| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Harry Hope" |
| Date: |
24 Feb 2006 04:12:36 PM |
| Object: |
In This Great Nation of Ours, Working Americans Still Can’t Afford To Eat |
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/02/23/working-americans-cant-eat/
Working Americans ‘Still Can’t Afford To Eat’
By Mike Darner
In his State of the Union Address, President promised to pursue "an
agenda that will raise standards of living."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunion/2006/
But a study released today by the America’s Second Harvest shows that
Bush has fallen short.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/H/HUNGER?SITE=MOSPL&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Nine million Americans sought aid from food pantries and soup kitchens
last year, even though they were members of households where at least
one person had a job.
A look at why working Americans are struggling to put food on the
table:
----- After adjusting for inflation, wages have not risen during the
last three years.
http://www.americanprogress.org/site/pp.asp?c=biJRJ8OVF&b=1407865
In fact, real hourly wages fell for most middle and low-income workers
in 2005. http://www.jobwatch.org/
----- An individual who works full-time at the current minimum wage
earns about $10,700 a year --$5,390 below the 2005 poverty line for a
family of three, and $8,650 below the poverty line for a family of
four.
http://www.stateaction.org/issues/issue.cfm/issue/MinimumWage.xml
----- The inflation-adjusted value of the minimum wage is 29 percent
lower today than it was in 1979.
http://www.aflcio.org/issues/factsstats/index.cfm#livingwages
So far, Bush has succeeded only at creating low-wage jobs and long
lines at the nation’s soup-kitchens.
__________________________________________________________
"What is the matter with the poor is poverty; what is the
matter with the rich is uselessness."
George Bernard Shaw
Harry
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| User: "Billy" |
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| Title: Re: In This Great Nation of Ours, Working Americans Still Can't Afford To Eat |
24 Feb 2006 04:44:21 PM |
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Who wants to bet at least 90% of them has cable TV?
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| User: "Larry Hewitt" |
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| Title: Re: In This Great Nation of Ours, Working Americans Still Can't Afford To Eat |
24 Feb 2006 04:52:35 PM |
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"Billy" <nevermind@cox.net> wrote in message
news:v_LLf.1181$Uc2.511@fed1read04...
Who wants to bet at least 90% of them has cable TV?
I'll take that bet.
ANd as if $30 will feed a family for a month.
Hateful rightards.
Larry
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| User: "The Pretzel" |
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| Title: Re: In This Great Nation of Ours, Working Americans Still Can't Afford To Eat |
24 Feb 2006 06:14:41 PM |
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"Larry Hewitt" <larryhewi@comporium.net> wrote in message
news:dto2nf$7a7d$1@news3.infoave.net...
"Billy" <nevermind@cox.net> wrote in message
news:v_LLf.1181$Uc2.511@fed1read04...
Who wants to bet at least 90% of them has cable TV?
I'll take that bet.
ANd as if $30 will feed a family for a month.
Hateful rightards.
Larry
Nothing for Americans.
$1 Trillion for Iraq. ...and a big give-away to the UAE.
.....and they call us "traitors".
What a fucking joke.
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| User: "Submariner" |
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| Title: Re: In This Great Nation of Ours, Working Americans Still Can't Afford To Eat |
24 Feb 2006 06:41:31 PM |
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"Larry Hewitt" <larryhewi@comporium.net> wrote in message
news:dto2nf$7a7d$1@news3.infoave.net...
"Billy" <nevermind@cox.net> wrote in message
news:v_LLf.1181$Uc2.511@fed1read04...
Who wants to bet at least 90% of them has cable TV?
I'll take that bet.
ANd as if $30 will feed a family for a month.
Hateful rightards.
Larry
Rightards say ***** like that to alleviate their conscience, those who have
one.
Hungry American kids don't mean squat to them, and they say *we* don't love
our country.
I think maybe "Billy" has been watching too much cable tv.
I think I'll go out and find a Republican to beat up.
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| User: "Billy" |
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| Title: Re: In This Great Nation of Ours, Working Americans Still Can't Afford To Eat |
24 Feb 2006 06:26:09 PM |
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"Larry Hewitt" <larryhewi@comporium.net> wrote in message
news:dto2nf$7a7d$1@news3.infoave.net...
"Billy" <nevermind@cox.net> wrote in message
news:v_LLf.1181$Uc2.511@fed1read04...
Who wants to bet at least 90% of them has cable TV?
I'll take that bet.
ANd as if $30 will feed a family for a month.
Hateful rightards.
Larry
poverty means lacking nutritious food, adequate warm housing, and clothing
for a family, relatively few of the 35 million people identified as being
"in poverty" by the Census Bureau could be characterized as poor. While
material hardship does exist in the United States, it is quite restricted in
scope and severity.
