NYT: Herbert on Poverty in the U.S.

[MassLiberal]

The Dems need to be talking about this: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/22/opinion/22herbert.html?hp

[Nicholas_J]

1. It is a well known fact outside of the U.S.

That the rate of poverty in the U.S. higher than any of the top 17 indistrialized nations. It is three times higher than poverty in the nations that copmes closest to usw in poverty, and that is Italy. And even in this case. poverty is defined much differently. The incom,e necessary to be considered poor in Italy and throughout Europe is about 50 per higher than it is in the U.S. And this includes the fact that the poor also recieve subsidies fo housing, food and medical care, so there poor rarely do without the necessities of life. Poverty is defined quite differently. Even in the ex-soviet bloc states, the poor recieve more from the government than the poos in America do. In fact, there are enough poor in the U.S. to completely populate all but a few of the nations of the EEC. Enough to populate ALL of Scandanavia, or all of the Baltic States, or all of the Balkan States, and maybe even eouygh to populate bothe the Baltic and Balkan States combined.

Other facts about Europe amnd the U.S. The Norwegians provide 17 times as much per citizen to pay for humanitarian aid around the world thatyn the U.S. does. The U.S. far from bveing the generous nation that it makes itrself out to be, pays less in foreign humanitarian aid than any of the 17 largest industrialized nations of the world. Almost all U.S> aide to foreign nationsis military aid.