Is anyone watching 60 Minutes?

[Beacool]

I'm watching the segment on poverty through tears. How can we have 1 out of 4 children living in poverty in such a wealthy nation? They are focusing on Seminole County in FL, but it could happen anywhere. So many children living in cars, one family finally got help when they were down to one orange and a quarter tank of gas in the car. Heartbreaking and infuriating at the same time.

While politicians fight for power, what about the poor? Who fights for them?

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-18560_162-57481907/hard-times-generation-families-living-in-cars/?tag=contentMain;cbsCarousel

[Warpy]

1. One out of four children is in deep poverty

because a handful of ridiculously rich men bought politicians and got the laws rigged to become even more ridiculously rich through robbing the rest of us of wages, property held in common, and the services we depend on.

The past 30+ years have been wholesale robbery of the American people. Calling it anything else is disingenuous.

And that's why so many of our children don't have enough to eat.

[Beacool]

7. I agree.

The problem is that the buying of politicians is something shared by both parties. Who says that they can't be bipartisan?

[Bandit]

58. Not to the same degree though.

I would say 100% of Republicans are owned by the wealthy while only about a third of the Democrats are.. Still combined they make up a force that makes it almost impossible to create effective Legislation..

[Scuba]

48. Bingo.

[Beacool]

63. I've been saying this for a while.

Both major parties are mirror images of each other. They have become so used to being the only two games in town that they can say to their respective bases: where else are you going to go?

Makes me sick.........

[Honeycombe8]

2. Yes, it's sad. But isn't this a rerun? I could swear I'd seen that before. Also the Van Gogh segment

But maybe it was another show.

[DevonRex]

3. Yeah. Nt

[Beacool]

4. No, this is a new segment.

A follow-up to the one they did a few months ago.

[Stinky The Clown]

8. They did a whole segment on the truck kids, but this is just excerpts with lots of new material

The kids are the Metzgers. Since that original story, they both got full scholarships to Stetson University, and other help.

[patrice]

5. The Health Care fight is at least partly for the poor, also all of the young, and middle-&-lower

class elders.

This is why we MUST push toward HR 676 Expanded and Improved Medicare for All.

[Lint Head]

6. There is no real representation in this country. It is so sad how we are lied to about the socalled

American Dream.

[Beacool]

11. I think that the American Dream started dying decades ago.

Globalization and outsourcing has changed the Dream forever, now it's more like an endless nightmare.

[bongbong]

19. Nice phrase

> Globalization and outsourcing has changed the Dream forever, now it's more like an endless nightmare.

Succinct; here's a slightly modded version:

"Republican-led globalization and outsourcing has changed the American Dream to the American Nightmare."

[Oilwellian]

21. I would tweek it just a tad

"Republican/New Democrats-led globalization and outsourcing has changed the American Dream to the American Nightmare."

[Beacool]

23. I don't know, there may have been a bipartisan effort on that one.

[bongbong]

28. Semi-bi-partisan

Dems used to vote, at the peak of New Dealism, for the people perhaps 60% of the time. repigs voted 99.9% for corporations back then.

The Dem number has been gradually whittled down (while the 'pigs has gone from 99.9 to 99.99999999999%)

Nowadays maybe only 10-20% of votes Dems make are for the people. Sad, sad situation.

[SunSeeker]

20. I think it died when Bobby Kennedy was assassinated.

America has been on a downward trajectory every since, starting with the election of Nixon, as the neocons--and big money--took over.

[antigop]

33. Yes, we can thank people like DLC Hillary....

http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/ndtv-exclusive-hillary-clinton-on-fdi-mamata-outsourcing-and-hafiz-saeed-full-transcript-207593

Hillary Clinton: So you are talking about the outsourcing of US jobs to India. We know it's been going on for many years now and it's part of our economic relationship with India and I think there are advantages with it that have certainly benefitted many parts of our country and there are disadvantages that go to the need to improve the job fields of our own people and create a better economic environment so it's like anything like the pluses and minuses.

The advantages are to the corporations and corporate executives, not the working stiffs.

<edit to add> So how long before I'm called a "hater" or saboteur for posting HER OWN WORDS?

Countdown....3...2....1

[antigop]

52. and isn't it amazing how the DLC Hillary supporters are silent about this?

[antigop]

60. crickets n/t

[tex-wyo-dem]

41. The "American Dream" is a myth for....

A majority in this country. The media loves to focus on the anecdotal rags-to-riches stories making it seem like it is common and could happen to anyone. In reality, rags-to-riches is extremely rare...much more common is working-class-to-rags.

[Stinky The Clown]

9. "where you fear both the criminals and the cops"

The mother of that family of five who were down to o e orange and a quarter tank of gas.

[Beacool]

10. Cops routinely harass the homeless.

That happens everywhere. Cops in most towns are always chasing away the homeless. In these tough times shelters' resources are stretched to the limit. Where are the poor supposed to go when the shelters are full?

[Stinky The Clown]

12. In most jurisdictions, vagrancy is a crime

Whee, indeed, are they supposed to go?

[Beacool]

13. Cities don't care.

In my upscale town the cops don't want the homeless to sleep in the train terminal or the parks. It wouldn't do for the yuppies to see them sleeping on the streets.

At least in the US we haven't taken drastic measures like in Brazil. I'm referring to the infamous killing of the street children in Rio some years ago. To add to the horror some of these children were shot while sleeping on church steps.

