picture

What is the percentage of graduates with a degree in a worthless 'studies' program?

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:31 | 5676699 Dame Ednas Possum
Dame Ednas Possum's picture

Sounds like billion dollar community college programmes are required.

That'll fix it.

OBRAINA.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 15:47 | 5677119 RaceToTheBottom
RaceToTheBottom's picture

I believe we already have that program:  It is called the prison system.  It is very efficient in training its attendees....

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 15:09 | 5677003 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

I don't believe they confer degrees in programs from high schools.

So what degree(s) are considered 'not worthless' by people like yourself?

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 18:26 | 5677482 headhunt
headhunt's picture

For today's world? 'Puppetry'

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 19:47 | 5677745 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

Teleprompter as an elective, of course.

Kudos for not saying 'business'...I get a laugh every time someone comes back with that, like there isn't an obvious reason they have biz major specific courses for calc and stat.

 

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:53 | 5676766 heisenberg991
heisenberg991's picture

Over population equals no jobs for the future equals soylent green. Somebody gotta make money off this thing called human beings.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:05 | 5676629 Charles Wilson
Charles Wilson's picture

'N you cannot make the statement, "I want you to feel safe in this classroom."  It's a sign of weakness.

I worked for awhile at a Juvenile Detention Center.  The Central Control Agent (Principal) thought it would be nice to show "Old Yeller" to develop a little empathy amongst the young thugs.  When it got the Shoot Scene, the group went positively nuts. "Bwaaah put a cap in his ass..."  they thought it was just great.

 

Another experiment in Comparative Sociology gone awry.

It's much, much worse than you imagine.

 

CW

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:07 | 5676630 Thing1Thing2
Thing1Thing2's picture

Try teaching these kids something, like math and science and you fail.  You can't because in general they do not have to work for money.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:10 | 5676640 headhunt
headhunt's picture

The 'fail' comes when they have no real family support structure.

Lyndon Johnson and the leftists planned this.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:24 | 5676686 Thing1Thing2
Thing1Thing2's picture

Just call uncle sam ("real family") and ask them when the check and EBT cards are due.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 14:52 | 5676949 SuperRay
SuperRay's picture

It's not from welfare - there's a fundamental problem with abstract thinking that is perfectly represented in ebonics.  Every wonder why advanced cultures developed on every continent except sub-saharan africa?  Considering that there were more natural resources in this region than in any other part of the world, there should have been multiple advanced cultures over the course of centuries.  There weren't.  I'm thinking that the absence of Neanderthal DNA might have had something to do with it.  The whole thug culture isn't just from poverty...

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 14:57 | 5676967 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

If food is abundant, you do not have to plan ahead, but just turn around and grab it.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 18:58 | 5677585 DipshitMiddleCl...
DipshitMiddleClassWhiteKid's picture

das racist!

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 19:24 | 5677655 bloofer
bloofer's picture

The whole problem with this Neanderthan DNA line of thinking is it overlooks the fact that quite a large majority of American Blacks are well supplied with Europen DNA.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:07 | 5676633 TrueWho
TrueWho's picture

I have to wonder also, how many of these kids are illegal immigrants. Not being predjudiced. It's a legitimate question.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:14 | 5676656 Danno Anderson
Danno Anderson's picture

Immigration, diversity and mult-culturalism.  Who has been touting all those wonderful benefits to Amerika for the last thirty years and more particularly the last 6 years ?

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:21 | 5676678 headhunt
headhunt's picture

To the leftists 'multiculturalism' means the US gives up their culture and adopt the 'culture' of the illegals and a perverted 'religion of peace'.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:33 | 5676706 Dame Ednas Possum
Dame Ednas Possum's picture

4 of 18

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 22:29 | 5678358 Accounting101
Accounting101's picture

An insignificant amount. Most are born and raised right here in the U.S.A. At some point you need to start blaming the people with political and economic power.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:06 | 5676634 foodstampbarry
foodstampbarry's picture

We royally fucked over some folks.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:07 | 5676636 headhunt
headhunt's picture

This is what communism brings, poverty for the masses while the bureau chiefs and the party politically connected gobble up tax dollars to feed their greed. For the good of the people.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:18 | 5676671 CH1
CH1's picture

That's what hierarchy brings.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:33 | 5676704 headhunt
headhunt's picture

Communism is a hierarchy, true capitalism has no hierarchy.

