29 Uncomfortable Truths About Soaring Poverty In America

Source: the internet post

Author: krystalklear

“Did you know that the number of Americans on welfare is higher than the number of Americans that have full-time jobs?  Did you know that 1.2 million public school students in the U.S. are currently homeless?  Anyone that uses the term “economic recovery” to describe what is happening in the United States today is being deeply insulting to the nearly 150 million Americans that are considered to be either “poor” or “low income” at this point.  Yes, things are great in New York City, Washington D.C. and San Francisco, but almost everywhere else economic conditions continue to steadily get worse.

The gap between the wealthy and the poor is at a level that America has never seen before, and this is beginning to create a “Robin Hood mentality” that could cause a tremendous amount of social chaos in the years ahead.  Anger at the “haves” in America continues to rise at a very alarming pace, and the “have nots” are becoming increasingly desperate.  At some point all of this anger is going to boil over, and you won’t want to be anywhere around major population centers when that happens.

Despite unprecedented borrowing by the federal government in recent years, and despite unprecedented money printing by the Federal Reserve, poverty in the United States keeps getting worse with each passing year. The following are 29 incredible facts which prove that poverty in America is absolutely exploding…

1. What can you say about a nation that has more people getting handouts from the federal government than working full-time?  According to the latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of people receiving means-tested welfare benefits is greater than the number of full-time workers in the United States.

2. New numbers have just been released, and they show that the number of public school students in this country that are homeless is at an all-time record high.  It is hard to believe, but right now 1.2 million students that attend public schools in America are homeless.  That number has risen by 72 percent since the start of the last recession.

3. When I was growing up, it seemed like almost everyone was from a middle class home.  But now that has all changed.  One recent study discovered that nearly halfof all public students in the United States come from low income homes.

4. How can anyone deny that we are a socialist nation when half the people are getting money from the federal government each month?  According to the most recent numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, 49.2 percent of all Americans are receiving benefits from at least one government program.

5. Signs of increasing poverty are even showing up in the wealthiest areas of the nation.  According to the New York Post, New York subways are being “overrun with homeless“.

6. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately one out of every sixAmericans is now living in poverty.  The number of Americans living in poverty is now at a level not seen since the 1960s.

7. The gap between the rich and the poor in the United States is at an all-time record high The wealthy may not consider this to be much of a problem, but those at the other end of the spectrum are very aware of this.

8. The “working poor” is one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population.  At this point, approximately one out of every four part-time workers in America is living below the poverty line.

9. According to numbers provided by Wal-Mart, more than half of their hourly workers make less than $25,000 a year.

10. A recent Businessweek article mentioned a study that discovered that 300 employees at one Wal-Mart in Wisconsin receive a combined total of nearly a million dollars a year in public assistance…

“A decent wage is their demand—a livable wage, of all things,” said Representative George Miller (D-Calif.). The problem with companies like Wal-Mart is their “unwillingness, not their inability, to pay that wage,” he said. “They hand off the difference to taxpayers.” Miller was referring to a congressional report (PDF) released in May that calculated how much Walmart workers rely on public assistance. The study found that the 300 employees at one Supercenter in Wisconsin required some $900,000 worth of public assistance a year.

11. The stock market may be doing great (for the moment), but incomes for average Americans continue to decline.  In fact, median household income in the United States has fallen for five years in a row.

12. The quality of the jobs in America has been steadily dropping for years.  At this point, one out of every four American workers has a job that pays $10 an hour or less.

13. According to a Gallup poll that was recently released, 20.0% of all Americans did not have enough money to buy food that they or their families needed at some point over the past year.  That is just under the record of 20.4% that was set back in November 2008.

14. Young adults are particularly feeling the sting of poverty these days.  American families that have a head of household that is under the age of 30 have a poverty rate of 37 percent.

15. As I wrote about a few weeks ago, one out of every five households in the United States is on food stamps.  Back in the 1970s, about one out of every 50 Americans was on food stamps.

16. The number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the entire population of Spain.

17. According to one calculation, the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations of “Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.”

18. We are told that we live in the “wealthiest nation” on the planet, and yet more than one out of every four children in the United States is enrolled in the food stamp program.

19. The average food stamp benefit breaks down to approximatel$4 per person per day.

20. It is being projected that approximately 50 percent of all U.S. children will be on food stamps before they reach the age of 18.

