Here is discussion I got in to with a dear dear friend on face book about the poverty and the plight of the poor in the USA. To let you know I have been poor, I have been homeless and penny less, I have been broke and I have been in bankruptcy so what I say is not just something I have have imagined up. I grant you this also that I have not been really poor in a very long time, I just spent as much on my daughter's high school graduation as some people will make in a month or two work a small job, It was my honor and my privilege, and she is a great kid.
This not the first time I have come across a discussion of poverty and I am a liberal, just not a silly bleeding heart liberal, I have proceed to post a the article about real poverty before posting the article from cracked up because it is really too narrow in its focus.
My view on poverty and its problems is eclectic, even as I wish to help all the poor I am not so stupid to think that all the money in the world taken from the rich and given to the poor will make us all equal. And I also believe that many of the problems of the poor are caused as much by the poor and their bad choices as they are of oppression and and injustice of the rich and the system, ofcourse I have explored these in much detail in my writings also.
This not the first time I have come across a discussion of poverty and I am a liberal, just not a silly bleeding heart liberal, I have proceed to post a the article about real poverty before posting the article from cracked up because it is really too narrow in its focus.
My view on poverty and its problems is eclectic, even as I wish to help all the poor I am not so stupid to think that all the money in the world taken from the rich and given to the poor will make us all equal. And I also believe that many of the problems of the poor are caused as much by the poor and their bad choices as they are of oppression and and injustice of the rich and the system, ofcourse I have explored these in much detail in my writings also.
The Economic Collapse Blog
Did you know that nearly half of the 44 million Americans that are on food stamps today are children? Did you know that more than a fifth of all U.S. children are living in poverty and that a fourth of all U.S. children are enrolled in the food stamp program? Did you know that most of the people that starve to death around the globe are children? In 2011, child hunger and child poverty are major problems in the United States and they are at epidemic levels in many areas of the world. The facts that are you are about to read are tough to stomach and they are meant to break your heart. Most of us need to be touched on an emotional level before we will take action. As I have written about previously, the world is on the verge of a horrific global food crisis. Unless a miracle happens, there is not going to be nearly enough food for everyone in the world in the future. We all need to prepare so that we will be able to feed our own families when that time comes and so that we will be able to be generous and share with others in need.
The food stamp program is the modern equivalent of the old-fashioned bread lines. Today, the number of Americans on food stamps is absolutely exploding. Despite claims that the economy is "recovering", the number of Americans relying on food assistance just continues to increase.
Many food retailers have seen food stamp usage soar to unprecedented levels. Just check out the following quote from a recent article posted on the website of a local Pennsylvania news station….
"The trend started about three years ago and it has increased significantly we have some stores up 40% from last year," said Scott Karns owner of seven Karns Supermarkets in central PA.Sadly, a disproportionate number of those on food stamps are children. Even as you read this article, there are millions of children in the United States that are wondering where their next meal is going to come from.
The following are 20 facts about child hunger and child poverty that will break your heart….
#1 According to one recent study, approximately 21 percent of all children in the United States were living below the poverty line in 2010. In the UK and in France that figure is well under 10 percent.
#2 According to the U.S. Census, the number of children living in poverty has gone up by about 2 million in just the past 2 years.
#3 Today, one out of every four American children is on food stamps.
#4 It is being projected that approximately 50 percent of all U.S. children will be on food stamps at some point in their lives before they reach the age of 18.
#5 It is estimated that up to half a million children may currently be homeless in the United States.
#6 More than 44 million Americans are currently on food stamps. That is an all-time record and that number is 18 million higher than it was back at the beginning of 2007.
#7 48 percent of the 44 million Americans that are now on food stamps are children.
#8 According to Feeding America's 2010 hunger study, more than 37 million Americans are now being served by food pantries and soup kitchens.
#9 The number of Americans that are going to food pantries and soup kitchens has increased by 46% since 2006.
#10 According to Feeding America, 50.2 million Americans lived in "food insecure households" during 2009.
#11 Even with tens of millions of Americans on food stamps there are still large numbers of Americans that go hungry each night. According to the BBC, 15% of all U.S. households experienced a shortage of food at some point during 2009.
#12 More than 20 million U.S. children rely on school meal programs to keep from going hungry.
#13 One out of every six Americans is now enrolled in at least one government anti-poverty program.
#14 The poorest 50% of all Americans collectively own just 2.5% of all the wealth in the United States. Statistically, there are more children in poor households than in wealthy ones.
#15 Child hunger is a major problem all over the world. Approximately 1 billion people around the world go to bed hungry each night.
#16 A lack of food among pregnant women in developing countries results in one out of every 6 babies being born with a low birth weight.
