Our Dirty Little Secret: Who's Really Poor in America?

[dajoki]

(edited for copyright purposes-proud patriot Moderator Democratic Underground)

Huffington Post / By Leo Hindery Jr.
Our Dirty Little Secret: Who's Really Poor in America?
The problem today for most isn't this recession, it's that except for the top 10 percent, average household income hasn't changed a bit for 10 to 20 years.
March 9, 2010

Two old friends, civil rights activist David Mixner and former U.S. Senator (and my oft co-author) Don Riegle (D-MI), believe that in the economic recovery, not enough attention is being given to 'who's really poor' now. David and Don have for years advised me -- and others -- on the issue of poverty in America, and they are worried that too many people, and especially too many people in the administration and Congress, are missing this imperative.

To help make their point, they referred me to poverty activist Marsha Timpson, who describes today's poor as "America's dirty little secret, hidden in the backyards of America's shining homes, the hollows, the reservations, the border towns and the dark ghettos of the city where they are the lie of the American dream."

I agree with my friends, and with Ms. Timpson's view, and everyone else should as well, for right now in America:

--At least 50 million people are ill-fed -- up from 37 million just a year ago -- including 17 million children. Hunger in America is now at an all-time high, and there are currently entire national geographic regions -- the very large 15-state 'South' being one of them -- where more than half of all public school students are poor and ill-fed.

(snip)
More... http://www.alternet.org/story/145950/our_dirty_little_secret%3A_who%27s_really_poor_in_america?page=entire

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Second dirty little secret: We're in a depression, not a recession.

[CountAllVotes]

4. the truth shall set you free

or so they used to say.

I agree, we are in a depression. The economy sucks so bad it isn't funny.

Great time to buy things if you have money that is.

:kick:

[AdHocSolver]

12. Buying things is the wrong thing to do if they are imported goods.

The MAJOR cause of the current depression/recession is the LACK of family supporting JOBS.

The lack of good paying jobs is also the main cause of national, state, and local governments going broke since people who don't earn income have no money to pay taxes.

This country imports practically all manufactured everyday items such as clothing, shoes, toys (lead, anyone?), electronics, medicine, food (melamine, anyone?), tools, books, appliances, dinnerware, and on and on. Most of these items and more are manufactured in low wage countries, and take jobs away from Americans.

Don't be taken in buy the so-called benefits of "free trade". There is no such thing as "free trade", unless it is another phrase for "barter".

World trade is corporate cartel controlled by means of such trade agreements such as NAFTA, the WTO, the IMF, the World Bank, and Most Favored Nation Trading treaties such as with China, that allows free flow of their slave-wage goods into this country with no reciprocation.

If people in this country would have really honored the "Buy American" slogans of ten or fifteen years ago, to keep jobs in this country, we wouldn't be in this bad situation.

The only action we can take now to possibly reverse this economic mess is for Americans to STOP buying everyday items that are imported. Even if you have to spend a few more dollars, only buy American-made goods, and tell the retailers that you want them to stock American-made products or they will lose your business.

[CountAllVotes]

14. try to buy things made here in the USA

actually I buy a lot of old things that were made here in the USA.

Recently my made in China waffle iron died on me. I ended up buying another one on eBay that was made in the USA some 25 years ago.

It works like a charm and makes waffles that are a lot better than the new ones make.

It cost me a total of $9.95 plus shipping of about $7.50 I believe it was.

I also buy old Revere Ware when I need an new pot or a pan.

I'm really into recycling and I buy Made in the USA as much as I can.

:D

:dem:

[Sisaruus]

67. I love my Revere Ware that I bought 40 years ago

I've tried trendier stuff along the way but it's only a matter of days before I return to Revere Ware. And my mother still uses hers which must be over 60 years old.

I'd love to find an old waffle iron. I have no idea what happened to my old one (I suspect an ex got rid of it because he always thought new stuff was better - which, now that I think of it, may explain why he's an ex). The waffles were really better years ago.

(I must be getting old to be posting comments like that.)

[JCMach1]

24. Only if you are poor... the difference between the Great Depression and the Great Recession is

that the wealthy in the great recession remain untouched due to governments bailouts that work from the top down.

During the Great Depression FDR created programs that worked from the bottom up.

So sorry, you are on your own unless your are a bank or large business owner!

[valerief]

41. +69 trillion

[salguine]

42. Bigger dirty little secret: That upper 5% who own this country are not going to be

satisfied until every last man, woman and child is barefoot and destitute and living in virtual slavery. Which is why it's time to bring back the guillotine.

