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21 Shocking Facts About The Explosive Growth Of Poverty In America
Submitted by Michael Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog,
What you are about to see is more evidence that the growth of poverty in the United States is wildly out of control. It turns out that there is a tremendous amount of suffering in “the wealthiest nation on the planet”, and it is getting worse with each passing year. During this election season, politicians of all stripes are running around telling all of us how great we are, but is that really true?
As you will see below, poverty is reaching unprecedented levels in this country, and the middle class is steadily dying. There aren’t enough good jobs to go around, dependence on the government has never been greater, and it is our children that are being hit the hardest. If we have this many people living on the edge of despair now, while times are “good”, what are things going to look like when our economy really starts falling apart? The following are 21 facts about the explosive growth of poverty in America that will blow your mind…
#1 The U.S. Census Bureau says that nearly 47 million Americans are living in poverty right now.
#2 Other numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau are also very disturbing. For example, in 2007 about one out of every eight children in America was on food stamps. Today, that number is one out of every five.
#3 According to Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer, the authors of a new book entitled “$2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America“, there are 1.5 million “ultrapoor” households in the United States that live on less than two dollars a day. That number has doubled since 1996.
#4 46 million Americans use food banks each year, and lines start forming at some U.S. food banks as early as 6:30 in the morning because people want to get something before the food supplies run out.
#5 The number of homeless children in the U.S. has increased by 60 percent over the past six years.
#6 According to Poverty USA, 1.6 million American children slept in a homeless shelter or some other form of emergency housing last year.
#7 Police in New York City have identified 80 separate homeless encampments in the city, and the homeless crisis there has gotten so bad that it is being described as an “epidemic”.
#8 If you can believe it, more than half of all students in our public schools are poor enough to qualify for school lunch subsidies.
#9 According to a Census Bureau report that was released a while back, 65 percent of all children in the U.S. are living in a home that receives some form of aid from the federal government.
#10 According to a report that was published by UNICEF, almost one-third of all children in this country “live in households with an income below 60 percent of the national median income”.
#11 When it comes to child poverty, the United States ranks 36th out of the 41 “wealthy nations” that UNICEF looked at.
#12 The number of Americans that are living in concentrated areas of high poverty has doubled since the year 2000.
#13 An astounding 45 percent of all African-American children in the United States live in areas of “concentrated poverty”.
#14 40.9 percent of all children in the United States that are being raised by a single parent are living in poverty.
#15 An astounding 48.8 percent of all 25-year-old Americans still live at home with their parents.
#16 There are simply not enough good jobs to go around anymore. It may be hard to believe, but 51 percent of all American workers make less than $30,000 a year.
#17 There are 7.9 million working age Americans that are “officially unemployed” right now and another 94.7 million working age Americans that are considered to be “not in the labor force”. When you add those two numbers together, you get a grand total of 102.6 million working age Americans that do not have a job right now.
#18 Owning a home has traditionally been a signal that you belong to the middle class. That is why it is so alarming that the rate of homeownership in the United States has been falling for eight years in a row.
#19 According to a recent Pew survey, approximately 70 percent of all Americans believe that “debt is a necessity in their lives”.
#20 At this point, 25 percent of all Americans have a negative net worth. That means that the value of what they owe is greater than the value of everything that they own.
#21 The top 0.1 percent of all American families have about as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent of all American families combined.
If we truly are “the greatest nation on the planet”, then why can’t we even take care of our own people?
Why are there tens of millions of us living in poverty?
Perhaps we really aren’t so great after all.
It would be one thing if economic conditions were getting better and poverty was in decline. At least then we could be talking about the improvement we were making. But despite the fact that we are stealing more than a hundred million dollars from future generations of Americans every single hour of every single day, poverty just continues to grow like an aggressive form of cancer.
So what is wrong?
Why can’t we get this thing fixed?
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Americans spend only $2400 per person per year on food and $13,000 per person per year on healthcare. GMO foods and fluoridated water ensure their bad health and poverty.
784,000 iatrogenic (relating to illness caused by medical examination or treatment) deaths in America a year
Dramatic Correlation Shown Between GMOs And 22 Diseaseshttps://www.popularresistance.org/dramatic-correlation-shown-between-gmo...
