poverty

America’s Hunger Epidemic: 'A Place at the Table' and 'American Winter' by Michael Shank

50 million Americans live in food-insecure households

1-out-of-2 American children will rely on federal assistance for food during their childhoods

106 million Americans, over 1 in 3, live below twice poverty line (less than $36,000 for a family of three)

Richest 1 percent now possess 40 percent of the nation’s wealth

----------------------------- Read below the fold...

After Obama’s SOTU message on February 12, 2013, Jill Stein, Green Party 2012 presidential candidate, addressed a national video audience with "Our Green State of the Union" assessment -- what Jill Stein herself called the “REAL state of our nation.”

Stein:

We need a real discussion of where we are, so we can set our priorities right and secure the future for our imperiled families, communities, country and planet.

Read below the fold...

Photo Credit: 'Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California" [1936], National Media Museum's Photostream, Flickr

Frightening, eh? Just think--literally every other person that you and I lay eyes on are not members of the much-vaunted "Middle Class," to which politicians on both sides of the isle incessantly pander.

I still cannot believe how little 'press' the AP piece below, on the 2010 US Census Bureau Statistics, got when it was published just over a year ago. I forget when and where I first saw this piece, although I posted it on several blogs. I apologize that it is dated, but the content is not of any lesser significance, in my opinion. Read below the fold...

Jill Stein is a “citizen-politician” who refuses to behave herself.

Dr. Stein refuses to stay in the campaigning bull-shit bubble.

She doesn’t suffer fools or play the crony let’s-screw-the-99% game.

Someone on a website recently called Jill Stein “the best presidential candidate you’ll never hear about”.

Jill Stein is a Boston physician (Harvard educated) and veteran activist and candidate with the Massachusetts Green-Rainbow Party
. Read below the fold...

Got this in an e-mail yesterday from my brother, Hal:

“June food stamp Recipients Hit All Time High As Three Times As Many Americans Enter Poverty As Find Jobs, bringing the total to a new all time high of 46.670 million and once again rising fast.”

Read below the fold...

Green Party presidential candidate Dr. Jill Stein calls out the Obama administration that the transfer of wealth to the 1 percenters is still happening despite statistical spin over minimal incremental number shifts in jobs reports. Growing citizen impoverishment continues despite election pr-hype from both of the legacy parties.

Stein is offering a serious Green New Deal to loosen and eliminate the merciless grip of greed of the 1% dooming the balance of the 99% not there already, to a life of poverty. Stein accuses both Democrat and Republican leaderships of coaxing the citizenry to ignore the unignorable at its own peril. Read below the fold...

In his latest piece on blackagendareport.com called “Occupy Where? What’s In It For Black and Brown People?, Bruce skillfully explains the movement, why it needed to be started by white young people:

“Make no mistake about it, reclaiming the right of the poor, jobless and discontented to peaceably assemble, while politically paralyzing mayors and police forces used to cracking heads and dispersing malcontents is a project only white protesters could have accomplished without police violence and massive arrests.”

and what’s in it for black and brown people and ultimately for everybody. Read below the fold...

Here is a quick overview of the Census data on income, poverty, and healthcare for 2010. The "year" for this report extends from March 2010 to March 2011.

Income

Real median household income in 2010 was $49,445 a decline of 2.3% from $50,599 in 2009. You would have to go back 15 years to 1996 to find a lower number. Conversely, the high for this number occurred in 1999 ($53,252). The 2010 figure marks a 7.1% decline from that high. (Table A-2, p.34)

Healthcare Insurance

In 2010, the percentage of those without healthcare insurance was 16.3%, up from 16.1% in 2009. The number of uninsured increased from 48.985 million to 49.904 million, an increase of 919,000. Read below the fold...

Will I succumb to cabin fever and go stir crazy inflicting my husband with all manner of diatribes about unfeeling fascists and greedy grifters? It's been snowing on and off since last Thursday. Most of the time I could make it into town except last Saturday when it was too icy to travel the 3 miles in to town (Yes, I'm lucky. Some of my friends must drive up to 20 miles to town). That day they closed the interstate from here to Columbus, MT which is about 37 miles. Friday night the snow and ice got serious, but the town was packed. Read below the fold...

As lambert reported earlier today, poverty in the "richest country in the world" is up, a lot. Why? Wealth inequality is greater now than before the 1929 crash. 1% owns 1/3 of the country. The upper 10% owns 2/3 of it. I can't insist too much on how important those numbers are or their ability to explain where we are and how we got here. They did not just happen. They are the result of 30 years of sustained assault on the middle class and the basic institutions of government and society by our elites, the wealthy, and corporations. Read below the fold...

Reuters:

On the auction block in Detroit: almost 9,000 homes and lots in various states of abandonment and decay from the tidy owner-occupied to the burned-out shell claimed by squatters.

Taken together, the properties seized by tax collectors for arrears and put up for sale last week represented an area the size of New York’s Central Park. Total vacant land in Detroit now occupies an area almost the size of Boston, according to a Detroit Free Press estimate.

Read below the fold...

How about "abortion reduction"?

First of all, if you were truly concerned about abortion reduction, you shouldn't have sacrificed women's healthcare, on the altar of bipartisanship! Read below the fold...

American families have long felt squeezed, if not choked, by housing expenses (emphasis mine):

Specifically, between 1996 and 2006, all the major categories of homeowner expenses increased faster than incomes. Mortgage payments increased 46 percent, utilities 43 percent, property taxes 66 percent, and property insurance 83 percent. By contrast, homeowner incomes increased by 36.3 percent. Rental costs also increased faster than incomes. Rents increased by 51 percent between 1996 and 2006, while renter incomes increased only 31.4 percent over the same period. Read below the fold...