[WinkyDink]

51. I agree with every. single. word.

[Selatius]

68. I'm starting to come around to the conclusion the guillotine is rapidly becoming the final option.

It seems we're exhausting all peaceful remedies with the oligarchs who run the country.

[RandomThoughts]

2. When I think on poverty and riches, I think of a quote from the Norseman from 13th Warrior

Buliwyf: I have only these hands. I will die a pauper.
King Hrothgar: You will be buried as a king.
Buliwyf: A man might be thought wealthy if someone were to draw the story of his deeds, that they may be remembered.
Ahmed Ibn Fahdlan: Such a man might be thought wealthy indeed.

Great clip.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN-no1Ka7yU


Another good quote
Herger the Joyous: HONEY! It's made from honey!

[dkf]

3. Are the people in poverty in the south the people who vote republican or democrat?

If they are voting for the republicans and the perpetuation of their condition is there any hope there? What can we force these states to do if those who need help don't want it?

On the other hand if it is the uncaring nature of the haves then they need to be held accountable for the wellbeing of their people.

[butterfly77]

5. Yes,they are ...

and they don't give a damn they just want to make sure that people who don't look like them don't receive anything. I wonder if some of these same people are receiving foodstamps and are they still telling people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

I know that many repubs are receiving unemployment,wonder if they will continue to elect Bunning and McConnell. I sometimes wonder if the repugs in these states are rigging machines because I can't see any reason why they would vote for these assholes..The media always tells us these are Red states do they ever get any real information..

[dajoki]

6. I don't think its thyat they don't want help...

I believe its more like they are ignorant to the problem, maybe because they have been brainwashed.

[demigoddess]

18. limbaugh did a lot of work back several years ago(1990's) brainwashing people

to believe that being poor was a good thing. That if you are poor, you are superior and will eventually become rich. Could not believe the people calling in, but then they were probably plants.

[dajoki]

26. Its tough to beat them n/t

[terrell9584]

7. Depends on where you are

Republican voting patterns in the South are determined by two things. Racial composition and whether or not its rural or urban. In most of the country the political dynamic is that cities are largely Democratic, suburbs are swing and rural areas are Republican. In most of the Deep South the dynamic is that cities are mixed (usually whites for Republicans, blacks for Democrats) with every city that is Democratic being so only due to a large black population, the suburban areas are hard core Republican (as is virtually the majority of white city neighborhoods, and this is true even in supposedly liberal New Orleans. The western part of the city that is heavily white usually votes Republican and the majority of New Orleans whites overall do vote Republican in state and federal races) and the rural areas tend to all still be Democratic controlled.

The areas where Democrats have stayed strong have tended to be areas where unionization rates have not declined as much, areas of persistent and long term poverty and areas that either have no blacks at all, have a high enough black population where you have to vote in the Democratic primary to have a vote for local race (in these counties most whites are Republican in the general but stay registered as Dems) and counties that are actually black.

Greene County in Mississippi went 80% for McCain but more than 75% of its voters voted in the Democratic primary in 2008. For a simple reason. To vote in a Republican primary in Greene is to disenfranchise yourself from any election that matters. And the obverse is true in urban areas. In many urban areas in the white neighborhoods you either vote Republican or lose your vote.

[NOLALady]

8. Many people in poverty in the South

vote against their interests.
Some of them are ignorant. Some of them are brainwashed. Some are simply racists.

[izquierdista]

10. Not only vote,

but argue with you when you try to point out where their interest might lie.

[kctim]

30. Of course they argue

because you have no clue what is in their best interest or the right to dictate what is.

[AdHocSolver]

13. Reality check! Some of the worst policies that trashed our economy were put in place by Clinton.

NAFTA, Most Favored Nation Trading Status for China, deregulation of the media, and repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act (which enabled the financial meltdown) were all pushed through by Democrat Bill Clinton.

To be honest, there is NO PARTY looking out for the interests of "average" Americans. The trouble we are in is not the fault solely of the Republicans. They couldn't have done it without the help of a significant group of DINO (corporate bought) Democrats. Remember that when it is time to donate time and money to candidates at election time.

[rhett o rick]

33. Be careful, the DU-DLC will be after you. nm

[dajoki]

37. I think she is correct...

there, now they can attack me also.

[rhett o rick]

39. I am in. nm

[bobbolink]

59. I don't think the DLCers (or "New Democrats") care enough about poverty to even LOOK

at a thread like this.

