1 in 2 Americans poor

I just finished quite a good book that delves deeply into the causes and ramnifications of poverty in America http://blogs.wsj.com/deals/2010/10/28/financial-crisis-cassandra-takes-home-book-prize/


There are huge fault lines that have resulted in record polarizations of wealth... and a terrible education system that has crushed upwards mobility (many other countries including the UK have better records of upward mobility).


One bit of blowback that has come from this situation that started with the deregulation of the Reagan period is a dramatic decline in earning power of the middle classes... governments have attempted a palliative in the form of promoting increased lending...this culminated in the insane home ownership lending policies - of course we all know where that ended up...


I though Fault Lines offered a pretty good analysis on poverty in the US in the first half... so worth reading... where it breaks down is the reasons for having a poor education system... he fails to ask if the elites want such a system because it creates compliant masses who will not question even the most obvious of lies (e.g. Saddam had WMD)....


And I think he loses the plot re: how to repair the system and prevent a collapse... no mention of criminal culpability re: ratings agencies and financial fraud...

Ed is right, I mean, its like that American politician saying that poor people are poor because they dont work hard enough! *SMH* When you are poor, its more than just not having cash, there is a LOT not available to you, and unlikely you can just work your way out of poverty.

Dreamerseven20033 I am with you.


It's hard to feel sorry for -

+ People who make poor choices, like getting pregnant with a man who cannot provide for them.

+ People who drop of out school, even when there were scholarships going.

+ Labour unions who have killed certain industries.


please god save us from the armchair economists who blame "Reagan era deregulation", when in fact deregulation started with Airlines during Carter's presidency because both sides of politics recognized it was killing jobs. More recently, NAFTA was a Clinton initiative. Let's put that myth to bed.


The problem is not inequality, or deregualtion. The problem is that Americans need to get back to old fashioned values. Hard work for fair pay. Reward for honest effort. Today, everyone wants an easy way to wealth. This desire for easy money is both among rich and poor in the USA, and this is the root of the USA's problems. Notice how the poor blame the bankers for being greedy crooks, and the rich blame the poor for wanting more that they're earning. They are all afflicted with the same spirit. The USA needs to get back to basics ...

According to the US census bureau, for the stated family of 3, the poverty threshold would be $17552. If you have two people doing part time work, with no real skills, that is possible.


The question might be, why can't an electrician find a better paying job after 18 months ?

If you want to understand why there are no jobs in the US and Europe... I suggest you watch this ... you can download the full programme on BT Junkie or other...


The Party's Over: How the West Went Bust


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017znzt


In a nutshell... for decades middle class wages have stagnated as jobs were offshored - governments have tried to prop up the consumer society by providing cheap money in the form of low interest loans that allowed people to continue to shop...


This medusa infected housing as mortgages were made available to unqualified people... that caused housing to spike.... people felt rich so used their houses as ATMs taking money in second mortgages to spend on more stuff...


Of course this could not last - and it did not last... so all those jobs created by this phoney housing boom are gone... the jobs that were offshored are still gone (and more are going)...


Hence the west is in a huge bind. Manufacturing has been hollowed out - the attempt to replace them with jobs created via unsustainable lending practices were always ephemeral - and are gone as well...


So why can't the electrician get a better paying job? Because they are too few people chasing jobs driving salaries down... the electrician is probably just happy to have a job...


A very, very big problem indeed...

Walk a mile in someone else's shoes before judging them...


For those who think it is easy to rise out of poverty and make the right decisions here's my suggestion - give up your first born to adoption to some inner city single mother and come back in 20 years and see how they end up...


If you really want some good insights into why the US is experiencing such huge problems I'd recommend Fault Lines... if you want to blame someone blame the leadership of the country - not the people who end up living in generational poverty...


Better still, compare the level of poverty in the US with that in the so-called socialist nations of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Germany... the situation is nowhere near the appalling disaster of the US where nearly 50 million can't feed themselves...


Is it the fault of the people - or the government? Before you scream socialism... keep in mind the countries above-mentioned are in far better positions economically than the bankrupt United States of America.... so could it possibly be - there is something wrong with the US system?


Fault Lines explains exactly what has gone wrong in recent decades.


As for poverty in the third world, I completely agree - nothing in the west compares with what hundreds of millions who are going without breakfast and living in utter squalor...

Poverty in the US is probably caused to some extent by the inevitable migration of low level jobs to lower wage countries - partly as a consequence of NAFTA, partly just a fact of life in a globalised, outsourcing, world. Not to mention legal and illegal immigration from South American countries, workers from these countries are obviously going to work for lower wages than Americans.


A child born into a poor family has a tough row to hoe, especially when unemployment is at record levels.



Even well-educated and well-off teenagers fall pregnant, incidentally. It is not a difficult thing to do, apparently. Try to show a little understanding and compassion for those less well off than yourselves.