Hi Thomas,

Having read a book from a dutch reporter who has lived in the US for about two decades, the poverty *IS* caused by your political system. It is quite the opposite to the american dream (commming to america with nothing and get rich eventually).

One of the causes is that there does not exist a minimum wage for jobs. If there is, it is simply not enough to live from. Further your health system is utterly expensive but besides that very inefficient and money wasting (The money flows into the pocket of doctors and hospital in huge quantities). Also, as discussed in an other thread, abortion was not legalized before 1970 (only three states, 1973 others followed), making the financial future for single mothers and their children almost inmediately impossible.

This is how america distinquishes itself from europe. Though america on the whole has a better economy, that does not say much about the welfare of their average citizens. The balance between the rich and poor is way different in europe. The reduce of tax only helps the rich, not the poor, though many poor supported the decrease of tax. The american citizens are not prepared to have a more social government as seen in many european countries (because they are fooled by their leaders ?), making it impossible to do something about the situation: There is no public nor political support for doing something about poverty.

The other side is that you'll see a lot of charity in the US for those people who are in a difficult situation. Rich people themselves are donating a lot of money for people who had just bad luck. A story about a family who lived in a reasonable rich neighbourhood, got out of luck when the man was just between two jobs and got an accident resulting in not able to work for a long time. Since he was uninsured between the jobs he had no income anymore. The neighbourhood came in action and raised the funds so that this family could stay in their home. However to benefit from charity you'll have to be a member of a (mostly) religious community. America is the only western country where the churches are filled. In all other countries the churches get emptier and emptier.

Walter,










>Now tell me, have you ever been in a poor area of the United States or are you able to recognize such a place? Do poor areas exist? If they exist then why are they evident? Has anyone done much to address issues to solve what perpetuates poverty?
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>If you have your share of the pie then I am sure you could care less about the poor in this nation. You like to make excuses and give titles to serious issues. Everything is all right because the government has taken care of the problem. You are unable to articulate or address real issues that face our nation. Your attitude is one typical of too many: “Every dog for himself”! If there is a problem then you place the blame elsewhere and walk off. A bit of smoke is left and that is all.
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>By the way your awareness of what I stated about “social problems which have not been addressed” is what I was talking about. If you read and understood what I said then I would expect a much different answer from you or anyone else. Throwing money at a problem does not solve it. It is a great way to feel as if the problem was solved and go off to enjoy your life.
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>So what is your solution to the poor in this country? Eliminate them by not addressing the issues or put them in the gas chambers?
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>We can put hundreds of billions of dollars into Iraq and Afghanistan but we cannot take care of our own people. It is the Republicans who spend money for things that have little benefit for our nation. The Republicans are putting us into a hole and we have little to show for it except a growing national debt, corruption and indifference to the needs of our country.
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>Regardless of our exchange I leave you with a smile! :)
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>This topic is too vast for a few lines on the Internet. I apologize if I have offended you as that is not my intent.
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>Tom
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>>>To change the subject, the media just discovered recently that there are poor people in the southern United States. The media of today has not brought our nation to the reality that we have social problems which have not been addressed. More important is the big stories that advertisers are willing to pay for.
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>>How can you say "not being addressed"??? Since LBJ's War on Poverty, "we" have spent trillions of tax dollars to "fight" poverty. The issue here is not throwing more money at this very real problem. We need to do some real soul searching as to why this has been such a colossal gov't failure. (key word here is "gov't").
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>>>Additionally, we are so caught up in trying to pay our bills and survive we prefer to be entertained rather than be socially aware. Social awareness is the first step in improving our society. We can help other people but we cannot help ourselves.
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>>Why should we worry about poverty in our own country when we see hundreds of billions of our tax dollars going to D.C. to address this issue. Haven't we all been assimilated and brainwashed into thinking more gov't is the solution to all our ills? All sarcasm aside, poverty will only be alleviated when voters wake up and start asking hard questions of these so-called leaders (some of us call them poverty pimps). The media does us no favors either since most of them have political axes to grind instead. About the only exceptions I have seen are Stone Phillips and John Stocel (sp?).