AND, we've been neutralized enough that we're easy to dismiss.

I'm sure their attitude is "Why bother? They'll soon be dead anyway."

[G_j]

9. thank you for posting

just terrible

[maryf]

11. k&r

Thanks, dajoki!!! :hi:

[blindpig]

15. k&r n/t

[southernyankeebelle]

16. Yes, where are the liberals out in the streets marching and demanding rights for the working poor in

this country. The cost of veggies are expense and so is fruit. I have a grandchild that is alittle overweight and I worry about her and many young children who don't get the right kind of food because it is expense.

[bobbolink]

17. Could we non-working poor folk please have a bit of consideration, too?

Or should we consign ourselves to the nearest ice floe, if we can still find one?

[Hannah Bell]

19. kr

[varelse]

20. K&R

It's the INEQUALITY, not the economy.

[bobbolink]

21. May I remind everyone that for the first time in 35 years, there was no COLA this year?

Or next year, and maybe the year after that?

Everyone is soooo bizzzzy using the phrase "working poor" that they forget that many of us who are too old, or too sick, or too injured and can no longer work, WERE CUT OUT OF THE ANNUAL RAISE, WHILE PRICES CONTINUE TO RISE.

[laughingliberal]

40. Important to remember

The way they figure inflation (CPI) which is what the COLA's are based on are deliberately designed to hide the costs people are paying and keep wages and all other forms of income depressed. It's a crime.

[bobbolink]

48. Thank you! THIS is a big part of the explosion of homelessness,

another topic "progressives" aren't all that interested in.

I'm so used to DU denial, that I now expect to be blasted for posting ANYTHING truthful about poverty and homelessness, so I thnnk you for understanding! :pals:

[WinkyDink]

53. (nm.)

[laughingliberal]

65. I think of you often. My husband and I, through a little luck & the help of some friends, still have

shelter. But we are formerly middle class and made poor by the toxic mix, perfect storm nature of this recession. I have tried to raise awareness of this problem with the way CPI is figured for years. Even before this recent financial devastation we have been through, it was obvious the numbers were being cooked. Hard to hide from me the fact that I was working harder every year and falling a tiny bit behind for my efforts. I know the effect on those dependent on SS and our other social safety nets is devastating. The amount of assistance is not really enough for survival, let alone dignified survival.

I know it doesn't really help but you are in my thoughts, frequently.



:hug:

edited typo

[WinkyDink]

52. No need to remind here; saw it in the SS Checks.

[bobbolink]

56. Yet, when dajoki posted about it last year, it was met with denial and ANGER....

Anger AGAINST those of us who objected to the cut.

Progressive?

[dajoki]

57. I'm glad you remember that Bobbie...

I was viciously attacked for even the mention Obama and the Dems could have done something. Its in "my journal" if anyone's interested.

[bobbolink]

58. Please give a link to your journal. I don't forget these things.

There is a lot of pain involved in being ignored and discounted.

Dissed and dismissed. Its the "progressive" way.

Meanwhile, the anger builds, and will be met with "Why are they so angry???"

DUH.

[dajoki]

60. Here is a link...

right to the thread about not getting COLAs.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/dajoki/83

And here is a link to my journal in general.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/dajoki

[bobbolink]

62. Thank you for that OP--it was good then, and it is still very important.

I hope you will consider writing more on that...in depth.

There is a lot of material that supports your contention, and it should be aired.

It is so very sad that people who consider themselves "progressives" would go on the attack over something this RIGHT, and this DESPERATE!

[dajoki]

63. The only thing I can come up with...

is that our Party is no longer the same as it was back in my younger days. I believe we made a turn in the 80s and kept going on the wrong path. Can we somehow straighten ourselves out? I don't know because there is no better time than the presant, but so far its not happening.

[bobbolink]

22. k

:kick:

[Wednesdays]

23. K&R

:kick:

[readmoreoften]

25. +1

K&R

[Political Heretic]

27. Third Dirty Little Secret: We are the worst among our 20 industrialized peer nations on poverty.

- highest overall poverty rate
- highest child poverty rate
- third highest elderly poverty rate

K&R

[smokey nj]

28. K&R!

[daggahead]

29. This needs to be considered as an issue of national security. n/t

[dajoki]

31. Absolutely n/t

[fascisthunter]

32. exactly!

[leftstreet]

35. +1

[bobbolink]

61. Fine. Who is going to push that?

Its nice to say intelligent and good things like this, but then we agree and turn away and forget it.

