U.S. poverty: chronic ill, little hope for cure

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N02556414.htm

WASHINGTON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - Four decades after a U.S. president declared war on poverty, more than 37 million people in the world's richest country are officially classified as poor and their number has been on the rise for years.

Last year, according to government statistics, 1.1 million Americans fell below the poverty line. That equals the entire population of a major city like Dallas or Prague.

Since 2000, the ranks of the poor have increased year by year by almost 5.5 million in total...

[david_vincent]

1. Well, if there's no hope,

then we might as well not bother trying to do anything. :eyes:

[Erika]

2. Our corrupt form of capitalism breeds poverty

and the elimination of the middle class. We now have a president who is the corporate globalist king, and as his mother said those poor evacuees "Well,they are better off now than they were, you know, wink wink, being disadvantaged and all".

[Ksec]

3. The Repubs WANT poverty

They dont want a strong middle class who demands decent wages and bennies.

They want people to be so busy struggling to pay their electric bills that they dont fight back against this movement by a group of America hating profit monkeys.

They want poor folks to do their dirty labor, they want everyone to be beholden for a minimum wage junk job. This is the number one reason why I am a Democrat, and why I fight the rethugs who are just killing America.

[Mandate My Ass]

4. You said it!

We're the useless eaters and we must go.

From the article:

U.S. POVERTY WORST IN INDUSTRIALISED WORLD

"Every August, we Americans tell ourselves a lie," said David Brady, a Duke University professor who studies poverty.

"The poverty rate was designed to undercount because the government wanted to show progress in the war on poverty.

"Taking everything into account, the real rate is around 18 percent, or 48 million people. Poverty in the United States is more widespread, by far, than in any other industrialised country."

Poverty is a universal problem, as is inequality. The world's 500 richest people, according to U.N. statistics, have as much income as the world's poorest 416 million.