What we have today is a mishmash of communism and fascism sprinkled with the remnants of capitalism.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 17:42 | 5677340 GoinFawr
GoinFawr's picture

"true capitalism has no hierarchy"

For fun I tried telling that to the owner of a private business. He had a good lol.

"Communism is a hierarchy"

I suppose, but with simply everyone at the top, though I doubt that is what you were getting at;  perhaps you are thinking of Stalinism?

I suggest actually studying a bit the terms you are planning to man's'plain,...you can tell by the number of greenies you received for such bloviations these misapprehensions are common to the ZH comment section, let's try not to confuse them any more than they already are, ok?

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 18:14 | 5677445 headhunt
headhunt's picture

Hierarchy is artificial - man made;

Any system of persons or things ranked one above another which is what government does and communists demand.  

"true capitalism has no hierarchy"

"For fun I tried telling that to the owner of a private business. He had a good lol."

As a small business owner I understand why he laughed but he is mistaking government intervention and it's hierarchy for true capitalism. True capitalism is survival of the fittest. 

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:41 | 5676729 Jack's Raging B...
Jack's Raging Bile Duct's picture

Hierarchy is natural. It exists because you and I are not equivalent. Hierarchy is only revolting when it is of the non-spontaneous variety--most commonly brought on by The State. To rage against all hierarchy is to rage against nature itself.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 19:02 | 5677452 Charming Anarchist
Charming Anarchist's picture

Hierarchy is in the eye of the beholder. 

As long as the social interaction is voluntary without threat of coercion, there is no objective hierarchy to discuss. 

If there is coercion or threat thereof, then YES, we could label the relationship as "hierarchy" but then it becomes a useless discussion.  It would be better to address the acts of coercion and avoid turning the problem into a rhetorical poetry contest. 

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 19:39 | 5677707 Jack's Raging B...
Jack's Raging Bile Duct's picture

Precisely. Green for you.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:10 | 5676641 Prober
Prober's picture

Proof that it is VERY MUCH easier and quicker to breed new humans

than to raise entrepreneurs who start businesses and create jobs.

VERY simple solution to this problem:

1. Stop subsidizing poverty, ie end ALL entitlement programs and everyone is REQUIRED to earn their own income or be recycled.

2. Stop the hyper breeding by failures who cannot adequately support themselves much less offspring.

3. Stop importing the poverty of the latin failed states.

 

Not even getting into oppression of entrepreneurs by govt thru regulations and taxes, which are HUGE additional contribubutors to the poverty problem.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:11 | 5676650 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

Okay, but 'Entitlement Programs' includes your mortgage deduction. Deal?

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:18 | 5676668 headhunt
headhunt's picture

Get rid of all existing tax and implement a Sales Tax, even drug money, unions and politicians will have to pay tax.

This eliminates the power of the lobbyists and all the other blood suckers in DC.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:37 | 5676718 jcaz
jcaz's picture

Great idea....  

Oh wait-  who votes on that?

Whoops.....

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:38 | 5676722 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

Hahaha. You think Texas doesn't have lobbyists at the state level? And how's their budget doing lately?

A sales tax is not a thing to make the driving force of your tax base. I understand the attraction to consumption-based taxation, but it's simply too volatile and disappears when you theoretically need it most.

 

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:43 | 5676733 Jack's Raging B...
Jack's Raging Bile Duct's picture

How about we just reject theft taxes absolutely?

