half of america lives officially at poverty-level

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(clicky)half of America lives in poverty

this is really sad.

It also makes sense why it's now so much harder to find a job. A good job that is. A job that pays enough to cover living expenses.

The food bank in my neck of the woods used to be open three days a week. I went there a few days ago and noticed they're now open four days a week because of increased need. I suspect this must be a trend all over the country.

We can blame this squarely on the neo-Conservatives that took power with the senile cowboy we had as as president in the 1980's: Ronald Reagan. Isn't is odd that the neoconservatives of today were the counterculture of the 1950's and 1960's?

For that matter, I don't even trust those of us that grew up in my generation: the 1970's. While I am just as guilty of buying into "the great American dream", if it ever existed, there is absolutely positively no excuse, for all the political and economic bullsh*t that has put this country in the crapper. To quote Walt Kelly's Pogo, "we have met the enemy, and they is us!"

Last edited by Meistersinger on 27 May 2013, 5:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

you mean beatniks and hippies made good? I suspect they were more like the squares back in the day, who when they ascended to power in the 70s and 80s decided then was the time to get their revenge against the longhaired non-conformists they beat up on back in the day.

Am I correctly reading the OP's link as using some sort of projection off of a measurement of income that was not designed to be used for that projection?

Neoconservatism was born out of former Trotskyites that split off when the New Left came around.

While our military adventurism has certainly been a tremendous waste of blood and treasure I don't think that's the real culprit for what has happened to our economy. We've been interventionist way longer than Neoconservatism has been around, blame Woodrow Wilson. Woodrow Wilson also brought in to existence our debt based monetary system.

Now conservatives are going to say those Americans are leaches who only need to work harder.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

but only until they get a lock on the advanced industrial robot market, IOW when robots become more advanced, our capitalist overlords can then replace lots more of our jobs- who needs humans when a machine can do several human jobs at once, for no more money than the initial investment plus nominal maintenance costs? who cares what damage it does to this nation, to our cohesiveness as an American culture? who cares if we all race to the bottom, IOW when we become just a big banana republic, nobody [other nations] will care that much, nobody will miss the American middle class, not with other nations eclipsing us in terms of standard of living.

First, while the numbers of those in poverty is way too high and growing, I think the one-half figure is too high.

Having said this, the problem is that for forty years now, liberals have been offshoring every job they possibly could while bringing in tens of millions of immigrants to bid down wages on the jobs that are left.

Right now, at a time when millions of Americans are either unemployed or underemployed, the Congress has passed,and the President has signed free trade deals with South Korea and Colombia. We are also admitting a hundred thousand legal immigrants a month, not to mention illegal immigrants. There are a few of these immigrants who will immediately start businesses, but most of them will either take jobs from Americans or wind up on public assistance--money we are borrowing from China.

Nor is this a partisan issue. Both political parties in the US support these policies (free trade and open borders).

Why is someone to blame?

Does poverty has a substantial objective definition or is it a convention definition (such as makes less than $x a year).? If a person cannot afford to buy enough food to stay health then I would say he is poor. If he cannot afford to put a roof over his head and have enough heat in his quarters during winter I would say he is poor.

Is it being asserted that half the people in the U.S. are starving or are freezing in winter. I would like to see proof of that. I don't believe it.

That would mean 150 million people are starving or freezing in the winter or have no shelter at all. If that were the case I would expect to see the bodies of starved or frozen to death people all over the sidewalks of our large cities.

ruveyn

My mother and I both work for a U.S. based "big box store" that came to town 4 years ago. We are "permanent part-time", a full-time position is hard to get. Hours are unpredictable. We work 30-40 hours per week through summer but much less over the winter. Neither one of us makes enough money to live on our own. We don't have a lavish lifestyle and live in an apartment. I don't have children, as much as I want to, I'd want to give them a good life.

I would consider that poverty.

Only if those liberals happen to be the owners/directors of global corporations seeking to expand their profit margins. It seems that such people tend to be more conservative than liberal...


Actually, it's the liberal left that seems to be trying to expand its constituency (voter base) by loosening the immigration laws.

Money talks.

Funny that you mention that, since Wilson later reversed his position and backed the so-called Gold Democrats. You can thank Tricky Dick Nixon for taking the U.S. off the Gold Standard in 1971