Katrina Turns the Poor Into the Destitute

[Judi Lynn]

Katrina Turns the Poor Into the Destitute
Hurricane Katrina Turns the Poorest of America's Poor Into the Truly Destitute

By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press

WASHINGTON Sep 23, 2005 — Before Hurricane Katrina, they were among the poorest of America's poor. In the hardest hit counties, some 305,000 people not only lived in poverty, their families' income fell below 50 percent of the poverty line about $7,500 for a family of three. Now, many live in strange towns with only a few dollars in their pockets.

They've become a new class of poor, one that makes the old class look well off by comparison. They have not only lost their jobs and their homes; they're also isolated from family and friends, putting them at great risk for depression and substance abuse.

"When you have no assets to start out with and no savings to rely on, and then your income stream is disrupted, something that might have been poverty with extreme hardship shifts into desperation," said Isaac Shapiro, a research analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal think tank.

For some evacuees, however, Katrina and the attention it brought to America's urban poor may give them the opportunity to break free from the cycle of poverty, other officials said.
(snip/...)

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1151388&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

[ninkasi]

1. How can we allow this?

I have read on several occasions that Chimp and the neocons want to use Katrina as an excuse to push through their conservative agenda. What Katrina is showing us, though, is that that agenda does nothing for the poor, and the ordinary people. It is designed, as all conservation policies are designed, to help the wealthy and corporations scarf up on everything they can. The people are disposable goods to them.

I say it's past time to try a progressive approach to problems. Instead of suspending the Bacon-Davis act, we need to turn over reconstruction to locally own businesses, and require that a living wage be paid. We need to plow money into public schools instead of vouchers. We need to roll back the tax cuts for the wealthy, who have been asked to sacrifice neither money nor children, and use that money on infrastructure. We need to withdraw from Iraq.

In other words, we have seen the quality of life go steadily downhill as a result of "compassionate conservatism". We need to try the Democratic approach, which is that one of the reasons for supporting a democracy is to provide for the general good and welfare of a nation's citizens. Not corporations, but citizens.

Right-wing policies lead to a lowering of the standard of living for the ordinary, and the massive enrichment of the few. For the poor who suffered, and continue to suffer, the effects of Katrina, we need to change the way we view our country, and our fellow countrymen. If we can't do this, then democracy, or the democracy practiced by neocons, is a failure.

[Cobalt Violet]

3. But King George is going to give them a tax cut!!

:sarcasm:

[central scrutinizer]

5. the dead are no longer poor

<>

[Missy M]

2. What amazes me about this issue is the public officials who are....

acting as if they had NO idea how many people are living in poverty. Katrina opened their eyes to it. What a bunch of BS. The very same politicians who are proclaiming their astonishment are the same ones who fight to the end NOT to raise the minimum wage.

[Javaman]

4. is it insane to think that there should be a "GI" type bill for the poor?

If a person falls below a certain level of income for x amount of years they could be eligible for educational grants? Or something like that?

[pitohui]

7. they can get educational grants but

many of the very poor are not in a position to benefit from education

they are disabled mentally and often physically to the point where education isn't really going to make them employable

i have an older friend who is v. poor who does get grants & she will soon be admitted into a grad school program, such programs do help displaced housewives or other women who are intelligent & healthy but never had access to opportunity

but you would be amazed at the no. of poor who have disabilities that will always keep them from working

an educational grant can do little for someone w. an i.q. of 80 or a physical condition so severe that no employer would hire them because they can't pass a pre-employment health exam

we will always need some form of welfare for the poor, we are naive to think that everyone can be educated to the point where they are functional, maybe we are not all here merely to serve a function?

[Javaman]

8. Thanks for the info. I'm not naive, just trying to think of ways...

To help, since it appears there are a lack of ideas coming out of moron* (as always).

I know they are destitute, but I'm just always hopeful that there has to be a way to help.

I know there are people disabled and mentally challenged but there are always the few, that never get a chance to show what they are capable of doing.

[mom cat]

6. The suffering from this will last lifetimes