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:48 | 5676749 GMadScientist
GMadScientist's picture

A nice dream, but you'll need to convince an awful lot of people to stop liking their entitlements first. You'll find there are more culprits than you originally anticipated. Almost everyone (outside of the ZH crowd anyway) likes big government, they just like different flavors of government cheese. Some people like EBT cards, some people like F-22 contracts, some people like no-bid pretend-to-rebuild-the-shit-we-blew-up contracts, some people like cheap drugs, some people like getting checks for not working. You get the idea.

I should add that the bulk of the budget goes to the elderly and the DoD. Enlist people over 65 to go to Iraq: two birds one stone.

 

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 18:43 | 5677491 Charming Anarchist
Charming Anarchist's picture

There may be a different way around that which does not require convincing silly servants of anything. 

If we presume taxes are here to stay, then maybe the right approach is to encourage trade in an alternate money --- such as one that can not be counterfeited. As such, the people who like their entitlements will not have as much of an advantage living on ever inflating fiat.

I have a dream that 1 day, merchants will discount customers who pay in non-fiat monies. 

 

<<A nice dream, but you'll need to convince an awful lot of people to stop liking their entitlements first.>>

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 18:37 | 5677524 Prober
Prober's picture

Don't have any mortgages on any of my properties, or any debts of any kind, so fine with me to eliminate ALL deductions as long as ALL taxes based upon income are also eliminated - citizenship must not cost more for one person than any other.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:08 | 5676642 spinone
spinone's picture

Everyone on this site wonders when the collapse will start.

We're in it now.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 14:35 | 5676899 quasimodo
quasimodo's picture

True enough, perhaps most here are fortunate enough to have suffered little up to this point in time.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:11 | 5676646 screw face
screw face's picture

...get the middle class to disembowel the TBTF Banks and disavow the military industrial complex, only then will there be a place for some middle class & peace.....Bitchez

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:17 | 5676664 clade7
clade7's picture

Honestann addressed your sentiments last night....not gonna happen for the reasons she eloquently outlined... +1 to you though..

Simon Sez Bitchez!

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:17 | 5676652 SweetDoug
SweetDoug's picture

'

'

'

Your kids are graduating and are barely literate.

They have no critical thinking skills, logic, or ability to solve puzzles, despite what the mandarins tell you. They are being taught to conform.

They go to colleges to be taught skills for jobs that are rapidly dwindling, or don't exist anymore, only to be left mired in debt.

Jobs, for the last 30 years, have been steadily shipped over to Asia, and will continue to be so, for a few years more.

AI, robotics, driverless cars, and 3D printing, will decimate what's left of the employment market, starting in about 3-5 years. In 10-15 you will observe a built-in unemployment rate of at least 10%. It will rise by 1-3% every year due to these advances in tech.

It will not be noted in the stats, as those people will simply have dropped off the list.

Everyone has a roof over their head, running water, a toilet, heat, and a large screen TV.

 

Tell me I am wrong.

 

•?•
V-V

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 18:56 | 5677574 Charming Anarchist
Charming Anarchist's picture

I doubt AI and robotics will be as wide-spread as Hollywood and the infomercials would have us believe.  However, I agree wholeheartedly with the rest of your position. 

 

I do not believe we will live in an automated world but it will appear that way. I can not imagine TPTB abstaining from controlling the illusion of Artifical Intelligence at work on the sheeple.  In other words, AI robots will be remote-controlled puppets without us knowing it. 

The wedge has already opened by smart-internet-at-home gadgetry. 

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 22:08 | 5678297 Accounting101
Accounting101's picture

You are wrong, at least the part about today's HS graduates being illiterate and lacking critical thinking skills. These students are smarter and more savy than we ever were. If you walked into most public high school classrooms, you would be the dumbest one in the room. I promise you that.

The rest of your post is spot on.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:13 | 5676657 I Write Code
I Write Code's picture

I don't believe these numbers at all, they come from some liberal crank tanks.

