Poverty in American, 1/6 Americans struggle with food

[Bengal_Tiger]

Poverty in America

New York: People in India have traditionally viewed the United States of America as a synonym for prosperity. The allure of the American Dream had made many educated and aspiring Indians believe that it was a land of ever-expanding opportunities for wealth creation. The dream survived for several decades. It cannot any longer.



America is getting poorer. And it’s official. The US Census Bureau reported on Tuesday that joblessness and economic stagnation have pushed as many as 46.2 million—almost one in six Americans—below poverty line. Last year alone, the number of those living in poverty swelled by 2.6 million, the largest increase seen since the government began calculating poverty figures in 1959. The worst affected are children. Nearly one in four of those under 18 years are now living in poverty. Over 20 million American children depend on school meal programmes to escape hunger.




The middle class is shrinking in size, and so is its income. Since 2000, 10 per cent of middle class jobs have disappeared. During the same period, the number of low-paid jobs has increased. Many reputed auto companies in Detroit, once the pride of the nation, now employ contract workers who earn half the wages of permanent employees. Official unemployment has soared to 9.1per cent; many people believe it’s much higher. The US economy added zero jobs in August.


Of course, the poor in America do not suffer the same kind of deprivation as the poor in India. US poverty line means an income of $11,139 for one person and $22,314 for a family of four. Convert that into rupees, and one is tempted to think that people with so much income cannot really be considered poor. Many poor families in America have air-conditioning, microwaves, cable or satellite TV, etc. However, measured on the basis of their access to three critical requirements of life—food, education and healthcare—their pain becomes palpable. One in six Americans does not have enough food to eat, and lives on food stamps. Fifty million Americans do not have any health insurance. For such people, a single incidence of major illness could easily wreck their finances. Privately run schools, colleges and universities in America are the envy of the world. However, they are so expensive that poor students cannot even dream of going to these institutions. Scholarships are getting harder to get. Meanwhile, as in India, the quality of education in government-funded schools is so poor that students from low-income families cannot compete with their rich counterparts in the market for high-paying jobs.




Last year, Americans were startled by the title of a book—Third World America: How Our Politicians Are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream—authored by Arianna Huffington, founder of the influential webzine huffingtonpost.com. The title is indeed alarmist. Nevertheless, more and more worried Americans are debating on how to stem their nation’s decline.


As an outsider, here are my reflections. To begin with, India should learn from America’s positive attributes; but we must be careful not to repeat its follies. Secondly, history urges all to know the true meaning of the ‘decline’ and ‘rise’ of nations. The notion that a nation becomes, and remains, great only if it is on an unending path of material prosperity and military prowess is both dangerous and self-defeating. No nation should delude itself into thinking that it is destined to remain the greatest power on earth forever. America’s core values are great and strong. Guided by these values, America needs to put an end to its divisive politics and find a new place for itself in the changing world, as a member of the international community that treats other members as equals. This entails, above all, giving up its self-appointed role as the global cop. America has counter-productively squandered between 2-3 trillion dollars on the unjustifiable and unwinnable wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It must drastically roll back its military spending and plans. Militarism of big powers is a threat to both world peace and sustainable development of the world community.




Thirdly, America will do itself and the world a lot of good by redefining the path and purpose of economic growth. Specifically, it should move away from its consumerism-driven, debt-enhancing, utterly unsustainable and spiritually impoverishing growth model to one that is savings-driven and need-based. In making this transition, it will certainly undergo much pain. But it will be the pain of a sick patient who undergoes a necessary surgery and regains his health.


In addition, America must rediscover the art, science and joy of manufacturing and growing much of what it needs. This was explained to me succinctly by a farmer I met at an apple-picking farm near Nashua in New Hampshire. John, 40-something and a university graduate, lost his job in an information technology company. Like millions of ordinary Americans, he now does multiple jobs—part-time on the farm, part-time as a sports trainer in a local school, and some odd IT assignments from home. “How do you think America can overcome its current economic crisis?” I asked him. After a contemplative pause, he replied, “We should go back to Mother Nature and learn from her rhythms. We should hug the trees. We should do more of home-grown stuff. We Americans have gotten into this mess because we stopped making things ourselves and, instead, started buying, with borrowed money, everything made elsewhere.”


