Opinion: America once fought a war against poverty – now it wages a war on the poor

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/15/poor-peoples-campaign-systemic-poverty-a-sin

 

• The Rev Dr William Barber and the Rev Dr Liz Theoharis are co-chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival

 

 

In 2013, Callie Greer’s daughter Venus died in her arms after a battle with breast cancer. If caught early, the five-year survival rate for women diagnosed with breast cancer is close to 100%. But Venus’s cancer went undiagnosed for months because she couldn’t afford health insurance. She lived in Alabama, a state that refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Venus’s death is not an isolated incident – more than like her die in the United States from poverty and related issues every year.

Access to healthcare is just one of the issues facing the 140 million people who live in poverty in the US today. Over the past two years, the  has carried out a listening tour in dozens of states across this nation. We have met with tens of thousands of people from El Paso, Texas, to South Charleston, West Virginia, to Selma, Alabama, where we met Callie, gathering testimonies from poor people and listening to their demands for a better society.

On Tuesday, we announced a Poor People’s Campaign Moral Agenda, a set of demands that is drawn from this listening tour, as well as an audit of America we conducted with allied organizations, including the Institute for Policy Studies and the Urban Institute, 50 years after the original Poor People’s Campaign.

As grim as the situation was in 1968, the appalling truth is deep inequalities still exist and, in some ways, we are worse off.

While our nation once fought a war against poverty, now we wage a war on the poor. The richest 1% in our country own more wealth than the bottom 90% combined, tightening their grip on political power to shape labor, tax, healthcare and campaign finance policies that benefit the few at the expense of the many. A full 60% more Americans now live below the official poverty line than in 1968, and 43% of all American children live below the minimum income level considered necessary to meet basic family needs.

[JimandChristy 1,689]

Trickle up economics!

[Dashinka 24,765]

5 hours ago, Amica Nostra said:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/15/poor-peoples-campaign-systemic-poverty-a-sin

 

• The Rev Dr William Barber and the Rev Dr Liz Theoharis are co-chairs of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival

 

 

In 2013, Callie Greer’s daughter Venus died in her arms after a battle with breast cancer. If caught early, the five-year survival rate for women diagnosed with breast cancer is close to 100%. But Venus’s cancer went undiagnosed for months because she couldn’t afford health insurance. She lived in Alabama, a state that refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Venus’s death is not an isolated incident – more than like her die in the United States from poverty and related issues every year.

Access to healthcare is just one of the issues facing the 140 million people who live in poverty in the US today. Over the past two years, the  has carried out a listening tour in dozens of states across this nation. We have met with tens of thousands of people from El Paso, Texas, to South Charleston, West Virginia, to Selma, Alabama, where we met Callie, gathering testimonies from poor people and listening to their demands for a better society.

On Tuesday, we announced a Poor People’s Campaign Moral Agenda, a set of demands that is drawn from this listening tour, as well as an audit of America we conducted with allied organizations, including the Institute for Policy Studies and the Urban Institute, 50 years after the original Poor People’s Campaign.

As grim as the situation was in 1968, the appalling truth is deep inequalities still exist and, in some ways, we are worse off.

While our nation once fought a war against poverty, now we wage a war on the poor. The richest 1% in our country own more wealth than the bottom 90% combined, tightening their grip on political power to shape labor, tax, healthcare and campaign finance policies that benefit the few at the expense of the many. A full 60% more Americans now live below the official poverty line than in 1968, and 43% of all American children live below the minimum income level considered necessary to meet basic family needs.

Just curious, the number of people living in poverty (140 million), doesn’t seem to correlate with the official data (40.6 million).  Also, the number of folks living in poverty has been declining according to the official data.  Does anyone know what measure the authors used?

 

https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2017/demo/p60-259.html

[jg121783 3,921]

Well it's a good thing more and more people have jobs to go to now that the dark years of the Obama economy are over.

[Póg mo 1,749]

3 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

Just curious, the number of people living in poverty (140 million), doesn’t seem to correlate with the official data (40.6 million).  Also, the number of folks living in poverty has been declining according to the official data.  Does anyone know what measure the authors used?

