Poverty In America

[MtSmalls]

According to the Census Bureau report released this morning LINK there are now 37 million people in this country living in poverty, more than million added to that grim statistic over the course of 2004. This does not include the victims of Katrina. Nearly a THIRD of those 37 million are children. This is not Darfur poverty or Bangladesh poverty by any stretch. But let’s not fool ourselves either. For a family of four the poverty line was considered to be making $19,300 or less. That’s a fortune in the third world, but one disaster (natural or otherwise) from living on the streets.

Since the Bush Administration took office, poverty in America has steadily risen, with more than 6 million Americans joining that group in four years. And this is supposed to be the largest, most powerful free market economy in the world. With an estimated 400,000 jobs vanishing in the wake of Katrina, this number will be substantially higher next year. The administration spokesperson even tried the Rumsfeld defense, “We hope this is it, that this is the last gasp of indicators for the recession”.

Real wages have been stagnant for the last four years under this administration. One American in SEVEN doesn’t have health insurance. One American in 9 lives below the poverty line. All of these numbers are going the wrong way. Only the truly delusional can believe that this country is headed in the right direction.

Forget the “war” on terror. Forget the “war” on drugs. What ever happened to the ‘war’ on POVERTY???