People are getting squeezed in every direction. Food Prices, Healthcare, Rent, pretty much anything you need to survive is going up.
Tough times and things are still heading in wrong direction
Layoff List: http://www.dailyjobcuts.com
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Healthcare/Obamacare is super expensive and set to jump over 30% in many locations ... but it's worth it, eh.
...oh, wait a sec ....
Deaths by medical mistakes hit recordshttp://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/deaths-by-medical-mistakes-hit-records
I knew the number had to be higher than 200,000 lol. Don't know if their methods are accurate but I have always joked in healthcare the estimate of around 200,000 or so were just the obvious ones doctors couldn't hide
#10 According to a report that was published by UNICEF, almost one-third of all children in this country “live in households with an income below 60 percent of the national median income”.
Median indicates half of incomes above and half below. 60% of 50% is 30%. So 1/3 of children live in families with a 30th percentile income or less. I am pretty sure when we had our first, we were also in the 30th percentile of income.
#21 The top 0.1 percent of all American families have about as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent of all American families combined.
This is providence. These folks work much harder than everybody else so they have been rewarded through divine intervention.
If we truly are “the greatest nation on the planet”, then why can’t we even take care of our own people?
Sorry, that illegal Mexican who dashed across the border is not one of "MY" people. My people not only obey the law, they built this country.
What are you talking about? You are too afraid to admit that boomer-capitalism failed because you are most likely 40 - 60, hard-working, oh and GREW UP DURING THE MOST PROSPEROUS TIME IN THE WORLD. With that prosperity you shat on the rest of us with your failure to build sustainable cities that have these like "commerece" and "industry", but instead over-inflated the desolate, shitty tract-house/strip mall communities that led to the housing/credit/everything cirsis because you were too dumb not to notice a bubble. Now there's millions of us stuck in these prison "cities" that have no jobs except rite-aid and 7-Eleven. thanks
you're welcome
Yeah now I can't edit my post haha. Pardon the grammar. On lunch break so typing fast. I am one of the lucky ones, I have a real job because I reloacted with my parents to a real city when I was 19 and I actually got some real work experience. But many of my peers are not so lucky. I'm back in the suburbs now and it's not good for many of them. By the way, when I say suburbs, it's more like sub-sub-sub-sub-suburbs. Nearest big city is 60 miles away. Nearest university is 60 miles away. There is no economy. No culture. Just houses and strip malls.
Anybody that blithers about "sustainable cities" is severely limited by having been indoctrinated with nonsense peddled by shamans called "professors".
I just want a job. Can you help me find one?
This is where I live. My parents moved here because they wanted a 3 car garage.
I didn't go to university because there are none close by, not even a good community college.
"21 Shocking Facts About The Explosive Growth Of Poverty In America"
The ONLY fact that one needs to know: As Central Planning grows ever larger, increasing their stranglehold on productive people/businesses, poverty grows with it. Thank you gubmint.
I did find it shocking that my relatively shit underpaid job in the UK pays more than 51% of Americans. Explains the attitude of people in the US offices I guess. I'd give zero fucks if I was paid a few K less than I am.
Compare the GDP vs. the money supply since March 2009 and you will have your answer re: why "everything is awesome" and "post-apocolyptic disaster" are simultaneously occurring.
784,000 seems a bit high. The accepted number is somewhere in the 100,000 to 200,000 range for obvious iatrogenic illness. However smoking bad eating habits lack of exercise or obesity is probably a contributor in 80 percent of mortality.
Huge story in the NYTimes today......someone smart (and old) finally looked at the mortality data in a fresh way.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/03/health/death-rates-rising-for-middle-a...
Death Rates Rising for Middle-Aged White Americans, Study Finds“It is difficult to find modern settings with survival losses of this magnitude,” wrote two Dartmouth economists, Ellen Meara and Jonathan S. Skinner, in a commentary to the Deaton-Case analysis to be published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
What difference does it make. If you are white, you deserve to die, right?
poverty increasing because more people are lazy these days. also lower class people breeding like crazy and higher class too busy working and getting outbred. having babies is based on confidence and happiness. the high end that pays taxes sees the country goingto hell. the low end think it is the greatest place on earth with all this free stuff.
It would be interesting to see data to find out if the increase in poverty is possibly due to differential birth rates
Wait ... . I've heard this story before .....
