Poverty: Mississippi’s Shame

I write about the conditions in my state, Mississippi……we are always at the top of the “worse” lists and the bottom of the “best” list…..healthcare…bottom, wages…..bottom, poverty….top…etc.

Regardless of what most state politicians want the world to believe there is NOTHING good going on in Mississippi for the people……

Take a trip through the Northwest part of the state along the Mississippi River…..you will see poverty like you have NEVER seen both….basically, if you did not know where you were you would swear it was a third world nation.

There are homes in the “Delta” that still do not have indoor plumbing….yes, I know…it is the 21st century……

These photos of today’s Mississippi Delta…….

I bring all this up because we were promised back in the early days of NAFTA that scenes like this would become a thing of the past written about only in history books…….

Globalization has been one of the worse ideas to fight poverty, especially in the South…….if anything it has made poverty even more brutal than before….

Source: Brutal Poverty in the U.S. South Is Caused by Globalization — and Statistics Don’t Make it Better | Alternet

Now we have another promise of less poverty with the new trade agreement….TPP….

You can write about poverty and its effects….but if you have never looked it in the face….then your opinions are worthless as the promises of better days.

Without Government Safety Net Programs, Millions More Would Be in Poverty | Economic Policy Institute

Every election time we will hear all about those damn people that get government benefits…..you know the ones that get “free stuff”…..

I am one who does not buy into the hate speech of people in poverty that may need assistance……but every election someone on the Right, mostly TPers or GOPers, will set off trying to demonize those people that need help……

Sorry but the rich people are the ones raping the country not the poor……

But read this research piece on those damn entitlements that you hate so much……

In 2014, 48.4 million people (or 15.3 percent of the US population) were in poverty, as measured by the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM)—a more sophisticated approach for measuring economic well-being than the official federal poverty line. However, that number would have been significantly higher were it not for government safety-net programs.

Source: Without Government Safety Net Programs, Millions More Would Be in Poverty | Economic Policy Institute

The Path To Wealth

The Easter weekend is over….everyone can go back to being yourself…..and as usual the news was so mundane and tedious that it was not worth a visit……Crapping on Iran deal was everywhere…..and then there was….oh who cares?

Since we are talking about money today……why not go to the biggest capitalist of them all…..Buffet?

We all have had this delusion that one day we would be wealthy and have the world at our feet…….have beautiful women falling throwing themselves at us…….cool cars and travel……….but that was when we were young and stupid. And now?……………..

We all have heard of Warren Buffet the genius of Wall Street…..his company has been a massive success and he is seen as some sort of financial god…….you will remember the story of a couple of years ago about how as wealthy as he is he pays less tax than his assistant…….and that started a whole movement to lower taxes or at least to make them more equitable…….yes he is a financial wiz…….. but why is he so successful?

Warren Buffett’s image as an avuncular business genius who has all-American interests at heart might take a hit after a scathing investigation by the Seattle Times and the Center for Public Integrity. It alleges that Clayton Homes, a giant in the mobile-home industry owned by Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, is duping poor people into unscrupulous loans. Here’s the main summation:

“Buffett’s mobile home empire promises low-income Americans the dream of homeownership. But Clayton relies on predatory sales practices, exorbitant fees, and interest rates that can exceed 15 percent, trapping many buyers in loans they can’t afford and in homes that are almost impossible to sell or refinance.”

The investigation looked at more than 100 sales in 41 states and found a “consistent array of deceptive practices.” For example, Clayton goes by so many names, at least 18, that mobile home customers who think they’re shopping around actually aren’t. It controls virtually every aspect of the deal, from the construction to the real estate sale, to the loan itself, a fact that customers often don’t realize because of those different names. Buyers often encounter exorbitant fees, loan terms that change abruptly, and ruthless collection agents. Spokespersons for Clayton and Berkshire would not be interviewed, but a Clayton statement insists that its “policies, procedures and training are designed to ensure that customers have a choice of lenders,” reports the Omaha World-Herald. Read the Seattle Times piece here and the CPI version here.

An age old story of how to acquire wealth…..SCREW THE POOR!

Who Said “People Power” Was Dead?

I recall my days as an activist and protestor….the big chant was “power to the people” and in recent years it has seemed that it was all but lost….people have been protesting lots of stuff….the bailout, Wall Street theft, immigration and abortion rights with little lasting effect…….now a story that resurrects my belief in the power of the people.

About here………. think Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart that economic giant that removes into a town and closes down all the “Mom and Pop” businesses with the promise of creating jobs……and those jobs are wages below the poverty level.

For a couple of years Wally World has been in the news on various times…..their anti-union stance, their pricing scams and so forth….but the one that got the most traction was the way they have treated their employees…..from the lack of health care to wages….there has been many protests about their wages……and finally they cave!

Walmart is spending $1 billion to make changes to how it pays and trains US hourly workers as the embattled retailer tries to reshape the image that its stores offer dead-end jobs. As part of its biggest investment in worker training and pay ever, Walmart says that within the next six months, it will give raises to about 500,000 workers, or nearly 40% of its 1.3 million US employees. “We are trying to create a meritocracy where you can start somewhere and end up just as high as your hard work and your capacity will enable you to go,” CEO Doug McMillon said during an AP interview this week at the company’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. The company’s average full-time wage will be $13 an hour, up from $12.85. For part-time workers, the hourly wage will be $10, up from $9.48.