Even with illegals flooding the schools, even if there are 2x or 3x more of them than admitted, it wouldn't be this bad.  There has not (yet) been a mass flight of middle class students to private schools (or home schooling).  It's just garbage.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:39 | 5676723 jcaz
jcaz's picture

Shh, don't say that out loud,  they'll never get the extra funding they're yammering about.....

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:44 | 5676737 I Write Code
I Write Code's picture

Y'know, maybe I'm wrong, maybe it's me still living 20 years in the past.  I'd still rather see some objective numbers on this first.  Are we really that screwed already?

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 14:05 | 5676790 Silver Bullet
Silver Bullet's picture

The only thing that's garbage is your post.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 14:31 | 5676886 gatorengineer
gatorengineer's picture

I write code, I couldnt agree more with your post.  i would like to see what the numbers are after free housing, healthcare, free school lunches, etc are....  There were enough posts showing what a single mom can get on the dole a while back, to make me highly doubt this.

 

What is a huge problem is the family that makes just above the free shit line, say a family of 4 in Jersey with 60-80k a year comming in, what used to be middle class.  Those folks are the ones who amaze me. 

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 19:06 | 5677600 DipshitMiddleCl...
DipshitMiddleClassWhiteKid's picture

jersey is the pits dude..be rich or get the fuck out.

 

i make in between this salary range and im single with no debt and i dont feel rich at all..if i had a family, i'd be FUCKED

 

 

 

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 21:59 | 5678267 Accounting101
Accounting101's picture

Tribal bullshit.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:17 | 5676667 SickDollar
SickDollar's picture

When Charlie Chaplin stops laughing:

"I'm sorry but I don't want to be an Emperor, that's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible, Jew, gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another, human beings are like that. We all want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone and the earth is rich and can provide for everyone.

The way of life can be free and beautiful. But we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed but we have shut ourselves in: machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little: More than machinery we need humanity; More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost.

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men, cries out for universal brotherhood for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me I say "Do not despair".

The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress: the hate of men will pass and dictators die, and the power they took from the people, will return to the people, and so long as men die, liberty will never perish...

Soldiers: don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you and enslave you, who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel, who drill you, diet you, treat you as cattle, as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men, machine men, with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are men. You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don't hate, only the unloved hate. Only the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers: don't fight for slavery, fight for liberty!

In the seventeenth chapter of Saint Luke it is written: - "The kingdom of God is within man." Not one man, nor a group of men, but in all men; in you, the people.

You the people have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy let's use that power, let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give you the future and old age and security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power, but they lie. They do not fulfill their promise, they never will. Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world, to do away with national barriers, do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness.

Soldiers! In the name of democracy: let us all unite!"

 

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:19 | 5676670 tlnzz
tlnzz's picture

"phenomenon" my ass. When you invite and dump millions of non english speaking illegal alians into the Country, it kind of adds to the poverty.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:26 | 5676690 mattgallis
mattgallis's picture

How do illegal aliAns qualify?

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:36 | 5676714 TBT or not TBT
TBT or not TBT's picture

You say tomAHtoe,

I say fuck you. 

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:21 | 5676677 F0ster
F0ster's picture

A global debt jubilee is the answer to the impending global financial crisis.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:39 | 5676724 clade7
clade7's picture

A personal debt jubilee would suffice...all it take is one at a time...

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:22 | 5676682 Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights's picture

Fuck the Oligarchs, hopefully they choke on their over priced steak.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:25 | 5676687 Fun Facts
Fun Facts's picture

The destruction of the US middle class was a high priority ZWO objective [as stated 100 years ago], and is now complete.

Watch them tell you now on ZNN or FAUX or any of the rest how it was all a gigantic unfortunate accident...donkey.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:29 | 5676695 Ward cleaver
Ward cleaver's picture

Long juice box straws

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:37 | 5676715 Peter Pan
Peter Pan's picture

North Korea here we come. Poverty, propaganda and phoney money is already here.