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/?ref_=nv_sr_1
But... Science sez GMOs are OK! At least, that's what the brainwashed so-called rationalists say. They are the same ones who believe everything they read. "It's true! I read it in a book! Mr. Scientist told me so!" Really sad how badly the biotechs have manipulated public opinion on the GMO question. Even Neil fucking Tyson is in on the game. So sad. Neil knows space, but not much else. He should leave what's going on down here on Earth to the informed.
So who is buying all the Detroit 3 pickup trucks?
government....was watching a TV show last night with the FBI flying in fully kitted G5 jets. Ever see National Park Services pickups or any branch of government with the latest biggest vechiles...and then thre are the local cops and fireman in the NY regions....they all have brand new top end vechicals...with their shaved heads...it is laughable. Average cop pay around the NYC region is like $160k including OT and pensions. " Eight Port Authority police officers made more than $300000 last year "
Technically, there is no ‘Detroit 3’, FCA is a foreign auto company.
I like discussing such things with FCA union guys who say, “Buy American”.
Illegals. They all got new fords.
Trillions for the banks and war.
Of course. Welfare let's companies spend less on wages because the government will top it up. This let's the shareholders and CEOs and the financial market that ties it all together make millions/billions. The government then charges the richer working people via tax who can't offshore profits or any of that to pay for the lower wages of the poor workers.
If there was no welfare people need higher wages but when the whole economy relies of finance and debt then the last thing the government wants to do is harm the industry de facto forcing companies to pay higher wages.
It's utter fucking insanity. Welfare is supported by the left but is the biggest thing stopping workers having more control of their workplaces and finances.
But then again I don't think any left wingers thought process moves beyond "free money good".
Welfare would not be part of the land if it was only supported by the left.
What about the companies masquerading as people? Don't you think they love it too? WalMart did not do that obvious minimum wage circus for nothing, you know.
Most people on this site are coming to the conclusion that right/left differences are an illusion.
This is bullcrap....when the liberals keep lowering the standards to be in the poor catagory..its easy to see why it increases...add in 50 million illegals on welfare and that lowers the bottom line too....there is not one starving kid in the USA...just look at them when you go shopping..that is not a distended belly of a starving child..that is fat..and free food at scholl that they just throw away.....yeah cry me a river....we should be shutting down the flow of freebies..not giving them more and more...as they will take it...
yes
just how in the world did auto sales pick-up last month with numbers like this?
somebody,please explain...
One-in-three used car loans are subprime and one-in-ten new car loans are subprime ( 2014 data )
http://www.edmunds.com/car-buying/7-simple-steps-to-a-subprime-auto-loan.html
We're in 1984
You pay for 103 months. No down.
Welfare for repossession industry.
Top Ten Murcaisms
by: Empmir Chumbawamba
Murca. It’s a special place, like no other on earth. It’s where guns flow like milk and honey, and half of the female population will be sexually abused before they’re a teenager--we’re talking easy scoring with the Daddy Issues.
So it should come as no surprise that Murca has slogans. Lots of them. And they’re all true, and each one will kick your ass and cram a load in your girlfriend’s stinky vagina if you question it.
Without further ado, here are the Top Ten Sixteen Murcaisms that you should yell from the top of your lungs in every public place in which you find yourself to display your patriotism and unthinking obedience and fealty to our corporate government while reinforcing the power and prestige of Murca to its compliant citizens.
10. Murca: No One Gets Out of Here Alive
9. Murca: Don't Hate Us Because We're Beautiful
8. Murca: Now in Glorious 3D!
7. Murca: High Fructose Corn Syrup Never Tasted So Sweet!
6. Murca: Because You Can't Handle the Truth
5. Murca: You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Angry
4. Murca: Love It or FUCK YOU!
3. Murca: We May Be Broke But We're Stupid
2. Murca: Our Terrorists are Better Than Yours
1. Murca: Because God is on Our Side
0. Murca: They Hate Us for Our Freedom
-1. Murca: We're Going to Liberate the Hell Out of You
-2. Murca: Millions of Illegal Immigrants Can't Be Wrong
-3. Murca: Thank You for Storing Our Oil
-4. Murca: If There's a Better Place on Earth, We'll Bomb It
-5. Murca: Come for the Freedom, Stay for the Incarceration
This is so many levels of awesome, I can't even.... All those downvotes? From Muricans, so fuck you! Edited for words.
