Reuters:
Poverty in the United States is spreading from rural and inner-city areas to the suburbs, according a study, a situation that can worsen as the economy confronts what may be a protracted recession.
The study by the Federal Reserve's Community Affairs department and the Brookings Institution Metropolitan Policy Program found that poverty levels in the world's richest nation were on the rise.
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And in Act III we present "The Amero & Marshall Law"
Enjoy!
Chances do go round! Karma is a beach!
WOW! those bailouts are really having some effect, huh? Working REAL well for US aren't they? Say! Where IS all that money going?
Is this why Paulson wanted Congress to give him the dough with no accountability and no possible FUTURE CRIMINAL CHARGES, for when we found out that the Bushies had STOLEN it all and laundered the take through the banks?
Makes ya think, don't it?
Your comment is spot on! This is what is happening, it is Bush and Cheney's act of treason, that called for #1 steal the elections to keep them in power #2, support those who supported them to do so, (cronyism) #3 as a final act, loot the Treasury, by any means necessary #4, then fly from the coop, never to be prosecuted.
All initially in the name of the Lord, initially, then for the love of money. This was their whole modes operandi. Then this nation stood by and permitted them to do it, because it forfilled their need to separate the Nation, so that they could all reign supreme.
The only thing the nation did, was prevent them from looting the Social Security, so they had to find another method to steal the Treasury, and guess what the crooks have won!
I have copies this because I know it won't appear. I hope it does, so that citizens of this nation, will know what the intent of these criminals was. It will take two decades to get this country back!
UmmmmmHmmm
Where has everybody been? Poverty has been on the rise since the Republicans took power in 2001.
Stagnant wages and a steady jobs exodus have had poverty on the rise for quite some time.
http://bil
Would these happen to be the same people in the burb's who were waiting in lines on Thanksgiving night in order to be first in the stores the next day to buy all their 'necessary' material items?
Believe me, these are they who received 'their cut' from Bush. Question, how frequently do you stand in line at a bank and witness 5 non descript people, cash checks in the amount of $12 or $13 hundred dollars? There were parts of this country that received money from the bailout, only prerequisite was their voter registration and what area of the country they lived. This has been an on-going occurance, with this Administration. Housing Loans, which is the cause of their default, because they couldn't afford the mortgages they were 'given'
Did you notice, how quickly the 'blame' game, was squashed from minority lending? Because they had to take the oneous from minorities, because it would have been discovered just who, what and where it actually belonged.
I opposed the bailout from the beginning, cause there is no honor among theives!
among many other factors, I think the price of groceries coupled with energy costs is really affecting suburbanites. clearly gas is an issue given the long commutes, but when you start looking at how much we're paying for food these days, it's outrageous. case in point, orange juice was about $4-5 per gallon last time i checked (more than gas). when you have a family of 4 (which most suburbanites do) the cost of feeding everyone can be astronomical. it costs more to have goods delivered (high gas prices), so everything is marked up. i'm using local farmers markets now, but when it comes to anything other than fruits and veggies there's no relief.
duh! welcome to the show
Peggy Noonan in a Thanksgiving column says that everything seems the same, even though we're being told every day that we're in Great Depression II. During the GD, 75% of the population was still employed, just as now there is still a majority who are employed. In her "neck of the woods" nothing has changed, she has a job. A very good paying job. If she weren't living in New York, say, if she were living in Detroit and she lost her job, how would things look to her? She says we won't see people selling apples on the street, like in GDI because of our safety net. I've got news for her. Food stamps and unemployment benefits do not last forever. Local charities say they are seeing much higher numbers asking for food and assistance, but the large donors seem to have disappeared and the small donations are smaller than they have been. Why is it that the rich have no heart? Why can they not see that there may be pain, where they cannot see it?
There was a story on NPR on food banks a few days ago. Lot's of folks are coming in and these are the same folks that used to donate. Some have run out of food. The folks (Republicans) who have very good jobs, and are not paying attention to what is going on are clueless.
Trouble is that all this has been building for some time and the housing crisis was just the straw that broke the camels back...it'
Hopefully, Prez-elect Obama will do the right things...b
On the bus, going to work, I over heard a young couple after Thanksgiving, talking about what a nice meal they had. The young woman asked the man, 'Do we have any chicken wings left in the fridge?" Yes, he said. She told him to take it up their neighbor in the apartment upstairs. "She ain't got no food up there." This week, I ate lunch in a local diner, sat at the counter. Sitting next to me was a young woman, kind of shabby, but mainly very quiet and still. I wondered why the waitress didn't give her a menu. The woman said, "They always give me food here." As I was leaving, I saw the waitress bring her a hamburger and a coke. I've seen this more than once -- a restaurant serving someone at the counter, off hours, without giving a check
The majority of Americans have always been poor. Without their credit they are nothing as you soon will see.
There is no nation in this world that cares more about the world than we do. As an American, our income are taxed to the hilt, even before I see it, just to make it easier for the world to live.
