Reply #117: Yes.

[wickerwoman]

Inasmuch as 90% of the US population isn't involved in subsistence farming, we're all pretty damn rich. Do you live in a corrugated iron shack, have one set of clothing and have to wash it in a river naked in all weathers? Is there a 10-20% chance your child will die before it reaches the age of 5? When was the last time you went consecutive days without food while working construction and coming home to live on a bunk bed in a trailer with ten other guys? Do you have plumbing, electricity, a secondary education and access to an emergency room? Congratulations, you won the frickin' birth lottery.

Yes, the American economy sucks but it's a long, long, long, long way to the bottom.

You have a right to shelter, food and work but so does everyone else regardless of where they were born. And there are many countries where the majority of the population hasn't had any of those things for decades. They're poor. We're the richest country in the world going through an economic hiccup. Sorry, it sucks. I'm unemployed too. But I'm not going to begrudge my job to some of the poorest people on the planet who have been busting their ass since birth to get out of life threatening poverty.