A Journey Through a Land of Extreme Poverty: Welcome to America
Thanks for posting this. Poverty and inequality in this country at the levels we see should not be tolerated. Also, be sure to have a look at the comments. The UK, unfortunately, is heading down the same path.
I saw this article before in the Guardian. After reading it, I fished around and discovered that Australia's per capital homelessness rate is more than twice that of the U.S. To the extent that Aussie official is walking around feeling morally superior and "shocked" about conditions in the U.S., he might want to start at home. In fact, the U.S.' homelessness rate is in line with and sometimes better than that of countries we consider to be enlightened and more socialistic etc, although that may feel untrue to people like us who live in and around big cities like NYC.
Is this no longer the richest nation in the world? Is America no longer "The last best hope of mankind"?
Did our grandparents and great grandparents come to this country expecting to see homeless people in the streets?
Is it time to move somewhere else?
RobB said:
“Poverty”
So? What about enough healthy food to stock that refrigerator? Fox news: please!
RobB said:
“Poverty”
That is not a surprise. In N.J., you can't sell or rent a dwelling without a working refrigerator. I don't know if that applies in other states.
--- as posted above, but what is in that refrigerator?
How do we define "poverty"?
How does anyone in America function without a cell phone or computer?
What % of people living in extreme poverty in Haiti own a pair of shoes?
Formerlyjerseyjack said:
RobB said:
“Poverty”
That is not a surprise. In N.J., you can't sell or rent a dwelling without a working refrigerator. I don't know if that applies in other states.
--- as posted above, but what is in that refrigerator?
In NJ you can rent or sell dwellings without a working refrigerator. Although it would be a good idea if that was required.
I didn't take a great apartment in Hoboken because it didn't come with one. If it wasn't a four story walk up we might have bought one.
When we bought our house in SO, it didn't have a refrigerator either.
https://www.justanswer.com/landlord-tenant/6r8m5-new-jersey-landlord-tenant-law-a-does-landlord.html
There must be a point to these points. Damned if I can see it though.
The charts listing amenities neglected to include automobiles and indoor plumbing.
And I admit that the five-year-old income chart, which accounts for at least $25,000 per adult in annual investment proceeds and unisex handlebar mustaches, is an eye-opener.
I'm curious to what it opened your eyes to?
DaveSchmidt said:
The charts listing amenities neglected to include automobiles and indoor plumbing.
And I admit that the five-year-old income chart, which accounts for at least $25,000 per adult in annual investment proceeds and unisex handlebar mustaches, is an eye-opener.
That $25,000 in annual investment income was a typical amount for illustrative purposes, and that handlebar mustaches are unisex.
ok then.
I wonder what the chart would show if it indicated the amount of taxes these folks saved due to the Bush tax cuts. I think 2014 was when they expired, which is why the taxes increased.
DaveSchmidt said:
That $25,000 in annual investment income was a typical amount for illustrative purposes, and that handlebar mustaches are unisex.
FWIW, the original context for that illustration (minus Uncle Pennybags stick-ons) was a WSJ article from January 2013 about the newly passed American Taxpayer Relief Act’s tax increases on many affluent people who weren’t in the top bracket.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323689604578220132665726040
well yeah, but 230k ain't chicken feed.
And ATRA was what a tax plan should be - bump it up on those who can best afford it, while giving the masses a break.
Still, RobB's point remains elusive.
DaveSchmidt said:
FWIW, the original context for that illustration (minus Uncle Pennybags stick-ons) was a WSJ article from January 2013 about the newly passed American Taxpayer Relief Act’s tax increases on many affluent people who weren’t in the top bracket.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323689604578220132665726040
drummerboy said:
well yeah, but 230k ain't chicken feed.
See: “affluent.” (“Who weren’t in the top bracket” was intended as an informational, not a mitigating, qualifier.)
I was probably reacting more to my assumed intent of posting the pic.
DaveSchmidt said:
drummerboy said:
well yeah, but 230k ain't chicken feed.
See: “affluent.” (“Who weren’t in the top bracket” was intended as an informational, not a mitigating, qualifier.)
How dare poor people have a place to put their food, or wash clothes, or communicate with the outside! Disgraceful. Can't they be proper poor people!!!
RobB said:
“.”
Following RobB's line of reasoning, the only people who are actually poor are already dead because they had no food to eat.
yahooyahoo said:
How dare poor people have a place to put their food, or wash clothes, or communicate with the outside! Disgraceful. Can't they be proper poor people!!!
RobB said:
“.”
bub said:
I saw this article before in the Guardian. After reading it, I fished around and discovered that Australia's per capital homelessness rate is more than twice that of the U.S. To the extent that Aussie official is walking around feeling morally superior and "shocked" about conditions in the U.S., he might want to start at home. In fact, the U.S.' homelessness rate is in line with and sometimes better than that of countries we consider to be enlightened and more socialistic etc, although that may feel untrue to people like us who live in and around big cities like NYC.
He is an NYU professor, so he lives here.
Even if you could convince me that he's the wrong messenger for this message, the message is still relevant. We are letting poverty get out of hand.