Yes, we are experiencing difficulties, much of it from our own doing but we'll adjust and learn from these challenging times. We bind together in case of crisis, and collectively as Americans, we will survive. I can promise you that.
Some of us will survive more easily than others. We need to start building things ourselves again or we'll be nothing more than a nation of serfs and feudal lords.
YEah right just ask the nativr americans how much we cared for them
Actually, those who are well off...as in very..pay less in taxes than they used to. 35% is a heck of a long way from 50% or even 70%!.
Have to agree on this one. The savings rate of private people is around 12% in Germany, I bet Holland is similar. In America they use one credit card to pay the debt of the other one(s).
Fair comment, we do not save any. That's one of biggest mistakes, and we should acknowledge them.
My work mates all live paycheck to paycheck..
Paul from 11:23 PM is right. Gas may be down for the moment, but long term energy price pressure will spur a return to cities that are laid out for practical high-density living and transportation, and the bulk of the poor will take long inefficient carpool trips or otherwise get themselves to their "local" transport hub. Thank the automakers that put the trolleys and commute rail out of business in so many cities.
I have observed the beginnings of suburban poverty in my mid-south community for years. Initially pretty but cheapie construction zero-lot developments go up like wildfire, converting farmland and pasture. A few years later, waaaay too many foreclosures and weeds. This was *before* '06, yep. Our family learned three states ago to look for _established_ neighborhoods with relatively stable infrastructure and school population -- because going-to-hell tends to happen fast in new developments, if it happens. Not worth that "new house" glow.
In my home town of 11,000 over a period of about ten years we watched as almost every large employer closed up shop and left the state. Some of the companies went to Texas, we heard, for lower taxes. Some of the companies closed up because of union corruption and some closed up because of environmental changes to regulations. Some decided the airline service was too expensive. For whatever reason, many who farmed in the summer and who worked in the local businesses lost their jobs and were forced to drive 45 miles to the north to find work in one of the two major metropolitan areas. On the way to that metropolitan area, they would see all of the new building and ask themselves, "Where is all the money coming from for all of these new houses?" Now we know.
Poverty in the United States is spreading from rural and inner-city areas to the suburbs... where all the proud Republicans live.
Poverty is spreading to the suburbs because middle class families have been spending on credit like there's no tomorrow. Even in a very modest neighborhood we see huge blinged-out $35,000 SUVs and Ford F-350 monster trucks in the driveways of $145,000 homes--it is hilarious. These people apparently thought they could live like they were in an MTV reality show, but the chickens have come home to roost. And it's not the fault of those evil bankers OFFERING you credit--it's about using it wisely, or to choosing not use it at all (my parents don't).
I do know that people who used to tease me about my late model, scratch and dent car have stopped laughing. It was bought used and paid off years ago, and it gets 27 mpg. They can barely afford groceries, much less the shiny Escalades they bought on credit. Living within your means isn't always easy, but it sure as he!l makes it easier to get to sleep at night.
Poverty happens when there are no jobs (because they have all gone to other countries over a 20 year span of time) and there is nothing to take it's place.
Job creation has been a joke for this decade and the wealth distribution has been funneled to the wealthy since the 1980s by the republicans who have been in control.
Everything Bush did was almost a systematic destruction, intentional or otherwise, of the middle class basically creating a two class system. And the biggest disparity between rich and poor since the 1920s.
Pretty soon we will see Bushvilles much like the old Hoovervilles of homeless families living in cardboard boxes scattered around the country.
The chain of pain. Spin the wheel of misfotune. Everyone's a loser.
All I can say is UM DUH! It's BEEN here because a large part of the country doesn't make enough to pay the sky high rental fees, food costs, gas costs... need I continue? If you can't pay your bills, you're poverty stricken. PERIOD. This article isn't stating anything new, it's just showing that it's now at the point where it actually is forcing the government to address it because it's hurting the i.d.i.ot.s at the top. Finally.
Welcome to our world.
If you can't pay your bills you're not poverty stricken, you're foolish for having no personal finance skills or budgetary competence.
Yeah, it has nothing to do with wages being flat for over ten years and people being forced to live on credit in order to keep feeding the greed of corporate executives.
Get real!
Not in every case,
There are forces out there that are beyond our control, and I would not be so arrogant if I were you to judge everyone who is in financial trouble has no finance skills, or budgetary competence.
This rising unemployment was driven for the most part by the incompetence and arogance of the same people who claimed to be Harvard, Yale or Princeton educated.
Ironic that with such education, greed overcome their stewardships.
BS. How many manufacturing jobs, paying $15+ per hour with health benefits, can be replaced with $8/hour service-sector jobs, with $1/hour of that going to health insurance, before people simply can't afford to support the economy? I've been saying this for years, and it's coming true.
You make so much money -- the bills come to so much -- but then there is an unexpected expense: car trouble, for instance. The roof of your house is leaking. A medical expense that your insurance doesn't pay for. You make enough -- but not enough to stretch.
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First Posted: 11-28-08 03:29 PM | Updated: 12-29-08 05:12 AM