 

https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2017/demo/p60-259.html

Maybe the official poverty rate is calculated in way to make it appear poverty is much lower than it is? 

[OriZ 3,157]

3 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

Just curious, the number of people living in poverty (140 million), doesn’t seem to correlate with the official data (40.6 million).  Also, the number of folks living in poverty has been declining according to the official data.  Does anyone know what measure the authors used?

 

https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2017/demo/p60-259.html

It's The Guardian...no questions needed.

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

5 hours ago, OriZ said:

It's The Guardian...no questions needed.

I have not found the fact research at the guardian to be problematic. 

Thread piece is a guest opinion by Reverand Barber and he would br responsible for any error.

 

[Keith & Arileidi 437]

12 hours ago, jg121783 said:

Well it's a good thing more and more people have jobs to go to now that the dark years of the Obama economy are over.

Where are you getting your economics from ?Obama brought us down to FULL EMPLOYMENT. 

That's why Trump's job growth numbers are relatively weak. 

 

 

Edited April 16, 2018 by Keith & Arileidi

[Dashinka 24,765]

4 hours ago, Amica Nostra said:

I have not found the fact research at the guardian to be problematic. 

Thread piece is a guest opinion by Reverand Barber and he would br responsible for any error.

 

So do you know why the authors quoted 140 million people living below the poverty line (almost 43% of Americans) when the official data says it is only a little over 40 million (approximately 13%)?  Another one is the authors quoting 43% of children living below the poverty line with the official data showing 18%?  Seems some pretty big facts that should have been checked however it is an opinion piece, so maybe they forego fact checking for those.

[OriZ 3,157]

5 hours ago, Amica Nostra said:

I have not found the fact research at the guardian to be problematic. 

Thread piece is a guest opinion by Reverand Barber and he would br responsible for any error.

 

Yeah I was more joking than anything. I've had some issues with their reporting before, especially when it comes to the middle east, but I get that anyone can write an opinion column.

[spookyturtle 9,466]

13 minutes ago, OriZ said:

Yeah I was more joking than anything. I've had some issues with their reporting before, especially when it comes to the middle east, but I get that anyone can write an opinion column.

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, even if it’s wrong. 

[Dashinka 24,765]

11 minutes ago, spookyturtle said:

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, even if it’s wrong. 

All are also entitled to changing their opinions occasionally too.

 

 

[OriZ 3,157]

2 hours ago, spookyturtle said:

Everyone is entitled to an opinion, even if it’s wrong. 

 

2 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

All are also entitled to changing their opinions occasionally too.

 

 

Completely agree with both of you.

[Póg mo 1,749]

5 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

So do you know why the authors quoted 140 million people living below the poverty line (almost 43% of Americans) when the official data says it is only a little over 40 million (approximately 13%)?  Another one is the authors quoting 43% of children living below the poverty line with the official data showing 18%?  Seems some pretty big facts that should have been checked however it is an opinion piece, so maybe they forego fact checking for those.

It's interesting how you are willing to believe the government when it comes to supporting your opinion. I have to point out that the federal poverty rate is calculated using methodologies from the 1950s, and doesn't take into account how food costs have doubled, medical expenses are six times higher, and college tuition is eleven times greater. 

 

https://www.alternet.org/economy/real-numbers-half-america-poverty-and-its-creeping-upward

[Dashinka 24,765]

1 minute ago, Póg mo said:

It's interesting how you are willing to believe the government when it comes to supporting your opinion. I have to point out that the federal poverty rate is calculated using methodologies from the 1950s, and doesn't take into account how food costs have doubled, medical expenses are six times higher, and college tuition is eleven times greater. 

 

https://www.alternet.org/economy/real-numbers-half-america-poverty-and-its-creeping-upward

Not sure I made a comment one way or the other as to the position you assumed I would take.  I simply asked why the numbers are different.  You offered some speculation initially and even more now along with a bit of thought about costs going up etc.  Still doesn't answer my original question as to why the numbers are different unless you truly believe more than 42% of all Americans live below the poverty line.

 

Btw, there are many ways people can keep their expenses down, and college is not a requirement for anyone.