Severe Poverty At Its Highest Level In America (US Corporate Profits At Highest Levels)

[deadparrot]

(CBS4) WASHINGTON The percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty is the highest in thirty years, in which millions of working Americans are falling closer to the poverty line, and the gulf between this country’s ''haves'' and ''have-nots'' gets wider.

The McClatchy Company - owners of the Miami Herald – a CBS4 news partner - went through an analysis of 2005 census figures, the latest available, and found that nearly 16 million Americans are living in deep or severe poverty.

A family of four, with two children and an annual income of less than $9,903 -- half the federal poverty line -- was considered severely poor in 2005. So were individuals who made less than $5,080 a year.

At the same time, economists found worker productivity increasing sizeably since the brief recession of 2001, but wages and job growth have lagged behind. The share of national income going to corporate profits has dwarfed the amount going to wages and salaries. Median household income of working-age families, adjusted for inflation, has fallen for five straight years.

http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_055141357.html

[Stargazer99]

1. Did you learn from one of our forefathers

That said we could have a democracy IF WE KEPT CORPORATIONS IN CONTROL? Probably not, after all we are fed what power and money wants us to know.

[Jcrowley]

2. k&R n/t

[Viva_La_Revolution]

3. 5 and kick! nt

[UrbScotty]

4. THIS is a moral issue - NOT abortion or gay marriage! (nt)

[ninkasi]

5. I agree completely

and I share the sentiment expressed in your DU name, as well. This is wrong, in every way possible. Happy, fundies? Happy, wingnuts? As you and your family slide into the bottom of the economy, is keeping gays from marrying, and fighting Iraqis really so important anymore? When your job is sent overseas, or you are replaced by someone willing to work for less, and you lose your home, is it really so important, after all, to support the right wing, when they have done nothing for you but grind you into the dirt? Idiots.

[Zenlitened]

6. Hmmm... I wonder if this sort of situation has ever occurred in the past?

If only there was some way to know....

Oh, well. Everything probably turned out just hunky-dory, anyway. Nothing to make a stir about, I'm sure.

:eyes:

[kineneb]

44. yes- Gilded Age- 1890s

Jacob Riis published "How the Other Half Lives" in 1890. He took photos of the extreme poverty in NYC tenements. Nothing new under the sun.

http://www.yale.edu/amstud/inforev/riis/title.html

[Jester_11218]

7. It's called CAPITALISM!

This is EXACTLY how capitalism is designed to work. It is like playing Monopoly. How many people win Monopoly? What happens to the losers?

This is EXACTLY what capitalism is designed to do. The only way to prevent this in a capitalist economy is to regulate it. You can not have "free market capitalism" and expect anything other than this type of result!

This is why Bush, et al, talk so much about freedom...they mean free market capitalism...free of regulation and government control. Well...here are the results!

Watch these...fantastic videos on the topic...FREE on line...
http://tvnewslies.org/html/terrorism__globalism_and_consp.html

Jesse, Editor, TvNewsLIES.org

[1932]

15. But Monopoly isn't how society works. At the end of the game in Monopoloy

one person has all the wealth and runs the board and the game is over.

In society the game is never over. We go on. Which is why society shouldn't allow huge inequalities in power and wealth iif it wants a funcitioning, self-perpatuating marketplace which gives happiness to as many people as possible.

[Jester_11218]

21. Never say never

It works just the same. Economic slavery is a loss. Losing your home is a loss. Debt is a loss.

The only difference is the level of loss; total vs. virtual total.

[Jim Sagle]

8. A rising tide lifts all boats - except when it doesn't.

[Hawkowl]

14. Only the rich can afford boats

The rest of us just drown when the tide rises.

[1932]

16. A rising tide lifts all yachts.

[Canuckistanian]

41. Some boats are anchored with a short chain

And so get swamped as others float above the inundation.

A good metaphor for what's happening.

[area51]

9. "the brief recession of 2001,"

We've never left it. The economy hasn't recovered, and the democrats seem clueless about the bad economy.

[barb162]

11. The NYSE is flying high relatively speaking, so a lot of people

think the economy is doing well. Actually only corporate stockholders are doing well. The average wage slave is not. The Democrats have no answers, which I find amazing since outsourcing and layoffs have been increasing for several years now.

[WorldResident]

13. Technically, the economy has been expanding

But the beneficiaries in the Bush economy are the richest people. Real wages have actually been falling I think.

[Maraya1969]

24. Welcome to DU WorldResident!

:hi:

[G_j]

10. K&R

!

[WorldResident]

12. Conservatives think this is because they're lazy

I've even heard Southern Baptists say that they are just receiving judgement from God! :mad:

[Vidar]

17. Greed is not a virtue. Society should quit rewarding it.

[tanyev]

18. K & R

[lovuian]

19. We are heading for a Depression and Socialism

its coming...
Starving people get really fed up

[Sirveri]

26. Before I got my current job I was on the verge.

I was not going to go quietly into the night, if my livelihood was going to be destroyed I was going to take others down with me until someone fixed it. At least that's what I told myself, who knows if I would have had the balls to really attempt to start my own uprising.

[AnOhioan]

20. No surprise here for me. I see the effects of the shrubs'

"economic powerhouse" everyday. Unless you were already wealthy in 2001 you are screwed.