Right on the money, but you spelt it wrong its muriKKKa !
Because economic growth requires increase in fuel consumption.
Can't have that because the best fuel is depleted.
Why can't it be fixed?
Peak oil.. idiot.
If we had actually reached peak oil production, the supply curve would have shifted and there would be way less oil available today. That would translate into much higher prices all on its own.
Add to this that there are way more people on this planet now than 30 years ago when "peak oil" was claimed to have arrived, and that shifts the demand curve also causing higher pricing.
Yet here we are in an oil glut and the price is way down.
The only possible explaination is we have NOT reached peak oil.
The answer isn't as simple or basic as you are...
http://ourfiniteworld.com/2015/09/29/low-oil-prices-why-worry/
Interesting article.
Check the graph in part 2 of the article showing a pretty clear upward trend on world oil supply.
Makes me think maby we haven't made to peak oil production yet...
Perhaps you missed this little jem in there while you deciding how superior you are....
You're kidding, right?
The US peaked in production in the 70s and again just a few short months ago.
That graph shows world production of all sorts of fuels that aren't technically crude oil. (like natural gas liquids and lease condensate).
Either way, the economy is shit because the kind of growth we "need" only happens when there are loads of cheap, energy-dense resources to harvest and consume. All the cheap stuff has already been harvested and consumed. It is depleted.
Deletion is the reason the economy sucks.
There is no answer for depleteion other than simply using less.
Me kidding?
You are saying the economy sucks because all the low hanging fruit energy is gone.
The graph shows energy resources/production growing over time.
Tech advances in energy aquisition lower the costs.
Tech advances in the use of energy give it more bang for the buck.
Oil, and most other related energy forms are global in production and use, that the US peaked = so what.
If you think about it, we are constantly redefining what the low hanging fruit is. It is a moving target and we are always right at the edge of it.
I can see if the total inputs to acheive the same BTU outputs is increasing and there is no improvement in the utilization of the BTU's that this would have a drag effect on the world economy. I just dont think we are there.
The bigger drag on growth is demand. Like many others, I will not borrow to consume and I dont need to consume any more than I do right now.
There are also other drags on growth, like expanding bureaucracies, or expectations of government rule change.
Another fear porn list from Synder ... big fucking deal
Fortunately President Obama is here to make it better.
People love being poor. It’s easy.
Well,
There's a difference between salaried income and cash income.
And then there's a difference in what is poverty.
Is poverty defined by a number? Or by a condition?
There's a family down the street from me.
The 'Dad' technically isn't...because he's not married to the 'Mom'. They live as man and wife, and have done for years. They have kids entering junior high. He's techniallly unemployed...but actually runs a cash business washing cars.
She's technically unemployed, but get a pretty healthy income from going to government offices and filling out forms.
They have nicer (and newer) 'stuff' than we do...
For comparison, my wife and I each have 6-figure incomes.
The Federal Gov't tells us at tax time that we pay around 17% in taxes after deductions....but if you do the straight math of sales taxes, property taxes, income taxes, licenses, fees, etc It right about 65% tax.
A few doors down this country road in the other direction there are trailers. They mostly don't work, and dont have such nice things. They are mostly young, and mostly own their homes and property free and clear. But they are warm, dry, clothed, well (too well) fed, and they have flatscreen entertainment systems that put mine to shame.
Both of those neighbors are technically, "In Poverty".
But their version of 'Poverty' doesn't look like poverty in about 98% of the planet's communities.
Its in the interest of the Government Party to also define poverty upward. Free school lunches for all the sheep!
We pushed some folks into 3rd world status... recovery!
Poverty is what happens when the game is rigged so that the top 0.1% basically get all the gains....
Is the REAL end game to have everyone work for government or be 100% dependent on government? Seems like a crappy way to run a country or a world.
From the article:
If we truly are “the greatest nation on the planet”, then why can’t we even take care of our own people?
Answer: Big Government has inserted itself into the equation, as the savior of the po' folks. The middle class says, "I am hard-bitten by endless tax increases. The gov't takes all that money; they should take care of the poor people."
