[lit-ideas] Re: Deep Poverty at Record Levels, Where's That?

  • From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 09:15:00 -0800

The "gulf between rich and poor in the United States" is baloney.  Who
cares?   Why should I care if my CEO retired on $800,000?  I retired on
plenty.  I have a nice 2200 square foot, two-story house, a large study, a
view of the mountains out my study window, and everything else I need.  Are
we so greedy that we think we ought to get the $800,000 year retirements -
or incomes?  That's bunk.

 

You report that the "deep poverty" level is $5,080 ought to be put into
perspective:  Consider that the American poverty level is higher than the
GDP per person of 100 of the 229 World nations on the following list:
https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html 

 

We are a free economy with some socialistic protections.  Would you prefer a
full-up welfare state?  Did you know that the European Welfare systems are
in trouble?  They are dependent upon a growth in population and many
European nations don't have that growth.  Oh well, they can get immigrants
and let the immigrants represent the growth and they can pay for all the
socialistic benefits . . . but the immigrants available are mostly Muslims
who as a group have an alarming set of problems and may not like the idea of
paying for a lot of old European's benefits.  Whoops.

 

Here in the U.S. we have a better growth rate than any European nation.
Beyond that, we have immigrants as well, and as a group they aren't as
troublesome as the European immigrants.  Also we have the best economy in
the world.  Also, anyone who works for a living and retires here in the US
can live on Social Security.  I have a sister who is doing that.  She had
some bouts of severe depression off and on throughout her life and never
held a job for too long at a time, but she does get Social Security and she
lives on it.  She claims she has everything she needs.  If I send her money
she usually uses part of it to send me a book she thinks I might like.  

 

But maybe the $5,080 number represents someone who doesn't work.  Now why
wouldn't they work?  We have an unemployment level that is extremely low as
world economies go.  There are jobs out there.  I know of someone who is
presently unemployed.  He works in construction, and construction is down
right now.  He could get a job, but the jobs he could get right now don't
pay as much as construction so he is living on unemployment insurance until
that runs out.   He hopes not to have to tap into his savings.  He expects
things to pick back up to the point where he won't have to take a cut in pay
when he goes back to work.  

 

I drove through a Jack in the Box near me a while back and the guy taking my
money said hello and it turns out he was one of the people who comes in
every week to clean my house.  I didn't have time to chat because there was
someone behind me who was probably hungry, but this guy, an Hispanic, was
obviously working two jobs.  He was probably doing poorly by American
standards, but doing pretty well in terms of the nation he came from or he
wouldn't be here.  

 

And there are plenty of perks for poor people in this country - for example
medical care.  My wife has a serious illness and needs to go to an ER from
time to time.  She is usually admitted and given three units of blood and
dismissed the next day.  But during that process we are in the midst of a
large number of Hispanic people who can't speak English.  Many of them look
healthy.   If an immigrant has no medical insurance and has any medical
problem whatsoever, he can show up at an ER and will not be turned away even
if he can't pay.

 

How much of the growth of the severely poor is made up of immigrants?   The
Hispanic immigrants we are familiar with don't stay poor.  One of Susan's
best friends is a second generation immigrant - a Republican by the way -
who has a degree in Microbiology and is working on one in Psychology.  Her
mother never learned to speak English.  One of her Uncles, a big well-built
guy about 6' 3" is a sergeant or lieutenant in one of the police forces in
Southern California.  We were talking about economics one day and she said
that her mother and those living with her fell below the poverty line, but
they would be surprised to hear it.  They had everything they thought they
needed.  And if they needed some help, well there were plenty of relatives
to provide it.

 

In short, we have nothing to complain about here in the U.S. as a people if
we compare ourselves to the rest of the world.  Individuals have plenty of
things to complain about however.  For example, I have some Hispanic
neighbors who live kitty-corner to my back fence.  I've never met them, but
their house is like mine; which is the most expensive model in our
development; so presumably they are well above the poverty level, but that
isn't my complaint.  What I don't like are their parties.  They have them
about one or two Saturday Evenings a month.  They seem to feel that a party
isn't a real party unless they have some device they can turn up to full
volume.  Susan has trouble sleeping and called the cops the last time they
had a party.  She was told someone would be sent right out, but no one ever
came, and at about 01:00 in the morning they turned the music down.  But
other than that . . .

 

Lawrence

 

 

 

 

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of John McCreery
Sent: Saturday, February 24, 2007 11:50 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Deep Poverty at Record Levels, Where's That?

 

A great country, isn't it?

 

^^^^^^^^

 

In US, record numbers are plunged into poverty: report

AFP

Published: Saturday February 24, 2007     

 

 

The gulf between rich and poor in the United States is yawning wider

than ever, and the number of extremely impoverished is at a

three-decade high, a report out Saturday found.

 

Based on the latest available US census data from 2005, the McClatchy

Newspapers analysis found that almost 16 million Americans live in

"deep or severe poverty" defined as a family of four with two children

earning less than 9,903 dollars -- one half the federal poverty line

figure.

 

For individuals the "deep poverty" threshold was an income under 5,080

dollars a year.

 

"The McClatchy analysis found that the number of severely poor

Americans grew by 26 percent from 2000 to 2005," the US newspaper

chain reported.

 

"That's 56 percent faster than the overall poverty population grew in

the same period," it noted.

 

The surge in poverty comes alongside an unusual economic expansion.

 

"Worker productivity has increased dramatically since the brief

recession of 2001, but wages and job growth have lagged behind. At the

same time, the share of national income going to corporate profits has

dwarfed the amount going to wages and salaries," the study found.

 

"That helps explain why the median household income for working-age

families, adjusted for inflation, has fallen for five straight years.

 

^^^^^^^^^^

 

Rising productivity used to mean more to go around. Now it means

workers screwed again.

 

 

-- 

John McCreery

The Word Works, Ltd., Yokohama, JAPAN

Tel. +81-45-314-9324

http://www.wordworks.jp/

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