The changes, which Walmart announced today as it reported stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter results, come at a time when there’s growing concern for the plight of the nation’s hourly workers. Thousands of US hourly workers and their supporters have staged protests across the country to call attention to their financial struggles, and business groups and politicians have jumped into the fray, debating a proposal by President Obama to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour. A new AP-GfK poll also found that most Americans support increasing the minimum wage. In addition to raises, Walmart said it also plans to make changes to how workers are scheduled and add training programs for sales staff so that employees can more easily map out their future at the company.

This is great news for their employees……though I believe it is more to end the negative PR than any genuine concern for their wage slaves.

Now if Wally World can do it…..so can all the thieves that pay a pittance of wages.

People Power is alive and well in the US…..PEOPLE! use the power that you have….there are so many issues that need to be faced and NOW we know that the people can make a difference!

Take It To The Street!

Paul Ryan’s sorry invention: The GOP’s self-appointed poverty warrior coins “envy economics” – Salon.com

You want a good chuckle today?

Remember back when Ryan was the VP candidate? He called people that need help as “TAKERS”…..remember?

Anyway he is the GOP’s point man on the “income equality” issue…..and he has some good, humorous stuff here…..damn! the GOP has it’s moments….unfortunately….this is NOT one of them.

Paul Ryan’s sorry invention: The GOP’s self-appointed poverty warrior coins “envy economics” – Salon.com.

Rapid Death Of A Tax Plan

Recently Obama proposed that the money in college funds, hencewith called “529”, be taxed at time of withdrawal……and the Right sphere of politics exploded with negativity…..pundits from all persuasions started pissing and moaning……and claiming that it would be devastating to the average American to have their savings for their children taxed.

The typical GOP attack was that it will hurt the Middle Class…..which is their typical smoke screen when taxes are proposed……but there is a hole in their theory………

In reality 97% of us mere mortals have NO such savings account and the 3% that do include those that were the loudest critics like the anchors from MSNBC morning shows…….in essence only the wealthy have these plans. The rest of us have to depend on grants and scholarship and massive student debt for our children to go to college.

For days the relentless attacks on the manhood of the president was just mind numbing…..and then the news broke………

President Obama has backed away from a plan to end a tax break for “529” college saving plans after meeting a backlash from lawmakers from both parties. The White House, which had presented the plan as a way to end a tax break mainly enjoyed by the wealthy and replace it with a fairer—and much larger—tuition tax credit, now says the issue has become a “distraction” and it will focus on “education tax relief that has bipartisan support,” reports the New York Times. House Speaker John Boehner had urged the president to drop what he called a tax hike, and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was among the Democrats calling for Obama to reconsider the move.

The 529 plan, which is sponsored by all 50 states, is “a pretty good deal, and one that’s been around since 2001,” says NPR‘s Tamara Keith. “But the White House says fewer than 3% of families use these accounts—and 70% of the money in them comes from families earning more than $200,000 a year.” The Wall Street Journal, however, accuses Obama of trying to squeeze middle-class taxpayers, noting that as of last June, there were 11.8 million 529 accounts and the average balance was $20,671.

As usual the wealthy gets their way…….that is how we roll here in the good old US of A……..screw everyone but the wealthy.

Mitt: What Does He Know About Poverty?

The “HE” I am referring to is 2 time presidential loser, Mitt Romney. It seems that Mitt wants to make it a 3 time loser….for most of us that means jail.

After his screw up in 2012 he has taken a new tack….it seems that he will try to focus on poverty and its elimination………that is his theme (for me…a bit humorous)….at least for now.

Mitt Romney spoke to the Republican National Committee last night and sounded very much like a candidate trying to erase an image of being rich and out of touch, reports AP. Consider these quotes:

“Under President Obama, the rich have gotten richer, income inequality has gotten worse and there are more people in poverty than ever before.”

“It’s a tragedy—a human tragedy—that the middle class in this country by and large doesn’t believe the future won’t be better than the past or their kids will have a brighter future of their own. People want to see rising wages and they deserve them.”

“First, we have to make the world safer. Second, we have to make sure and provide opportunity for all Americans regardless of the neighborhood they live in. And finally, we have to lift people out of poverty.”

The Washington Post sees the emphasis on poverty and the middle class as “a dramatic departure from the themes he sounded in losing the 2012 campaign to President Obama.” Time writes that he “sought to cast himself as a champion of the nation’s poor.” So is he, in fact, running? Romney would say only that he’s giving it “serious consideration.” The New York Times, meanwhile, reports that wife Ann, who was once adamantly opposed to another run, seems to have come around to the “maybe” camp. “She knows where my heart is,” Romney told the crowd last night.

What could this man know about poverty? Does he have to choose between the power bill or food? No his big decision is which car will come out of the elevator today.