The average "poor" person, as defined by the government, has a living
standard far higher than the public imagines. The following are facts about
persons defined as "poor" by the Census Bureau, taken from various
government reports:
*** Forty-six percent of all poor households actually own their own homes.
The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is
a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or
patio.
*** Seventy-six percent of poor households have air conditioning. By
contrast, 30 years ago, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population
enjoyed air conditioning.
*** Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds
have more than two rooms per person.
*** The typical poor American has more living space than the average
individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities
throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign
countries, not to those classified as poor.)
*** Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 30 percent own two
or more cars.
*** Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over
half own two or more color televisions.
*** Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or
satellite TV reception.
*** Seventy-three percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo,
and a third have an automatic dishwasher.
*** Overall, the typical American defined as poor by the government has a
car, air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer,
and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV
reception, a VCR or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical
care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report,
his family is not hungry, and he had sufficient funds in the past year to
meet his family's essential needs. While this individual's life is not
opulent, it is equally far from the popular images of dire poverty conveyed
by the press, liberal activists, and politicians.
As a group, America's poor are far from being chronically undernourished.
The average consumption of protein, vitamins, and minerals is virtually the
same for poor and middle-class children and, in most cases, is well above
recommended norms. Poor children actually consume more meat than do
higher-income children and have average protein intakes 100 percent above
recommended levels. Most poor children today are, in fact, supernourished
and grow up to be, on average, one inch taller and 10 pounds heavier that
the GIs who stormed the beaches of Normandy in World War II.
The good news is that the poverty that does exist in the United States can
readily be reduced, particularly among children. There are two main reasons
that American children are poor: Their parents don't work much, and their
fathers are absent from the home.
In both good and bad economic environments, the typical American poor family
with children is supported by only 800 hours of work during a year--the
equivalent of 16 hours of work per week. If work in each family were raised
to 2,000 hours per year--the equivalent of one adult working 40 hours per
week throughout the year--nearly 75 percent of poor children would be lifted
out of official poverty.
As noted above, father absence is another major cause of child poverty.
Nearly two-thirds of poor children reside in single-parent homes; each year,
an additional 1.3 million children are born out of wedlock. If poor mothers
married the fathers of their children, nearly three-quarters of the nation's
impoverished youth would immediately be lifted out of poverty.
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| User: "Kevin Cunningham" |
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| Title: Re: In This Great Nation of Ours, Working Americans Still Can't Afford To Eat |
25 Feb 2006 09:41:23 AM |
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"Billy" <nevermind@cox.net> wrote in message
news:WtNLf.1187$Uc2.640@fed1read04...
"Larry Hewitt" <larryhewi@comporium.net> wrote in message
news:dto2nf$7a7d$1@news3.infoave.net...
"Billy" <nevermind@cox.net> wrote in message
news:v_LLf.1181$Uc2.511@fed1read04...
Who wants to bet at least 90% of them has cable TV?
I'll take that bet.
ANd as if $30 will feed a family for a month.
Hateful rightards.
Larry
poverty means lacking nutritious food, adequate warm housing, and clothing
Poverty means not having any money. Sorry, you don't get to make up words
and meanings.
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| User: "mike wilcox" |
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| Title: Re: In This Great Nation of Ours, Working Americans Still Can't AffordTo Eat |
25 Feb 2006 10:52:50 AM |
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Kevin Cunningham wrote:
"Billy" <nevermind@cox.net> wrote in message
news:WtNLf.1187$Uc2.640@fed1read04...
"Larry Hewitt" <larryhewi@comporium.net> wrote in message
news:dto2nf$7a7d$1@news3.infoave.net...
"Billy" <nevermind@cox.net> wrote in message
news:v_LLf.1181$Uc2.511@fed1read04...
Who wants to bet at least 90% of them has cable TV?
I'll take that bet.
ANd as if $30 will feed a family for a month.
Hateful rightards.
Larry
poverty means lacking nutritious food, adequate warm housing, and clothing
Poverty means not having any money. Sorry, you don't get to make up words
and meanings.
Wrong, check the dictionary. Poverty means not having ENOUGH money, not
the complete lack of it
pov·er·ty
noun
Definitions:
1. state of being poor: the state of not having enough money to take
care of basic needs such as food, clothing, and housing
2. lack: a deficiency or lack of something
poverty of emotion
3. infertility of soil: lack of soil fertility or nutrients
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| User: "mike wilcox" |
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| Title: Re: In This Great Nation of Ours, Working Americans Still Can't AffordTo Eat |
24 Feb 2006 07:35:07 PM |
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Larry Hewitt wrote:
"Billy" <nevermind@cox.net> wrote in message
news:v_LLf.1181$Uc2.511@fed1read04...
Who wants to bet at least 90% of them has cable TV?
I'll take that bet.
ANd as if $30 will feed a family for a month.
Hateful rightards.
Larry
Cable comes with most apartments these days as part of the rent doesn't it?
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