21. Today, approximately 17 million children in the United States are facing food insecurity.  In other words, that means that “one in four children in the country is living without consistent access to enough nutritious food to live a healthy life.”

22. It may be hard to believe, but approximately 57 percent of all children in the United States are currently living in homes that are considered to be either “low income” or impoverished.

23. The number of children living on $2.00 a day or less in the United States has grown to 2.8 million.  That number has increased by 130 percent since 1996.

24. In Miami, 45 percent of all children are living in poverty.

25. In Cleveland, more than 50 percent of all children are living in poverty.

26. According to a recently released report, 60 percent of all children in the city of Detroit are living in poverty.

27. According to a Feeding America hunger study, more than 37 million Americansare now being served by food pantries and soup kitchens.

28. The U.S. government has spent an astounding 3.7 trillion dollars on welfare programs over the past five years.

29. It has been reported that 4 out of every 5 adults in the United States “struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives”.

These poverty numbers keep getting worse year after year no matter what our politicians do.

So is there anyone out there that would still like to argue that we are in an “economic recovery”?

And as I mentioned above, the “have nots” are becoming increasingly angry at the “haves”.  For example, just check out the following excerpt from a recent New York Post article

The maniac who butchered a Brooklyn mom and her four young kidsconfessed that he did it because he was jealous of their way of life, a police source told The Post on Sunday.

The family had too much. Their income (and) lifestyle was better than his,” the source said.

The bloody suspect was caught holding the kitchen knife he used during the Saturday night rampage inside the Sunset Park apartment where he had been staying with the victims, the source added.

Sadly, this was not an isolated incident.  All over the western world, a “Robin Hood mentality” is growing.  This is something that I am so concerned about that I made it a big part of my new book.  At this point, even wealthy Hollywood-types such as actor Russell Brand are calling for a socialist-style “revolution” and a “massive redistribution of wealth“.

Perhaps Brand does not understand that what he is calling for would mean redistributing most of his own wealth away from him.

When the next major wave of the economic collapse strikes, I fear that all of this anger and frustration that are growing among the poor will boil over in some very frightening ways.  I believe that we will see a huge spike in crime and that we will eventually see communities all over America looted and burning.

But I am not the only one that is thinking along these lines.  A new National Geographic Channel movie entitled “American Blackout” attempts to portray the social chaos that could erupt in the event of an extended national power failure

American Blackout, National Geographic Channel’s two-hour, edge-of-your-seat movie event imagines the story of a national power failure in the United States caused by a cyberattack — told in real time, over 10 days, by those who kept filming on cameras and phones. You’ll learn what it means to be absolutely powerless.

You can view a clip of the film that was made available by NatGeo for theSHTFplan.com community right here.

What would you do if something like that happened to you?

How would you handle desperate, hungry people at your fence asking for food?

And what if those people were armed and were not “asking nicely” for your food?

Don’t ignore what is happening in America right now.  It is setting the stage for some very chaotic times.”

Emphasis Mine

See:http://theinternetpost.net/2013/10/29/29-uncomfortable-truths-about-soaring-poverty-in-america/

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A San Francisco cable car holds 60 people. This blog was viewed about 2,300 times in 2011. If it were a cable car, it would take about 38 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

California Journal: 20 – 30 jan 2010

California Journal

Wednesday 20 Jan 2010

Sharon & I flew Continental from Hopkins (CLE) to LAX., where we walked through a dark, wet area to finally locate our rental Ford Focus, and using – for the first time in our lives a GPS -headed to our LA headquarters, which was the Residence Inn in Beverley Hills.  Ate corned beef sandwiches and chicken noodle soup at Factors Deli (http://www.factorsdeli.com/) – a real (think J) deli across the street.

Thursday 21

Using  GPS again- as well as Google maps – we went to the Petersen Auto Museum.  Supped at Jar on Wilshire($).  The web site said “business casual”, but I’d call hoodies  and jeans “after school casual”.  Worked out in hotel gym.

Friday 22

Raining, so we went to Beverly Center – an indoor mall (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beverly_Center).  Bought for me a top at the Ferrari store.  Supped at Grace (also $).  Worked out in hotel gym.