Of course, it's a scam: tax increases never really go to the poor, most of that money goes into the pockets of bureaucrats and special interests.
The problem, as always, is too much government. It is an entirely self-serving monster, and it could not care less about the poor. In fact, it likes things just the way they are, because it pays people to be poor. It doesn't pay much. But it pays a lot of them, so we get a lot more poor folks.
Yes, it would be so much better if Big Government would get out of the way and let people realize how hopeless their lives are in a modern globalist economy and let the weaker elements just give up and die faster. They should just face the fact that they are the losers and exit the game.
http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2015/11/stunning-rise-in-death-rate-pain-...
We impoverished some folks.
The truth of the matter is this: THE WORLD IS OVER-POPULATED!!!!
Pretty much all of our problems stem from that one fact.
It's overpopulated with fatasses who can't shove enough into their pieholes.
By fatasses you mean government and fascists .........
You could remove yourself from the equation.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions...
Give a man a fish, instead of teaching him to fish.
This "Just Us" Reich may last a thousand years, or it may fail tomorrow.
Regardless, the early bird always gets the worms.
Build a man a fire, and he will be warm for a night.
Set a man on fire, and he will be warm the rest of his life.
Eugenics. Stop letting anyone with a sub 120 IQ reproduce. Set the bar higher if you like. Idiots have always reproduced at alarming rates. Income inequality will not be fixed until populations look a whole lot different.
Demographics are already lined up against the Republicans, now you want to add this?
Ok, Hitler.
> Idiots have always reproduced at alarming rates.
something tells me you come from an extremely large family.
Strong community is the only lasting answer to poverty.
http://www.preparingyou.com/wiki/Community
It seems the economic conditions may be doing a good job of decreasing the surplus population. The rest of the developed world has managed to escape this trend, but it seems the USA knows how to get the tough jobs done:
"A large segment of white middle-aged Americans has suffered a startling rise in its death rate since 1999, according to a review of statistics published Monday that shows a sharp reversal in decades of progress toward longer lives.
The mortality rate for white men and women ages 45-54 with less than a college education increased markedly between 1999 and 2013, most likely because of problems with legal and illegal drugs, alcohol and suicide, the researchers concluded. Before then, death rates for that group dropped steadily, and at a faster pace."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/a-group-of-middle...
"It seems the economic conditions may be doing a good job of decreasing the surplus population."
Wrong! The parasites are breeding like flies while the productive middle class can't afford big families.
Do you ever bother to check your "facts" or do you just listen to propaganda or assume that nothing ever changes? Birth rates are declining for EVERY demographic.
"Further evidence of the link between income and fertility is news that the birthrate of immigrants fell the most of all subgroups in 2013. The crude Hispanic birthrate fell 2% from 2012 to 2013, the largest decline among any ethnic group. To be sure, this group’s birthrate was falling before the recession even began, , but the economic downturn has amplified the trend: Hispanic (both foreign- and U.S.-born) rates of poverty and unemployment grew more sharply than those of the general population following the recession."
http://www.forbes.com/sites/neilhowe/2015/01/28/u-s-birthrate-falls-agai...
Flakmeister is a know-nothing.
A conservative is someone who thinks the original Constitution and Bill of Rights was sufficient to run society.
To the extent that we have changed those rules (13th Amendment; 17th, etc.) society has gone downhill.
Now the 1st and 2nd are under attack. Things are gonna get much worse. And it is not the fault of conservatives. Just the opposite, in fact.
Right. The world 240 years ago was so much like today's world. So, instead of arguing about what needs to be done to address today's issues, lets just keep arguing about what the founding fathers might have wanted.
Oh, you mean the highly educated and enlightened liberals that created the Consititution??? Too funny...
The conservatives back then were either called "The Loyalists" or were the ones pulling for the 3/5's compromise....
Poverty is growing and all of this built on proverbial credit card. Is this what we have evolved to? Paying for poverty on a credit card?!
On top of this, our "masters" who created this scenario ask for us to reelect them while promising more of the same. Incredible.
Keep your heads low, because something is going to blow.
Thats not the bad part. The shit is these fucking morons keep voting for them. They should all be hung.
Who the fuck else is there to vote for? The only choice we ever get is establishment candidates that perpetuate the status quo, the giant douche and the turd sandwich. Our political system, with the electoral college and super delegates, doesn't allow for anything else.