#17 Approximately 28 percent of all children in developing countries are considered to be underweight or have had their growth stunted as a result of malnutrition.
#18 More than 3 billion people, close to half the world's population, live on less than 2 dollar a day.
#19 Somewhere in the world someone starves to death every 3.6 seconds, and 75 percent of those are children under the age of five.
#20 Almost 9 million children around the world died before they reached their fifth birthday during 2008. Approximately a third of all of those deaths were attributed to hunger and malnutrition.
Most Americans have traditionally thought of "hunger" as something that happens over in Africa or Asia, but that is simply not the case anymore.
There are tens of millions of Americans that would be going without enough food if it weren't for the food stamp program, school meal programs, food pantries, soup kitchens and the kindness of religious organizations.
Sadly, as the price of food continues to rise there are tens of millions more Americans that are on fixed incomes or on limited incomes that are going to be facing food insecurity.
The average American now spends approximately 23 percent of his or her income on food and gas. That is going to rise even higher thanks to all of the new money that the U.S. government and the Federal Reserve have pumped into the financial system.
Inflation is a hidden tax that is very cruel. It hits those with limited resources the hardest.
What are most American families going to do someday when a loaf of bread is 10 dollars and a gallon of milk is 20 dollars?
And it is not just the price of food that is going up.
According to consulting firm Milliman Inc., the average American family of four that is covered by health insurance had an average of $19,393 in health care costs last year.
Many Americans (even if they have insurance) are simply avoiding doctors and avoiding hospitals altogether because they can no longer afford them.
Our whole system is breaking down. As the economy crumbles, frustration and anger are rising. As I have written about previously, the number of Americans that have "gone wild" seems to be increasing.
The following are a couple more examples of this phenomenon….
*When things start falling apart, people start going crazy. Just recently, one man stripped naked while riding a New York city subway. He hurled racial and ethnic slurs at the people around him and physically harassed a couple of people before a cop was able to wrestle him to the ground.
*Another example of this happened in California just a few days ago. An elderly woman pulled out a gun and held up a pregnant woman outside of a Kohl's department store in broad daylight on Mother's Day. When old women start shoving guns in our faces and demanding our money that should be a sign to all of us that things really are starting to fall to pieces.
Things are starting to get crazy but this is just the beginning.
Someday when the global economy is in shambles and there is a massive global food crisis, what do you think Americans are going to do when they have been without food for 3 or 4 days and their families are crying out for something to eat?
Don't think that it won't happen. The era of endless amounts of cheap food is coming to an end. There is going to be a massive amount of hunger and poverty in the years to come.
http://republicbroadcasting.org/?p=15222
5 Things Nobody Tells You About Being Poor
John Cheese
Being poor is like a game of poker where if you lose, the other players get to fuck you. And if you win, the dealer fucks you.
A bunch of you reading this are among the 45 million "working poor" in America, and if you're not, you know somebody who is. Like me.
Getty.com
Or 60 percent of all retired NBA players, according to this site.
I'm not blaming anybody but myself for getting into this situation (I was drunk for two straight decades) and I'm not asking for anybody's sympathy. What I am saying is that people are quick to tell you to pick yourself up by your bootstraps and just stop being poor. What they don't understand is the series of intricate financial traps that makes that incredibly difficult.
If you're not poor, that's awesome. I'm not mad at you, or jealous. Hopefully you'll never find out that ...
#5.You Get Charged for Using Your Own Money
This is the future, where many businesses no longer accept cash as payment. That means you are required to have a checking account to function in the economy. And if you're poor, that means at some point you're going to get bank-fucked.
Because having a checking account while poor doesn't just mean you have to be responsible and good at math -- you have to be perfect. Meticulous, flawless record keeping is the difference between surviving and having the bank seize your next paycheck.
Let's say you're running late for work and hurriedly stop to get gas, paying with a bank card. In your haste you forget to write the $55 down (gas being $4 a gallon, you know). So while you spent the last week until payday thinking you had $50 in your account to absorb minor purchases, you actually were $5 in the red.
So payday comes. You go to the bank to deposit your check, at which point the bank takes it, sticks it in their pocket and says, "Thank you very much! I'm buying myself a new pair of shoes with that shit!" They then inform you that your account was at -$200 at the moment you deposited your check.
Photos.com
Oh, it gets a lot worse, stock photo woman.
The bank can hit you with a $35 fine for every charge that comes in while you are in minus territory. The bank will not tell you they charged you this money. You will have no idea anything is wrong.
It's a silent chain reaction in which every charge that comes through during those few days before payday draws the $35 fee. The $8 you spent at the gas station for cigarettes, the $24.99 that automatically comes out for your Internet access ... for each, the bank silently zaps out the charge and $35 on top of it, until your next paycheck is gone. Five seconds of oversight gave the bank the right to take away a week's worth of your labor.