[llmart]

22. Let's not forget...........

that there are many people in the US who want it this way. There is a prevailing attitude these days of "I've got mine - the hell with the rest of you." It's the Republican attitude, of course.

[OhioChick]

23. This headline should be

on the front page of every major paper in the US. Where is our representation on this issue?

[leQ]

25. K&R

[bvar22]

27. I expect this to occur under the Republicans,

but am concerned that these trends continue under our "New Democrats".

What was wrong with the "Old" Democrats (FDR), and where have they gone?
I would really like to be able to vote for an "Old" Democrat.



The Democratic Party is a BIG TENT, but there is NO ROOM for those
who advance the agenda of THE RICH (Corporate Owners) at the EXPENSE of LABOR and the POOR.

[mzmolly]

28. But, don't forget the economy is grrrrrrreat!

:eyes:

[kath]

43. Oh, YEEESSSSS, it's wonderful! And there's little or no inflation.

:eyes: :eyes:

[otherlander]

29. There can't be justice in America

until there is democracy in China.

[WindRavenX]

30. And perhaps most terrifying of all...

...how many tens of millions of families are considered well-to-do only because they have things bought on credit?

How many tens of millions of families are one pay check, one injury/illness/death away from total ruin?

This country is built on a house of cards. I'm terrified of the future, and I'm only 21 :(

[w4rma]

31. It's pretty obvious where the money is coming from to make the ultra-wealthy even wealthier. (nt)

[manic expression]

32. Can you say capitalism?

destroy capitalism and you fix this problem completely.

[The Anti-Neo Con]

42. Amen comrade! n/t

[rodeodance]

33. gawd. I wish this would get as LEAST a few days media attention!

[progressoid]

34. And the poorest city in the country is the nation’s capital, Washington, D.C.

I'm sure all the people on capital hill see this and are working overtime to rectify the situation.

[Czolgosz]

35. Corporate piss on the poor - Reagan promise that the American poor would get trickled down upon...

[Hand]

36. Heckuva job, Chimpy. nt

[loyal9]

37. its ironic that the worst of

the severe poverty comes from ms. arkansas,al. la. all rethug states.very red states.so how can you help people who don`t want to be helped.

[ForFuxakes]

38. The simple answer is...

B/C they are stupid...

You've seen them, driving down the highway in their 1987 Ford Ranger PU truck, bed replaced by plywood and a bumper from some other vehicle, decorated with a W04 bumper sticker.

These people are devoid of any rational thought. These are the same redneck morons who when asked who they would like to drink a beer with, said overwhemlingly..."W".

For these people it is eaisier to believe than to think. That is why they are so riled up by wedge issues, I.e, abortion and GLBT issues.

I read s study one time, referring to the reptilian brain and how this primitive leftover drives so much of our thought process. The study referred to the fact that this evolutionary leftover drives some of our most primal insticnts. The need for food, shelter, love, sex and the most astonishing, the blind faith in leaders (the alpha male). I truly belive with all my being, that there are two types of repubs...the ultra stupid and the ultra evil...I can come up with no other logical conclusion...

IMHO

[loyal9]

49. YOUR ABSOLUTELY RIGHT

i live in the reddest state in dixie and cannot believe how stupid people are,they still buy their cigs with no tax,yet it probably contributes more negativity to the health care system they anything else,they still love the guv.even though he`s an ex-tobacco lobbyist who refused to tax cigs and increased taxes on food and clothing,i might also add a phone-jamming crook.

[VegasWolf]

39. Consolation for the Republican Evangelical Christians, abortion is down and gay perverts

can't get married in most states. Hope these idiots are happy when they are rolling on the floor and speaking in "tongues". No money, big deal, it's worth it to save marriage. Dumb fucks.

[Blue_Tires]

40. k+r

[cut.your.crap]

45. Air mattress sales way up

I went to visit my 22 year old nephew. He shares a small 2 bedroom apartment with two other young men. Every one of them sleeps on an inflatable air mattress. There's no beer in the 'fridge. None of them smoke. These are two things I typically think of when I think of poverty and what drains the poorest in our society.
The place is clean and very spartan. They pay $900 a month ($300 each) to live there and this is cheap for the market.
All of them work full time for $8-10 per hour. All of them go part time to community college. Not one of them owns a car. There's only limited bus service in my city from 7am-5pm weekdays and nothing weekends. They do a lot of walking. My nephew has a cheap $75 bike too.
They aren't dumb. They aren't minorities. They all come from lower middle class backgrounds. I struggled when I was young, but NOTHING like this.

[NYC]

48. Thanks for the information.

I wonder how many people will continue to share apartments even after college graduation. Will full time wages at "permanent" jobs be so low that having roommates will become the norm, even for adults?

Welcome to DU. :hi:

[TomClash]

46. It's called CLASS WAR

and only one side's fighting.

[nealmhughes]

47. I'm rather proud of the polarizing prose I posted some months ago on my blog.

How was that for sustained alliteration?

here is the link, the title is "The new C-word," which of course has five letters, and not four: c-l-a-s-s, the word that cannot be uttered on the corporate media airwaves...

http://screechingrats.wordpress.com/2006/09/15/the-new-c-word-or-an-open-letter-to-the-working-people-of-the-usa/

I was in a rare tirade form that night, no, not really, I had been reading about Captain Swing, Luddites, and other proto-labor movements that day!