The reality is that the current figure of poverty would be a lot higher if it were not for some families still having some wealth left over from the earlier years to provide a buffer.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:42 | 5676735 Son of Captain Nemo
Son of Captain Nemo's picture
"Welcome To The Oligarch Recovery: Majority Of Public School Students Are In Poverty For First Time In 50 Years"...

1965 was as bad if not worse than 2014?!!!

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 14:09 | 5676806 worbsid
worbsid's picture

1965 was pretty good.  My kids were in school then and there were no kids on welfare.   Not only that, if they wanted to walk to school, they could without my wife and I being harrased.    

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:43 | 5676736 kw2012
kw2012's picture

Of course. Middle income families can only afford one or two children. But poverty level mother's benefit from having five or six and they all go on disability. Sometimes they put a ccouple children in foster care, and that person is the grandmother and she gets a check too. As long as they are fertile they have a cash machine

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 21:58 | 5678262 Accounting101
Accounting101's picture

Does $23 trillion since 2008 mean anything to you?

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:45 | 5676743 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

Being nothing more than a criminal syndicate of theft and violence, governmnet ALWAYS accomplishes the opposite of the stated goal. Always.

That is because the stated goal is always a lie, and cover, for a scheme, a racket.

The banksters need to repay us.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 14:52 | 5676950 explosivo
explosivo's picture

There are those rare occasions where the truth furthers their objectives.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:46 | 5676747 Fix It Again Timmy
Fix It Again Timmy's picture

You won't hear that fact in the State of the Union....

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:48 | 5676755 Colonel Klink
Colonel Klink's picture

I see we're producing the same results for our schools as we are for the students.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:50 | 5676760 valley chick
valley chick's picture

82% of school kids in the county where I live qualify for free lunches. So the school board applied and received the Moochele's portioned food grant and now available for all kids. As I helped in the community in a capital project that received state recognition without receiving any state or federal revenue by working jointly with the citizens and local government, I would have entertained local government and citizens one more time to make a difference for sake of the kids. Problems arise though when you are dealing with an entitled government dependent society that does not want to work hard to achieve a common goal. Bigger problem than just food...have to change the mindset.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 14:03 | 5676784 Unstable Condition
Unstable Condition's picture

Someone down voted you, likely in enthusiastic denial.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 14:11 | 5676812 valley chick
valley chick's picture

Yes someone did...obviously someone that hasn't ever done crap in their community. I had a lot of naysayers on the capital project that I worked on too....until they finally saw it come together. 

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 21:56 | 5678254 Accounting101
Accounting101's picture

Settle down Atlas! Give yourself a break from carrying the weight of the world.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 14:39 | 5676906 moneybots
moneybots's picture

"Problems arise though when you are dealing with an entitled government dependent society that does not want to work hard to achieve a common goal"

 

Jamie Dimon thinks he is entitled to have you bail out his bad derivatives bets.

People are graduating college without a job to go to.  Not everyone can work at Walmart, either, any more than everyone can be a brain surgeon.  There are only so many jobs available.  Also, technology is eliminating jobs, without creating jobs to replace them.  This is going to be a growing problem as automation and robotics become more capable.

 

 

 

 

 

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 15:18 | 5676956 valley chick
valley chick's picture

There is trade schools for consideration. Ooops...that would require hard work. Talked with both my electrician and plumber and both told me that they cannot get reliable apprentices as they claimed no one wants to work. As trade schools isn't the fix for the bigger problem with the state of the economy it is just an example of the mindset of people in education for a job other than college.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 14:54 | 5676954 Bangalore Torpedo
Bangalore Torpedo's picture

Well VC, you'll never change the mentality.  Even when the EBT card only lasts a week, the entitlement mentality will remain.  But the problem is that this is when the feral dogs will start to bite.  Just think about it: there will soon be a day when we have 92 million feral, hungry humans roaming the streets.  God help us!