The minute I saw the headline I knew it was a Michael Snyder post.
If the USA has so much "poverty", then:
Why does the USA socialist party (euphemistically called "democrat") aggressively import the poverty of latin america and the caribbean ?
Why does the USA government encourage the poor to breed with reckless abandon AND subsidize their breeding, ie cloning the poor ?
Could it be that they WANT the maximum amount of impoverished voters dependent upon their vote-buying entitlement programs ????
A ponzi scheme does not work with less people.
that does seem to be the pattern of the last few decades
First, LOL calling the establishment democratic party socialist. As if there is ANY difference between the two parties (other than the wedge issues like abortion and gun control).
The poor are NOT breeding with reckless abandon. ALL demographics have declining birth rates. Quit spieling propaganda and check your "facts".
And the "entitlement system" is being cut even as living wage jobs disappear and globalist corporate interests push through trade agreements that will end up with us looking like a third world country in the long run.
The best solution for the humans species is to kull the herd, ie just recycle all the excess population. Easy to implement because their locations are already known, easy to capture them, just stop paying the entitlement programs and they will quickly come to an office to demand their entitlement, then administer with hammer.
How about we "kull" [sic] those who can't spell first to decrease the low IQ population? Also, lets get rid of those trust fund "innvestuhrrs" who have convinced themselves that being born on third base means they hit a triple.
The people who do not EARN enough to FULLY pay ALL of their own individual expenses SHOULD NOT BE BREEDING *AT ALL* - ANY BREEDING BY THEM CONDEMNS THEIR PROGENY TO POVERTY AND SOCIAL PARASITES , IE DEFINITION OF *RECKLESS".
Your mind is so narrow that if you fell on a pin you would be blind in BOTH eyes.
So all the globalist oligarchs have to do is cut off all means of making a living wage and they can sit back, choose a few lucky ones to do the labor that can't be automated, and watch as the surplus peasants die off. More for them! Its good to be an economic royalist!
Are the ALL CAPS supposed to let me know you're REALLY REALLY MAD and SHOUTING IN MY FACE TO PROVE IT?!? Do you get mad enough to kick your dog and hit your wife too? A REAL MAN. LMAO
So impessive you remember your Steppenwolf lyrics, but can't you come up with any original insults? Not too clever, are ya?
"What has a tiny brain, a big mouth, and an opinion nobody cares about? You!"- - - from "Murphy Brown"
Assuming this is true, couldn't the GOP just have the Koch brothers pony up enough funds to fight it back?
This is fucked up
This shit is broken.
The increase in the poverty rate is likely directly correlated to the off-shoring of manufacturing jobs. And thus it is also correlated with the rise of the idea that buying cheap foreign made goods at a 'discount' is part of a workable economic plan.
Poor doesn't have to mean stupid. Many of these newly poor are not stupid but they did buy into the idea there is no cost to buying cheap foreign goods (or, often, not so cheap). The real cost being, ultimately, their own jobs.
There is much blame to go around but there should be some level of finger pointing at those willing to cut their own throat.
The meek and downtrodden shall inherit the earth!
The shit is about to hit someone.... did any one notice that S&P downgraded the bonds of every major investment bank this morning (and yet, not a peep out of the financial MSM as to this occurrence). The writing may just be getting spray painted on the wall as this week progresses.
Where there is a will, there is a way. Clearly those in power lack good will.
Average brown couple in my town of 110k suburb of Obamaville is a couple under age 30 w Mr speaking enough English to run his landscape business. Mom and dad live in same house and wife has no intention of ever learning English. At my bank 80% of the time Spanish is the language spoken at all teller windiws. There are no white employees. No blacks either. Mrs under age 30 w a 5 , 3 1/2, 2 year old and one more either in a stroller or in the oven. English is not a second language in my town. We have Spanish only signs on many store fronts . That would mean no English to those of you slower witted ! America has left the building !!!
So, pay no attention to the fact that the birth rate is declining for "brown" folks too. Just listen to what you think is happening in YOUR suburb. Gee, could it be that somebody is running a home daycare center? Naaaaaahhhhh. You've done a thorough survey (although you most likely don't even speak their language) and know your "facts" well.
