Barbara Lee's War on Poverty - Article from The Nation
- added March 26, 2008
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Congresswoman Barbara Lee is a leading member of the Out of Poverty Caucus. She also gave a powerful speech on ending poverty at the Realizing the Dream report to Congress on October 25, 2007.
Barbara Lee's War on Poverty
Recently, Congresswoman Barbara Lee said to me, "This is a moment when people are suffering. They are one paycheck -- if they have a paycheck -- away from poverty."
That's why Lee has maintained a laser-like focus on addressing poverty. One in eight Americans -- approximately 37 million people -- now live below the federal poverty line of $19,971 for a family of four. (A woefully inadequate measure that is 42 years old and fails to account for basic necessities.) That's 4.9 million more people than in 2000 and the poverty rate for children is the highest of all age groups. Nearly 60 million people live just above the poverty line. Using the British standard of measurement, approximately 30 percent of Americans -- and 40 percent of American children -- are living in poverty.
Barbara Lee's War on Poverty
Recently, Congresswoman Barbara Lee said to me, "This is a moment when people are suffering. They are one paycheck -- if they have a paycheck -- away from poverty."
That's why Lee has maintained a laser-like focus on addressing poverty. One in eight Americans -- approximately 37 million people -- now live below the federal poverty line of $19,971 for a family of four. (A woefully inadequate measure that is 42 years old and fails to account for basic necessities.) That's 4.9 million more people than in 2000 and the poverty rate for children is the highest of all age groups. Nearly 60 million people live just above the poverty line. Using the British standard of measurement, approximately 30 percent of Americans -- and 40 percent of American children -- are living in poverty.
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It's completely obvious why poverty is on the rise in America. Corporate fat cats have arranged things to funnel vast sums of cash into their coffers; at the expense of the working class. This is a fancy title for people who live from paycheck to paycheck.
I know many people in my town who are working for fast food and retail and have master's degrees and PHD's.
The lack of compassion in Washington these days is disgraceful. -
You are right.
What people are missing is that the Bush administration has overseen the biggest shift of wealth from middle class and poor people to the top 1-2% of the rich in modern times.
In the past 7 years, the average person has lost a significang percentage of their net worth and investments in their homes and the stock market.
There has not been the wanton redistrubution of wealth from the masses to the select elite in America since the days of the Robber Barons Rockefeller, JP Morgan and Carnegie in the late 1800s. Note how it is the same story. Then, the oil and railroad barons accumulated vast wealth at the expense of the average Americans. They also went west to wage Indian Wars for, you guessed it, gold, natural resources and safe railroad lines to transport them. Since 2001, George W. Bush's cronies have done the same with the War for Oil in Iraq and Afghanistan to ensure safe gas and oil pipelines and redistributing wealth by creating record oil prices and profits. We are all pawns in this game. Isn't it time to stop and refuse to go along? First step is to understand we all share one earth and be responsible for the energy we use and the waste we produce. We need to think globally and act locally to decentralize and bring our actions back in right relation to other humans, animal, plant and all other life and the earth.
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