I am sick of politicians that get this condescending attitude and pretend to know what is it about to struggle daily….or to lessen his self to basically beg for assistance from an uncaring government. Or to watch his kids go to bed hunger or try and do homework in the dark.

It is sickening to hear that he has a plan to eliminate poverty……coming from a man that has NEVER known poverty. How can one formulate a solution without knowledge of the problem?

Anyone that believes this guy has a doable plan….IS AN IDIOT!

Sen. Bernie Sanders: Man Of The People

There are not many in Washington that I would give the time of day……my two faves are Eliz.. Warren and Bernie Sanders……I have been a fan of Sanders since his days in state politics in Vermont……he has consistently been a person of the people…..there have been others that I respected their time in DC but not many…..

Sanders has always been a proponent of the poor and the middle class……he has been vocal and demanding….few in DC would listen and even fewer would have his back when it came to the nut cutting……

He and Warren are making a dynamite one two punch…….the Left is very fortunate to have these two people as their spokesperson…….Sen. Warren let the Congress have it over the latest government funding bill…..she withheld NO punches.

Remember 2008….I know it is a sore subject that few want to revisit……but to solve the problem from ever happening again there was a call to break up the big banks and eliminate the “too big too fail” syndrome where the taxpayer had to cover them for their bad business practices…….Sanders is trying again to do the right thing for the country with his 12 point plan………

Sanders detailed a 12-point economic program to,

– Invest in our crumbling infrastructure with a major program to create jobs by rebuilding roads, bridges, water systems, waste water plants, airports, railroads and schools.

– Transform energy systems away from fossil fuels to create jobs while beginning to reverse global warming and make the planet habitable for future generations.

– Develop new economic models to support workers in the United States instead of giving tax breaks to corporations which ship jobs to low-wage countries overseas.

– Make it easier for workers to join unions and bargain for higher wages and benefits.

– Raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour so no one who works 40 hours a week will live in poverty.

– Provide equal pay for women workers who now make 78 percent of what male counterparts make.

– Reform trade policies that have shuttered more than 60,000 factories and cost more than 4.9 million decent-paying manufacturing jobs.

– Make college affordable and provide affordable child care to restore America’s competitive edge compared to other nations.

– Break up big banks. The six largest banks now have assets equivalent to 61 percent of our gross domestic product, over $9.8 trillion. They underwrite more than half the mortgages in the country and issue more than two-thirds of all credit cards.

– Join the rest of the industrialized world with a Medicare-for-all health care system that provides better care at less cost.

– Expand Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and nutrition programs.

– Reform the tax code based on wage earners’ ability to pay and eliminate loopholes that let profitable corporations stash profits overseas and pay no U.S. federal income taxes.

I have NO problem with his plan…..which is unusual for I seldom find a plan coming out of the Senate that I agree with…….Americans need to get informed and back Sanders plan…….another 2008 is only a tick away from happening again…….

Because of the collective ignorance of the American people will ensure that we will face another economic crash…..and this one may not be as easy to repair as the last…….

Keep your head in the sand and you will make it possible for more suffering of the American people……I know most could care less about their fellow Americans and that is why we are doomed to keep making the same mistake time and time again……..

Society: Breaking Records

The news almost daily are the breaking of records….like Wall Street day after day or the massive bonuses received by CEOs or maybe the huge profits some are raking….it is all good news….right?

Sad all these all time records do NOTHING for the hard working American….they are looking at massive debt, loss of home, rising costs, etc. With all these records there are some that we just do not hear much about….thanx to the MSM…….

The number of homeless children in the US has surged in recent years to an all-time high, amounting to one child in every 30, according to a comprehensive state-by-state report that blames the nation’s high poverty rate, the lack of affordable housing, and the impact of pervasive domestic violence. The National Center on Family Homelessness report calculates that nearly 2.5 million American children were homeless at some point in 2013. That’s based on the Department of Education’s latest count of 1.3 million homeless children in public schools, supplemented by estimates of homeless pre-school children not counted by the DOE. The problem is particularly severe in California, which has one-eighth of the US population but accounts for more than one-fifth of the homeless children—nearly 527,000.

The federal government has made progress in reducing homelessness among veterans and chronically homeless adults, but “the same level of attention and resources has not been targeted to help families and children,” says a report author. “As a society, we’re going to pay a high price, in human and economic terms.” Child homelessness increased by 8% nationally from 2012 to 2013, according to the report, which warned of potentially devastating effects on children’s educational, emotional, and social development, as well as on their parents’ health, employment prospects, and parenting abilities. The report ranked states on the extent of child homelessness, efforts to combat it, and overall level of child well-being. Minnesota, Nebraska, and Massachusetts scored the highest, while Alabama, Mississippi, and California scored the lowest.

But NONE of the pundits seem to care about these children….only at election time and they use them as a campaign prop…..this should make EVERY American ashamed…..and yet it barely gets noticed…..and that makes me ashamed of my country.

Side note….as usual my state, Mississippi, is in this list…….that is just too sad for words.

In Saner Thought

"It is the duty of every man, as far as his ability extends, to detect and expose delusion and error"..Thomas Paine

Tag: The Poor