The End of Empire
Chris Hedges
The American empire is coming to an end. The U.S. economy is being drained by wars in the Middle East and vast military expansion around the globe. It is burdened by growing deficits, along with the devastating effects of deindustrialization and global trade agreements. Our democracy has been captured and destroyed by corporations that steadily demand more tax cuts, more deregulation and impunity from prosecution for massive acts of financial fraud, all the while looting trillions from the U.S. treasury in the form of bailouts. The nation has lost the power and respect needed to induce allies in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa to do its bidding. Add to this the mounting destruction caused by climate change and you have a recipe for an emerging dystopia. Overseeing this descent at the highest levels of the federal and state governments is a motley collection of imbeciles, con artists, thieves, opportunists and warmongering generals. And to be clear, I am speaking about Democrats, too.
Read the rest here: https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/10/02/end-empire
Boy what a downer he is.
And while I admire Mr. Hedges, I wouldn't go to him for economic analysis.
nan said:
The End of Empire
Chris Hedges
The American empire is coming to an end. The U.S. economy is being drained by wars in the Middle East and vast military expansion around the globe. It is burdened by growing deficits, along with the devastating effects of deindustrialization and global trade agreements. Our democracy has been captured and destroyed by corporations that steadily demand more tax cuts, more deregulation and impunity from prosecution for massive acts of financial fraud, all the while looting trillions from the U.S. treasury in the form of bailouts. The nation has lost the power and respect needed to induce allies in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa to do its bidding. Add to this the mounting destruction caused by climate change and you have a recipe for an emerging dystopia. Overseeing this descent at the highest levels of the federal and state governments is a motley collection of imbeciles, con artists, thieves, opportunists and warmongering generals. And to be clear, I am speaking about Democrats, too.
Read the rest here: https://www.commondreams.org/views/2017/10/02/end-empire
bub said:
I saw this article before in the Guardian. After reading it, I fished around and discovered that Australia's per capital homelessness rate is more than twice that of the U.S. To the extent that Aussie official is walking around feeling morally superior and "shocked" about conditions in the U.S., he might want to start at home. In fact, the U.S.' homelessness rate is in line with and sometimes better than that of countries we consider to be enlightened and more socialistic etc, although that may feel untrue to people like us who live in and around big cities like NYC.
I wouldn't look to homelessness rate as an indication of poverty overall. The rate of homelessness is minuscule among the developed nations. Sure, Australia's rate is twice the U.S., but it's 0.4% compared to our 0.2%, which is five times the rate of 0.04% in Mexico.
And of course people can point to how much "better" poor people have it in 21st century U.S. compared to many poor people in other countries or in history. Poor people in the U.S. don't have rickets or contract smallpox or worry about dysentery.
We should be talking about income and wealth inequality instead of talking about whether a poor person in the U.S. is better off than a poor person in India, or a poor person in the U.S. in 1895.
Speaking of wealth inequality:
https://www.rt.com/usa/412898-black-bostonians-net-worth-8-dollars/
...the eyebrow-raising statistic left many readers wondering if the number was a typo, prompting the Boston Globe to write a follow-up article the next day, on December 11, titled: “That was no typo: The median net worth of black Bostonians really is $8.”
The $8 figure comes from a 2015 report authored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, Duke University, and the New School. According to the report, the median household net worth in the Greater Boston region is $247,500 for whites, $8 for US blacks, $12,000 for Caribbean blacks, $3,020 for Puerto Ricans and $0 for Dominicans.
The Globe’s follow-up article noted that net worth is determined by subtracting debts from assets, which means that blacks and Dominicans in Greater Boston “owe almost as much as the combined value of what they own — if they own anything at all.”
Original reports (recently published 12/10/2017):
http://apps.bostonglobe.com/spotlight/boston-racism-image-reality/series/image/
In all fairness to Trump, 41 million Americans did not slide into extreme poverty since his election. But the cost of the tax cut bill Trump and the Republicans are salivating over, will be made up on slashing programs such as Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security. It is horrible to watch Congress sitting on the children’s health insurance program – CHIP – while counting their soon-to-be winnings, and that of their wealthy donors, at the cash window. This is who they are. As Sen. Chuck Grassley stated, giving a break to those having to pay estate taxes, who invest their capital is preferential “to those . . . just spending every darn penny . . . on booze or women or movies.“ Got it.
The Guardian: Trump Turning the U.S. into “World Champion of Extreme Inequality”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/dec/15/america-un-extreme-poverty-trump-republicans
In his most stark message, Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, warns that the Republicans’ declared intent to slash crucial welfare programs next year in order to pay for some of the $1.5 trillion tax cuts could cost American lives. “The consequences for an already overstretched and inadequate system of social protection are likely to be fatal for many programs, and possibly also for those who rely upon them,” he writes.
(Warning: In the Charleston, West Virginia section of the following article at the bottom of the page, there is a graphic, close-up picture of a 32-year-old man’s mouth filled with rotting teeth.)
The Guardian: A Journey through a Land of Extreme Poverty: Welcome to America
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/dec/15/america-extreme-poverty-un-special-rapporteur