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50 million Americans living in poverty, including 20 million children, poverty rates have reached levels not seen since the 1960′s
Sunday, September 22, 2013 4:24
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“I was elected to end wars, not start them.” -President Barack Obama responding to a reporter’s question about possibly going to war with Syria.
As if not responsible for ongoing economic miseries, President Barack Obama chose the five-year anniversary of the 2008 New York Stock Exchange crash to boast about his recovery. And with bodies being carted away from another shooting rampage, victims of someone who was again denied mental aid, he seemed oblivious to the drastic decline in middle-class incomes and the hardships of low-wage earners.
Yet the latter two still find it difficult to forget how the magicians of Wall Street, experts at selling castles in the air, stole millions of homes and jobs, but only one of them went to prison. For them, it is also hard to fathom the hundred-billion dollar corporate and banking bailout schemes.
Five decades ago President Lyndon B. Johnson announced: “This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America.” But unlike President Obama’s looming Syrian war, not to mention many others, the Unconditional War on Poverty has been long forgotten. Today four out of five adults struggle with joblessness and a near-poverty reliance on social welfare programs.
President Johnson exploited the public’s guilt and grief to push through President John F. Kennedy’s New Frontier programs which had stalled in Congress. In a matter of days, and with a “we shall not rest until the war is won” attitude, eighty-seven laws to socially uplift the aged, working poor, and economically disadvantaged children were passed.
Under President Obama, the Unconditional War Against Poverty has actually been a disaster. With 50 million Americans living in poverty, including 20 million children, poverty rates have reached levels not seen since the 1960′s. When adding the number of low-income workers, it totals more than half the nation-146 million people
One million public school children live in poverty too and battle homelessness. In poor and low income homes, 60 percent of children suffer from food and shelter insecurities. Their parents experience job and affordable healthcare insecurities which often lead to mental health issues, drug abuse, and the disintegration of family and neighborhood units.
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