Saturday 23

Sunny.  Went to the Getty Center, a complex of museum buildings in the hills. Reminisced with Rembrandt, made an impression on Monet, etc. Lunched there ($).  Supped at Cafe del Ray in the Marina Del Ray – a location which brought me back to the early seventies.  As we left, a Ferrari, a Bentley, and a Maserati were valet parked by the door, turning green with envy at our Focus’s lower fuel consumption.

Sunday 24

Our motivation for the excursion was a memorial service for my late friend Anne Marie Staas Niedorf, held at a quaint facility called the Ebell of Los Angeles – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ebell_of_Los_Angeles.  The service alone was worth the trip.  Among the high points was the singing of K.B. Solomon – http://web.mac.com/kbsolomon/Site/About_KB_Solomon.html.  Many testimonials, much adulation.  In the chapter “Begin with the End in Mind” in “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful People”, author Stephen R. Covey asks us to imagine what our friend and colleagues would say about us at our funeral: Anne Marie was indeed a highly successful person.
See: https://charlog.wordpress.com/2009/11/28/remembering-anne-marie-niedorf/
We ate at the Farm on S. Beverly.

Monday 25

We drove out of LA up I405 to I5 and on across the Bay Bridge to San Francisco.  Scenic, pleasant drive, took less than six hours.  Into the City and onto our Hotel, the Argonaut, at Fisherman’s Wharf.  Raining.  Walked to supper in a restaurant in Ghiradelli Square.

Tuesday 26

Walked around the Cannery neighbourhood, and bought “Game Change” at a Border’s (which did not have anything on Paul Robeson).  Took two touristy tours in double decked buses: the down town tour and then the evening tour.  I could smell brake linings while on a few of the downhills, which are as steep as some coasters.  Great tour guide (Keith Oshins).  Ate at a waterfront touristy place in the neighbourhood.  N.B.: If the word ‘Victorian’ were not so pejorative, I would have appreciated the houses more.  Worked out in hotel gym.

Wednesday 27

Tremont met Kelly’s Island for us on Wednesday, as we took a tour to Sasualito, across the Bay, accomplished by way of that magnificent erection known as the Golden Gate Bridge.  (If it were in Cleveland, the critics would say looks like part of the rust belt.)  The Ferric oxide look was not a prominent sight in Sausalito, where trendy shops and eateries thrive on tourism.  I asked a tour guide if the Bridge were a WPA project, and he asked me what that was(?!?). BTW: It is.  N.B.: Tremont is a trendy area on the near WestSide of Cleveland where art shops and eateries abound, and Kelly’s Island is in Western Lake Erie. Turned in our rented car, as it was of no value.  Supped at a great restaurant on the Wharf. ($)  Then we went to BuenaVista, which has some claim to Irish Coffee in the USA.  Sat with a couple of brits who were great company.  Place was straight, great, and jumping.  The IC was small, and not as good as my friends make in Western Cuyahoga County.  Worked out in hotel gym.

Thursday 28

We took a cable car to Union Square, where we admired the works of local artists, looked in exclusive shops featuring over-priced merchandise for sale to under-taxed yuppies, and saw no trade unionists.  We lunched at Nieman Marcus, where we were under dressed.  Then we took the Park tour on the bus.  Supped at an Italian named restaurant on the Wharf.  Visited a bar next to our hotel, at which the owner had a collection of Studebakers.  As my dad had a 1954 Coupe and 1955 sedan, I was interested and talked with him.  He recognized that the car picture on my phone was of a Mini (1960).  Worked out in hotel gym.

Friday 29

Tour of 3 Sonoma wineries (no boxed wines there!) and then we went to the City Lights bookstore -http://www.citylights.com/, where all old beatniks come to die.  We bought a book on Paul Robeson, and also Howard Zinn’s history.  Place was quaint, left progressive, and manifestly devoid of Neocon’s. Ate in China town.

Saturday 30

Parked outside of our hotel was an Icon of the ’60’s: a VW MicroBus (1964).  Original color, but not original paint.  As we passed through the Marina district, the harbor was filled with sails – must have been a regatta.

Flew Continental back to Hopkins, supped at Frank and Pauly’s, and that was the vacation that was.

Summary: Great things to do while we are still young enough to do them. Shall we say: Adventure before dementia?  Got in some quality in-flight reading.  LA was good; SF was great.  Did not do Chocolate or Alcatraz – the later was government housing for behaviourally challenged; the former was insalubrious.  When we got back home, we saw more ladies who get three squares a day, if you know what I mean, and that is good.