One in six Americans in poverty, new study finds

I cant legally drive without insurance in my state. I know my claim will be denied but I have to pay or I will lose my license. If I lose my license I lose my job. You can proably guess what happens after that.

JonRaymond, Your proposal to resist and refuse to support US insurance companies and other financial overlords is exactly the right response. As CalPer wrote, many are legally bound to carry auto collision insurance, but one can cover oneself in the case of health insurance, and be better economically for it.
There have been many times in the past when affinity groups such as farmers or tradesmen formed their own collective insurance companies. Perhaps some still exist, but more likely they were legislated out of existence, or pushed out, by the power of the larger and now essentially monopolistic insurance agencies. If I understood this correctly, I heard yesterday that more than 90% of the health insurance policies in Montana are with one single company. Many other states have similar mega-insurance company hegemony, which is apparently supported by legislation of some kind. The lobbying power of insurance companies is enormous, but if enough informed people dropped out and searched for alternatives there would be a profound change in the massively abusive insurance system we now have. If you, or someone else in this forum, could help identify any alternatives that still exist in insurance, or propose specific legal actions against the insurance monopolies, perhaps on a state by state basis, that would be a great and welcome contribution.

Vote with your wallet. Don't pay the bills.

I'll be there, but I only live about 30 minutes away.

The "catch-all" concept of revolting "against the rich" needs some clarification for me. I might want to shoot a bureaucrat while someone else would want to shoot a teacher. You mentioned a "peaceful" revolution. No shooting allowed.
What is your greatest beef? The corner Walgreens? Don't they retail enough generic alternatives? The supermarket? Are you mad at the farmer or the overhead the facility must pay and consequently retail food for more than the farmer/manufacturer can produce it for?
Is it just the cost of being careful? You can't speed-a ticket. You can't drink-a DUI. You can't hit a jerk-you go to jail...Everywhere you turn-an attorney.
Insurance woes? Too much tax taken out of your paycheck?
Believe me I am vexed as well, but living on less hurts people as well. People who produce the goods, run the gas stations and quick marts, man the hospitals...
If you think taking everything the rich have and redistributing it will somehow "equilibrate" our economy into some sort of Utopia, I need FACTS, not theory.
The first fact I would like is local. If it can't be accomplished on a local level, don't play with it on the national. Basically, you are saying everybody in my city makes a total income of---? It comes from the following sources-- It should be distributed thusly...If you don't have a specific plan, don't start a war.

Bankers, lobbyists, big-time stockholders, loan-sharks and CEO's.

Are those people "winners" and "producers?"

Did the person who came up with derivatives "earn" their money? They're all big time con-men, they're just a lot investment into the national discourse to make sure they're not called that.

No one is asserting that wiping them out would end poverty.

But if you don't think this country has BEEN impoverished by them, you need to take a closer look at what they've been able to lobby our government into over the past 30 years. Or even the last 150.

They shouldn't , ever for their own good . we outnumber them .

unforunately, they probably have more bullets than we do bodies.

I built a mall. Now you would think I was rolling in dough, wouldn't you? This is not the case. Complete occupancy is required to pay the mortgage. So why did I build a mall? In the hopes of selling it someday for more than you owe on it to take the sting out of retirement...So it was supposed to go.
At present, the value of the mall has gone down. Tenants have left forcing other incomes to pay off this monthly mortgage. All I asked of the municipality where this mall is located was to reduce the taxes to be proportionate with the space presently rented. They said "impossible" because the space formerly occupied by the tenant was improved, subsequently, the value of the property is increased.
I asked them, if I removed the improvement, would you then lower my taxes? They said Yes.
The improvement within this space cost $20,000.00. If I destroyed this investment, my taxes would be $5,000.00 per year less.
I looked the tax assessor in the eye and was "almost" speechless..."So, you expect me to invest in the destruction of property to lower my taxes only to reinvest should another tenant come around, whereby you will again raise my taxes...is that my understanding?"
"Yes" his answer again.
I will deal with this later.

Americans have steadily increased their hours at work since the 1970's while their pay has remained in almost all basic sectors, completely stagnant, while living costs have more than quadrupled. Americans have fewer days off than any other major western nation. Both parents in families in America now typically work, if they can find work. As the cost of health care, housing and services has climbed, they have only fallen further behind into greater and greater debt. In MHO, that's not because they couldn't put off the purchase of a wide screen TV. In the last two decades they were sold the idea they could use their home as a bank of last resort and now they are losing their homes in record numbers. No, Dabne, I don't think it's laziness that besets the American family.
If you are fortunately well off, good for you, but it would be a churlish mistake to accuse more than half of the population of America as being lazy. It may make you feel a totally false sense of superiority, but it's just plain wrong.

