Daily Agitator
There are many sensational subjects that the media fixates on…education….they report and do nothing else…..energy and push the oil stocks……of course they love the international stuff because they can report minutely on the happenings……they report on all the good news in the markets (good only for the rich)…..and they seem to care not about some things or they touch on it for 30 seconds and spend 10 times that on Charlie Sheen…..I have been an outspoken critic of our media and the reporting standards….if it does not help ratings…it is NOT news…….
But there is a story that seems to fall between the cracks because NO one wants to hear it……that subject is poverty and homelessness…..Debra Watson has written a good piece…quoted here in part…..
In the two years since the onset of the financial crisis in the fall of 2008, the number of children living in poverty increased from 14 million to 16 million, the US Census Bureau reports. The US government estimates that 25 percent of children in America will soon be living in poverty.Recently, the National Alliance to End Homelessness reported that between 2008 and 2009 a majority—31 of 50 states and the District of Columbia—had increases in their homeless counts. The nation’s homeless population increased by approximately 20,000 people from 2008 to 2009, a 3 percent increase. There were 656,000 homeless in 2009, up from 636,000 in 2008.
Its new report, State of Homelessness in America, highlights that nearly 4 in 10 homeless were living unsheltered, on the street, in a car, or in another place not intended for human habitation. In Wisconsin, twice as many people experienced homelessness without shelter in 2009 as did in 2008.
Key indicators of housing crisis tracked by the group went through triple-digit increases in vastly disparate locations. In Louisiana, (where Hurricane Katrina and flooding ravaged New Orleans nearly six years ago), the homeless population, sheltered and unsheltered, doubled.
A section of the report looks at the causes of rising homelessness. The fall in wages and other supports at the bottom of the income scale is notable. While real income among all US workers decreased by 1 percent in 2009, poor workers’ income decreased even more, dropping by 2 percent to $9,151. Poor workers in Alaska, the District of Columbia, Maine, and Rhode Island saw their incomes decrease by more than 10 percent.
Homelessness and poverty are growing at an alarming rate and yet NOTHING is being done or even addressed by our elected officials in Washington….as if it does not matter to them…..there is a good possibility that it does NOT matter!
Where is the concern for the poor? They (Reps) spend an inordinate amount of time fixated (God I love that word) on the plight of business….this society is dying slowly…..and with the help of those we elected to protect us from disaster….the American people are SO SCREWED!
Yes. A good post and good points. I agree entirely with you about the media – if it’s not good for ratings, it’s not news.
However, I do wonder about these arbitrary definitions of “poor” and “poverty”. Before the advent of TV in almost every home and the interference of the politically correct brigade and similarly pointless people, there were many citizens who were poor and yet, though life was hard for them, many were fairly happy too – then some twat told them they were “disadvantaged” and got a grant to study them and… well, basically it all went downhill from there. There was once a pride amongst people of all financial classes – “we may be poor but we manage our own lives” type of attitude. Now all people (poor, medium and wealthy alike) seem to do is whine!
It’s the same old thing – I’m poor (black, white, male, female, out of work, in work, don’t like my job and on an on… and it’s SOMEONE ELSE’S FAULT AND RESPONSIBILITY. WE (you and I and people like us) NEVER took that attitude and I think we were far richer (emotionally at least) for it!
I agree with you on most of the comment……here we have a poverty line….that is the average costs of power, house, food, medical, what I call necessities and yes, a Boom box, wide screen and laptop are not counted….just the important stuff…..and if a family’s income is less than that they are considered to be living in poverty……
I worked for the state of Mississippi and saw ungodly poverty…..stuff that you see in 19th century America……there are still houses in the north of the state that do not have indoor plumbing…..poverty is there it is just ignored (for the most part) by the media…….
Homelessness and poverty are growing at an alarming rate and yet NOTHING is being done or even addressed by our elected officials in Washington….as if it does not matter to them…..there is a good possibility that it does NOT matter!
It doesn’t to them. Easy to ignore because they’re marginalized and in the fringes of society. I believe FDR was the one who truly cared, but he’s a socialist/communist/Marxist whatever.
Spinny, the real tragedy is that a lot of the homeless are vets that NO one seems to give two shits in Hell about…..when they start, they meaning the government, start treating the vets with the respect they deserve, then I will give them the respect they think they deserve……
Oh absolutely. Nice of Reagan to close the mental hospitals here in CA when vets of the Vietnam needed help. Those same vets are the ones out there on the streets who could have been helped with their PTSD.
All prez have been less than kind to returning vets…….blame the damn silly situation of privatization…..
NO. I don’t personally think so – blame the people – they want to take an “anti-war” stance at times (usually when the going gets tough), but they cannot distinguish between the warmongers and the poor bastards who fight and get maimed, or die in the name of their country. The two are COMPLETELY different and are fighting for entirely different reasons – one lot are looking for financial or power profit and are in little if any danger and the other is being patriotic and risking everything for their country!
Quin I have had friends from VN that died on the streets because their experiences were more than they could handle……we could call them weak if we want……but there are some things that a person’s brain cannot handle…..
They shouldn’t have to handle them.
Never a truer statement…..believe me there is NOTHING more obscene than war….
I quite agree. Absolutely! But if the people made more fuss about it, a worried government would be forced to do something – as is SLOWLY beginning to happen in the UK.
Oh yes…..I see that when reading the BBC site….and I think that the US will wake up….eventually…..