Where is the passion?

Where is the motivation?

What is the first step to accomplishing that goal?

[leftstreet]

34. K&R

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

36. Why the economy has stalled. And why Republicans are wrong.

Among the significant statistics (and thanks for posting this) is the fact that the majority of the American workforce has not seen a raise in nearly twenty years. Corporate profits have gone through the roof (and back)(and through the roof again)(and back), but workers pay has stagnated. For the wealthiest ten percent of the population, life is grant. For the rest of us? Meh.

When your workforce -- which is another way of saying, "All the people who buy your product" -- don't have disposable income, sales stagnate. People only buy what they have to and even then those purchases come at the expense of savings. Americans have one of the lowest rates of individual savings in the industrialized world -- and one of the highest rates of consumer debt. You can't charge economic prosperity on your VISA. Not for long, anyway.

As Paul Krugman has said in the past, "Things that can't go on forever, don't."

The Republican response to this has been to cut taxes. Even though there is ample evidence that cutting taxes will not create new jobs and that it will likely make the already troubling disparity of wealth even WORSE, that's pretty much the one and only tool in the conservatives Economic Toolbox. Back during the 2000 campaign, George W. Bush said that with the economy doing so well, the country could afford a big tax cut. But then after the economy tanked in 2001, Bush said that what America really needs now is a tax cut.

Okie Dokie.

There's an old saying that when every problem looks like a nail, every solution looks like a hammer. Republicans think taxes (high, low, or anywhere in between) are the root of all evil, and so lowering taxes is always -- ALWAYS -- the right answer. Except when it's not, and then it still is.

There is ample evidence from the last three decades to show that cutting taxes has had a negligible effect on job creation. It boils down to this: If nobody is buying your product, you're not going to hire more workers to create more unsold products no what what kind of tax break the government is peddling today. Manufacturers don't create jobs -- consumers who want to buy manufactured goods create jobs. We've known this for decades, but the Republicans keep acting as though its some kind of vicious rumor.

And so they cut taxes. And the teachers get laid off (creating higher unemployment) and the state and county workers are furloughed (deflating buying power) and the parks and swimming pools close for the summer for lack of funding (lowering the quality of life). And when citizens complain about the lack of services, they blame "government" for not doing more with less.

And so we're where we are today. A bleak outlook for the future where Charles Dickens meets "Bladerunner" and government is too ineffectual to do something about it. The cautious approach of Harry Reid (and Barack Obama) often make we want to scream, be they're fighting against thirty years of well-orchestrated propaganda where the people who need government services the most are the most likely to oppose it. Where the people who are getting screwed the worst by Big Business are willing to create a Tea Party Movement to protect corporate interests.

The Question: What's the Cure for the Stockholm Syndrome?

[laughingliberal]

38. Great piece! Thanks for posting! nt

[asdjrocky]

43. Now if we could only find representatives who put the People above the powerful.

When was the last time a politician even used the word poverty or spoke of the poor?

[dajoki]

44. You nailed it...

I can't remember when any of these pols spoke about poverty in a meaningdul way. The last I'd say was John Edwards, and look where he is now.

[asdjrocky]

45. Hell, if he was a republican he'd be running for Governor with his mistress by his side.

On family values, ya know.

[bobbolink]

55. I don't notice "progressives" using that word too often.

You know, if Progressive Constituents would apply more pressure, Maybe something would change at the Congressional level.

But, it just isn't sexy enough.

[asdjrocky]

69. You know I hear you.

I still say there's more of us than there is of them.

[bobbolink]

70. More in numbers? That's fine.... but without action, nothing happens,

and people still suffer and die.

[KG]

46. working class people in this country have been badly failed by both political parties esp since 1980

blaming republicans or people voting for them is disingenuous.

[Blue_Tires]

47. ttt

[Nikki Stone1]

49. Wish I could recommend

Great article

[Starry Messenger]

50. kick

too late to rec.

[WinkyDink]

54. BIGGEST Dirty Secret That We KNOW: WE SHOULD TAX THE WEALTHY MORE. We could FUND things, then.

Not to mention: How hideous is it that Obama is incrreasing the PENTAGON'S BUDGET??

[JustAnotherGen]

64. I'm not a new Democrat

I was raised one! :-) And I'm not ignoring this thread. And I'm not poo-pooing it . . . I'm thanking you for posting it!

[dajoki]

66. Thank you very much!!

:hi: I was also born and raised a Democrat.