I USED to be middle class, until my husband left me with 3 kids to raise. By 2007 I had 3 jobs, 1 full time ,and 2 part-time. Just barely enough to make ends meet. I was laid off 1 part-time job (after 6 years) in Dec. '07 and the other in Jan '09 because I was making more than minimum wage. I will be losing my full time job @ the end of Dec. because economy is so slow here (I work retail). I have a college degree and many skills, but work will be hard to find because I am over 50. Will probably go back to substitute teaching that is part-time @ best.

Do not feel alone . Some of the single mothers i know are trying to rent a house together , to save on childcare among other things . Good luck , my sister . I do not know were I would be without my friends .

People? which people? The ones working at AIG, in Congress?

BOOO!!

Awesome. Yes. Let's get that consciousness in motion!

It's interesting that the media works hard to cover these facts. We see the political debates but we never see the real America, as if the only life worthy of mention is that on either Wall Street or inside the beltway. This is the mark of a third world country.

Kids in L.A. exhibit more PTSD than kids in Baghdad. Not sure if that is still true but the poll was taken during the war. However if I had to guess it would probably be a even greater divide now due to the amount of outside aid in each community.

I think the reason for the higher PTSD in LA than Baghdad is because kids in the middle east are more prone to violence and poverty than kids in the US, so when something horrible happens in LA it's alot more shocking. Also I think the kids in LA probably have depression from the economy but not PTSD, which is something you get from being in a war or rape.

Wonderful literary reference. Thank you! Swift was ahead of his time.

Wow thats a very narrow view of the working class. You really think that people in poverty have those things. I guess people join gangs because their bored of playing Halo all day right? Your ignorance is astounding.

Fortunately for both you and I, we don't live in Somalia. We also probably have a home where a 42 inch plasma screen could hang, but this is not the case for everyone. It is easy to say the fault lies with the individual, it is easy to say the fault lies with society. I don't care and neither should you. No one in America should be hungry and they shouldn't have to steal to feed their family or themselves.
I live in a community of 35,000. To the best of my knowledge, three pantries are available to feed ANYBODY that walks through that door. I hope the same is true where you live.

What a dumb comment you must really have no idea why people really join gangs

So their choices are join the military or a gang and that's not a sign of poverty?

for the g5's , bling bling ! !

didn't you know? anything one can consider wrong with america is, by default, caused by the current president. ;P

B.O. (plenty) did not create the collapse of the economy, but He and the demoncrats sure as hell have exacebated the problem with TARP....shucks, it doesn't take much thought to recognize that when in dire financial straits, borrowing money from the future to pay for the present is ignorance gone to seed.

"Rims?" -- hardly, it was used for pay-off to SIEU, ACORN, AIG, GOLDMAN SACHS, & BANKSTERS, et al - - look at all the freaking crooks that were part and parcel to the economy melt-down and are now "economic" and "policy" advisors within B.O.'s (pee-yew) administration who now are free riding on the backs of the innocent taxpayers...she-it man, get a clue.

IN my neighborhood , I myself have been unemployed for 2 years . I have a job offer , in another state , if I can get the father of my child to allow me to go . I am out of credit and out of time . There are simply no jobs I can do in this sparsely populated area . At this point , I am selling stuff . I am at a loss , I have never been in such a state like these last two years . Something had always come though . Please , forgive the dismal perception . Oh , and I do not get TV , nor cell phone , nor anything superfluous . I am frugal to a nearly unhealthy level .

@occ

Are YOU on crack? Only crazy people think logical people are crazy for not believing in conspiracy theories that are totally absurd.

Lets all yell about which guys party has prettier colors while they steal our retirement funds. Then, we can yell about who's fault it was while they drain our bank accounts.

Saladin,

John and Paratus are as predicable as a morning bowel movement...and their opinions have as much value. More to the point, however, can you imagine the crushing poverty that would be gripping the nation if Maverick and Rogue had been elected? Their idea of stimulus was exactly the same as Bush's: tax relief for millionaires.

And why should it. Have you ever looked into how the GDP is calculated. It's both disgusting and disturbing.