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 15:12 | 5677005 valley chick
valley chick's picture

Exactly right and why I did not venture into the school food program. The last project consumed 14 years of my life and literally was a fight with entitled mindset..until the end when they saw it come together. When going into a successful capital project with citizen involvement it needed to be sustainable on its own.. 

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:54 | 5676764 Caveman93
Caveman93's picture

Year GDP-US $ billion nominal Population-US million Education-total $ billion nominal

2005 13095.4 295.517 747.28 a

2006 13857.9 298.380 806.48 a

2007 14480.3 301.231 827.19 a

2008 14720.3 304.094 879.56 a

2009 14417.9 306.772 878.94 a

2010 14958.3 309.347 913.02 a

2011 15533.8 311.722 897.51 a

2012 16244.6 314.112 915.81 a

2013 16797.5 316.498 918.64 g

2014 17332.3 318.857 950.77 g

2015 18219.4 321.369 1003.52 g

2016 19180.6 323.996 1027.52 g

2017 20199.4 326.626 1064.11 g

2018 21216.3 329.256 1111.72 g

2019 22196.1 331.884 1165.31 g

Federal education spending accounts for just 3 percent of the $3.5 trillion the government spent in 2012.

What wasted dollars in wars. DOE sucks. Wish they'd just go away along with all these other blood suckers in .gov.


Sun, 01/18/2015 - 21:57 | 5678260 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Federal Outlays for Dept of Education 2014 was $99 Billion, so yeah your numbers contain state funding.

hm...

$1 Trillion for Education
$1 Trillion for MEDICARE/MEDICAID
$1 Trillion for Social Security
$1 Trillion for MIC Security Industry

A wild ass guess on my part US GDP could be said to be $10 Trillion a Year after reducing the Rent Seeking. So maybe it is 10% a year for Education and at $18.1 Trillion Federal Debt to GDP = 180%.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 13:57 | 5676769 q99x2
q99x2's picture

Who has a copy of the plan to storm Washington D.C. I can't find my copy. Its somewhere around here mixed in with my homework or maybe I tossed it out yesterday. Oh well that can wait. I'm hungry.

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 14:04 | 5676789 SamAdams1234
SamAdams1234's picture

Dont worry, an unducated population, without anything to lose has no reason to allow the 1%ers heads to remain attached. When the 1% forgot the lessons of power and noblesse oblige, the powerless forgot that they have nothing to lose going after heads. The song may change but hte dance is the same.

 

Mon, 01/19/2015 - 00:29 | 5678680 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Noblesse oblige is a French phrase literally meaning "obligation of Nobility". It is the concept that nobility extends beyond mere entitlements and requires the person with such status to fulfill social responsibilities, particularly in leadership roles.

The Dictionnaire de l’Académie française defines it thus:

- Whoever claims to be noble must conduct himself nobly.
- (Figuratively) One must act in a fashion that conforms to one's position, and with the reputation that one has earned.

- The Oxford English Dictionary meanwhile says that the term "suggests noble ancestry constrains to honorable behavior; privilege entails to responsibility."

IMHO there is an Obligation of the Wealthy.

If you look at the modern German movement toward celebrating the Junker Era... you will see descendants of peasants celebrating the generosity of the Wealthy lords... whether the whole story is true I don't know.

- what we can know from German celebrations is that the wealthy must have shared the wealth to avoid being pitchforked

Sun, 01/18/2015 - 14:06 | 5676792 moneybots
moneybots's picture

"It’s a recovery so lopsided only Timothy Geithner or an oligarch could love it."

 

It has never been a recovery.  We haven't hit bottom, yet.  The bottom was not allowed in 2008, as it would have meant a worse recession than we had, to clean out all the excesses of the boom era.   The bottom is still in the future.

 

 

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