Some of you are saying, "Fine, just tell the bank to go fuck itself. Walk out the door and just do everything by cash or money order." Ah, but now when you get paid, you have to go somewhere to cash your paycheck -- and businesses charge up to $8 to do it. If you're working in the service industry, congratulations -- an hour of your labor just vanished ... just so you could use your own money. Some describe this as a "poverty tax." Others refer to it as a "Because fuck you, that's why" fee.
Photos.com
The one piece of advice I can offer here is that you'll be surprised how many businesses will give you some leeway if you just call them and beg. Banks are run by human beings (as of the writing of this article) and if you get a person on the phone you can get them to waive overdraft fees, particularly if it's a first offense. Even businesses waiting on a payment will give you an extra week or two if you call and explain it. In this economy, they're so used to people just taking the money and disappearing that they're happy to hear you're operating in some kind of good faith.
Otherwise, you're going to be in a bind. And this is when you'll find out ...
#4.There is an Industry That Profits by Keeping You Poor
Think you're too smart to ever use one of those shady "payday loan" places? Well, you should know that nobody thinks they're a good deal. People go there because they're choosing between which fucking provides the most lube.
Photos.com
Yeah, when you're done choosing, just stay in that position, buddy.
Say the gas bill is a month past due, and they're threatening to turn it off (if so, it's $150 to get it reconnected). Or you're about to be late on a credit card payment (which would be a fee and a doubling of your interest rate). Or your favorite S&M whip broke, and Whipfest is coming up (entry fee is nonrefundable). That is when you find yourself swallowing your pride and heading to the payday loan place.
A standard 14-day "payday" loan charges $15.50 per $100 borrowed. So a $500 loan ends up being $577.50 (or 1.5 tanks of gas in interest). But if you don't have it after 14 days, that's fine -- they offer to extend your loan to 180 days. It makes the payments miniscule. Oh, and you'll be paying back $1,275 at 403.10 percent APR.
Yes, you got fucked, in the name of your financial asshole avoiding the credit card company's bigger, barbed dick. And it's a hell of a lot better than going over on your checking account again and starting up their infinite circular fuckatron.
Via Travelblog.org
Using this.
All right, let's say you wisen up. You save and cut back. You resist an offer to, say, buy a computer on Best Buy's finance plan, because you're too smart to take on more debt. And no monthly cell phone payments for you, oh no. You're not going to put yourself in a hole again!
Congratulations. You just did. It turns out ...
#3.No Credit Can be Just as Damaging as Bad Credit
On the spectrum of financial responsibility, from "that billionaire who drives an old Dodge Dakota" down to "MC Hammer," you'd think that the next step up from being overdue on a bunch of bills would be to have no bills at all. Don't buy it if you can't afford it, right?
You'll find out the problem the next time somebody does a credit check -- having no credit will stop you from getting a loan or an apartment just as fast as having bad credit. And more importantly, if you have old bad credit due to a bunch of previous fuckups, simply vanishing off the credit map doesn't do anything to fix it.
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It sounds good in theory, though.
It took me six months to find a place to rent after applying for every property that appeared in the paper across five towns. I was denied each time. It was my lack of credit due to years of me and lenders deciding to just stay out of each other's hair, like those old sitcoms where roommates would draw a line down the middle of the house. I even used a prepaid cell phone where I'd just be buying minutes off the shelf rather than get locked into a contract with all those termination fees and shit. When I needed something big, like a computer upgrade or furniture, I'd wait for a windfall, like a tax return, and pay cash. It's called financial responsibility, motherfucker!
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Now hand over the heroin, bitch!
Nope. It turns out that to a business, a customer with no credit is like a girl giving you the silent treatment -- they assume something is wrong.
And everybody checks your credit -- if I want to get Direct TV, I have to pay $310 worth of startup fees (the size of your up-front payments/deposits depends on your credit history). Utilities are even more -- which means trying to move to a new place costs hundreds of dollars in deposits (remember the $150 to get my gas turned on). If I need a new car, well, let's just say I need to show up at the dealership with a shoebox full of cash.
Photos.com
The last two kids I bought on the black market virtually wiped out my life savings.
So repairing credit means opening accounts (having a cell phone plan is a good one, having your utilities in your own name -- as opposed to the landlord's -- is another) and, you know, making sure to pay your fucking bills on time. And don't bother trying to shortcut the system by saving the shoebox full of cash, getting a loan, then paying it all off the next month. Length of credit is part of your credit score. They want to know your ability to make steady, long term payments without missing a month or being late.