Word "poverty" has different meaning in each country. For example elders in Russia has to live with 85 EUR A MONTH. Prices are the same.
Mean time in US you are poor if you earn 1 850 USD a month. So "poverty" doesn't mean anything if we compare countries.
Is this a variation on the "there are starving children in Asia" line my parents used to get us to clean our plates? So what? Are you saying, "get used to living like a third world peasant"?
We can't "take care" of our own people because we've pushed our personal responsibility onto an inefficient and often corrupt government. Get government out of welfare and see the problem improve.
LMAO. The economy implodes due to globalization and your answer is to "get government out of welfare", as if jobs will magically appear. Or are you just saying we should stop trying to stop our slide into third world status and work on decreasing the surplus population?
Look over there, there is water on Pluto!
Concentration of income and wealth at the top completes the picture. It's all because productivity has increased so much. Capitalists need more and more capital to maintain their take and everybody else can go suck eggs.
Enjoyed the tale of the six-figure incomes of the couple while the car-washers have "nicer things." The meaning of life is to have nicer things! It's the most heart-rending line since Scarlett said, "Oh, Ashleh!"
I wonder how much of what we see if from encouraging unwed maternity, socially promoting kids through school who can't read, write or do arithmetic (forget mathematics) and insulating them from criticism,the habits of thrift, industry and perseverance, having a government that grows bigger and bigger, but is never asked "how much is enough" by the Bernie Sanders' of the world, having a legal systen of the lawyers, by the lawers and for the lawyers, and breeding a vast army of Kardashian fans whose misery is made worse because they follow the exploits of people who do nothing professionally.
The birth rate is decreasing in all demographics and the welfare state was gutted under Clinton, so we are not doing anything to "encourage" unwed maternity, other than shutting down Planned Parenthood clinics where poor women have access to birth control.
And on many levels schools are doing very well in the US. Middle class and wealthy public school chilren thrive while poor children struggle because of the handicaps of poverty. Impoverished children have a hard enough time just surviving, much less succeeding in school.
And the unfortunate fact is that finishing high school no longer means being able to get a living wage job and the career outlook for those who choose to go to college (which is not the right path for everyone and often means taking on the debt) is not very optimistic. The problem is that our economy is not creating jobs.
No mentions of immigration? What a fucking joke.
Americans aren't getting much poorer; America is just importing millions of poor, unassimilable, irredentist third worlders.
The population of illegal immigrants has decreased to 3.5% of total population in 2012 from 4% in 2009. There were 11.3 million of them in 2014, a number that has remained essentially stable for five years. So, no, we are not importing "millions of them".
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/07/24/5-facts-about-illegal-im...
Nothing shocking or surprising here. If you live or have lived in USA this is all old news.
If you give incentives for anything you get more of it. If you pay people to be poor, they will be poor to be paid. If they truly wanted to fix the problem they could offer $5000 to anyone who is willing to get a vasectomy. It would be vastly cheaper in the short and long term. Seems like half of America is going for too poor to fail.
God must love poor people because he made so many of them...
Goldman Sachs -- doing God's work.
Which is the perfect reason to allow/encourage another 20 million low skilled immigrants.... Makes perfect sense.
Squid
Dup, sorry.
"If we truly are “the greatest nation on the planet”, then why can’t we even take care of our own people? Why are there tens of millions of us living in poverty?"
Answer: Because the US government has decided that it is much more important to rule the world and to accomplish that, to spend billions and billions on its military budget and giving billions to Israel....either way more and more people die and their lives destroyed if not ended.
Then there’s the detrimental impact the government’s endless wars (fueled by the profit-driven military industrial complex) is having on our communities, our budget and our police forces. In fact, the U.S. Department of Defense is the world’s largest employer, with more than 3.2 million employees. Since 9/11, we’ve spent more than $1.6 trillion to wage wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. When you add in our military efforts in Pakistan, as well as the lifetime price of health care for disabled veterans and interest on the national debt, that cost rises to $4.4 trillion. http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-11-03/real-issues-you-wont-hear-2016-...
If the population of the US wants this to change then I suggest that you get out in the streets!!! Maybe Americans should start caring once more about their fellow citizens and the citizens of the world and maybe, just maybe, the US could slowly get back to being if not the "Greatest nation on the planet" at least a "great" nation