John may sound like a swadeshi American, but he provides much food for thought to a beleaguered President Obama.



sudheenkulkarni@gmail.com

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/po...erica/848164/3

[Bengal_Tiger]

Poverty in America rising among blacks, Hispanics and growing children

September 18, 2011 | Filed under: Business | Posted by: admin




Poverty in America is rising among blacks, Hispanics and growing children. For many even food is becoming hard to find
United States used to be the wealthiest nation in the world. It is still among the wealthiest nations. People were prepared to give up even their lives in order to cross into the US borders. It was a land of opportunities and everything good that one could imagine.
I remember one South Asian delegate who had come to the US in a cultural program saying while stepping outside Dulles International Airport in Washington DC that if there was a paradise on earth it was here. He might have exaggerated it a bit to suit the hosts, nonetheless to millions and millions of people across the world it was the same way.
But things are changing fast. And here it seems change is happening faster than anywhere. But mostly in negative sense.
Economy is going down, state spending on welfare programs is dwindling and at a time when employment avenues seem nonexistent, jobless benefits are becoming harder to get passed from Senate and the Congress.
But now poverty is becoming common in the US. 15.1 percent of the US population now lives below poverty line. Though this poverty line is well above what it is in other nation in Asia and Africa, it shows that slowing economy is making its presence felt and the poorest are being hit hardest.
This is the fourth year in a row when the poverty has risen continuously. In 2009 there were 43.6 million people who were classified as poor. But the number has gone up to 46.2 million.
The poverty ratio among blacks is well above 27 percent while among Hispanics, another disadvantaged segment of population the poverty ratio is close to 26 percent.
An important thing that should make our leaders sleepless is the fact that even food is becoming an issue for many poor people.
One more important issue is the rising poverty among the children below 18 years of age. Among this segment, poverty has risen to 22 percent.
Readers are disappointed with such reports. A very disappointed reader says, “Living at or below poverty level is a way of life for the southern united states. Minimum wage is poverty level wages, or doesn’t anyone who lives high on the hog realize that? Ah, they do, they just don’t care. They are trying to turn the USA into a 3rd world country. The rich politicians do not give a damn about the people. They have no contact whatsoever with the average working person, and the do not care to”.
Another reader has this to say, “I am channeling Einstein, hoping to bring some common sense to Washington. and I am Praying….Please stop spending money, reform the tax code, get rid of job killing legislation, reform and decrease the footprint of everything, especially the EPA. Washington, please, you cannot micro manage 320 million people without bankrupting and sending more of the middle class, who you say you are working for, into poverty. Whether it is incompetence or by design more Americans are falling into poverty everyday. Please, Washington, stop this madness. Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.

http://nvonews.com/2011/09/18/povert...wing-children/

[Bengal_Tiger]

1. Maybe these figures can be reversed if the American regime implements the right set of policies, however in the long term it seems the US is set for decline.

2. Traditionally we have seen people from south or east of the globe migrating to the north or west, non-whites going to white countries.

In the future with Europe aging (not just its population but its power and economy) and the US too, we may see white Europeans migrating to countries such as China, India, East Asia for work.

There is a school of thought that holds the globalist project is to deliberately make the US and Europe poorer, whilst making "third world" states richer and equalize the gap between them. Also , by then , poorer whites will migrate to the east and the whole world will become akin to multi-racial South America with racial diversity everywhere.

Proponents of this thesis include those who say multi-racial London is a testing ground to see how this project fares, and if it works it will be replicated across the globe.

They point out how even in just the past few years countries such as Greece and Spain are facing a huge on set of immigrants changing the social fabric of those countries, especially Greece which may even be 10% (or more) non-Greek/ethnic now in a small country of only 10 million.



German football team during the Nazi era, white and European.



German football team in 1990, last time they won the world cup.



German team in 2010, Boateng (with part Ghanaian ancestry) and Mesut Ozil (a Turk), playing for the national side of the land of Hitler, Goering and Himmler.



Sami Khedira (Tunisian blood), Boateng (part Ghanaian ancestry), Mesut Ozil (Turk) play for the German national team.



The reverse process, white European goes to the east and represents an eastern nation, Sonia Gandhi (Italian) de facto ruler of India. Some analysts say we may see mass migration of white people to the east for economic reasons in the future. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries there was a huge exodus of poor Europeans who fled Europe and went to the USA to escape poverty. The film "Gangs of New York" is partly about such economic migrants.



Thus with east and west becoming similar economically and mass migration creating racial diversity everywhere, allegiance to national/ethnic identity will be diluted and then the globalist project can be implemented, according to certain analysts.

3. When Americans of the future (if there is even an America by then, some have said that this century the US may break up) read of their former glory and world dominance, they will wonder why their regime was so foolish to go and invade Iraq and Afghanistan.

Especially Afghanistan the country rightfully known as the "graveyard of empires".