[KaryninMiami]

14. If you have HBO- try to catch Hard Times on Long Island

As with this 60 Minutes piece, I was blown away - both are harsh reminders for us not to forget what is really going on in this country. Today's piece- as a Floridian was so heartbreaking and as a former Long Islander (grew up there- moved out in 75 to Boston), the HBO piece was beyond jarring. People in their 50's who did everything right-and by the rules. Great and happy childhoods, went to good colleges, some got graduate degrees, got good jobs- teachers, financial services, a chiropractor, company manager, white and blue collar professionals. Bought nice homes on LI, lived really great lives- vacations, etc. Now they are all unemployed- many since the late 90s. About to loose their homes, (or already have), shopping at foodbanks, using foodstamps, trying to get any type of job (one guy got turned down for a Fed Ex delivery truck at the holidays- overqualified). Many a step away from being homeless. Devastating and powerful.

[Beacool]

17. No, I don't have HBO.

I'm already paying over $85 to DirecTV and they wanted $30.00 more for the premium channels. The heck with them!!!

I'm very familiar with FL, I lived there for some time (my mom couldn't handle the cold weather anymore). It's ironic that the county that Disney is in is also one of the poorest in the state.

60 Minutes did another segment some time ago on adults losing everything. Almost every one of them had at the very least a bachelors degree, some even had Masters and a handful had PhDs. It didn't make a bloody difference. Very discouraging.

[onlyadream]

29. I'm from Long Island

And I did see that documentary. It was heart breaking. And the homes were NOTHING extravagant that these people had. Very sad.
Did you catch the end where the young father died from a virus caught from a mouse while cleaning his basement (for the foreclosure)? The poor mother had two kids, one with downs.

[Beacool]

34. Oh, my!!!

How terrible!!! Poor family. I wonder how they made out.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

44. I know people who are living that story

For them, THIS is the Great Depression.

[Sparkly]

15. Absolutely heartbreaking.

It really got me wondering whether the only hope is living off the land in communes to eliminate the profiteer, seriously.

[gael]

16. For Gawd Sakes,

it's Florida, as in "You can lead a horse to water, but you cant make him drink....."

They vote against their best interest, elect officials that stole from the government, accept low wages, and share what the have with charlaton pastors.

How can we help people who wont fight to help their own children?

[JoeyT]

22. You have no idea how any of these people voted.

Your sneering lack of empathy for those less fortunate would do the most right-wing Republican proud.

[gael]

36. Hey JoeyT

atleast I'm not a habitual apologist for ignorant voters

[JoeyT]

42. Well the main problem with Republicans is their lack of empathy.

Something that makes them fine role models, I guess.

Insisting people deserve misfortune because they live in the wrong state is pretty shitty. It's a tactic employed by people like Limbaugh and Beck.

Again, you have no idea how they voted, but don't let that stop you.

[gael]

45. Our forefathers

had little education or assets but they often stood together for the bettermeant of all.

If we only ask for the crumbs, is it because thats all we think we deserve?

[Beacool]

24. You can't judge a whole state like that.

Florida has millions of people and many of them are not conservative. I know, my mom lived there and I still go to FL 2 or 3 times a year.

[gael]

35. Oligarchy

has overtaken our country, it's just that Florida was taken over first because it was a service industry State, with more desparity in income, but hey we're all future Floridians.

[Curmudgeoness]

18. There have not been so many children living in poverty

since the 1960's----if you remember, that is when LBJ and his Great Society/War on Poverty were initiated to help people in poverty. You know, those socialist programs that created the welfare society of today---that the Republicans hate and have been chipping away at.

[reformist2]

25. Stories like this only make rich Republicans cling tighter to their piggybanks.

"So you scream from behind your door
Say what's mine is mine and not yours
I may have too much but I'll take my chances
'Cause God's stopped keeping score." - George Michael

[bvar22]

26. The last time "The Poor" were mentioned as a major Democratic Party Issue in campaign 2008....

...was the day John Edwards dropped out.



You will know them by their WORKS,
not by their rhetoric, promises, or excuses.
[font size=5 color=green]Solidarity99![/font][font size=2 color=green]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------[/center]

[Beacool]

27. It's a shame that he ended up being such a weasel.

Even if he hadn't gotten the nomination, he could have made a difference.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

31. It is curious that Democrats with moral failings are called weasels and thusly

leave politics, but their republican counterparts, with similar failings, ignore calls for their removal or cry on camera while invoking the name of Jesus.

[Beacool]

38. Edwards went far beyond the average "moral failing".

An affair would have been bad enough considering that at the time he was running for president, but he went too far. He cheated on his dying wife, had a child with his kooky lover and then convinced a staffer to assume paternity. Elizabeth deserved better than to die with a broken heart. I repeat, Edwards is a weasel.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

54. Cheated on a wife with cancer. Like Gingrich?

I never mentioned average. I just compared the two parties.

[Beacool]

56. Gingrich is vile.

[R. Daneel Olivaw]

62. And yet he didn't resign for being vile.

I am just comparing how the two parties are different.

We Democrats recognize fault and act accordingly whereas the Republicons see it as a virtue and wear it with pride.

[bvar22]

61. Do you judge Bill Clinton and John Kennedy by the same standard?

My position was the same as most of the Democratic Party on Clinton's Moral Failings.
I don't care what they do behind closed doors.
I am not interested in Marrying them,
and I wouldn't trust any politician with my daughters.
I hire them to fight for the issues that are important to my Working Class ass,
and John Edwards has a pretty good Won/Loss record in that department.

The last time I needed a lawyer to represent me in a Court of Law,
it never occurred to me to check out his personal life.
I didn't care who he slept with, or whether he was faithful to his wife.
I was only interested in his ability to fight for ME.
I feel the same way about the politicians I hire.
I am looking for a Junk Yard DOG, not a "good husband".

When did Democrats change their minds and start judging politicians by their personal lives?
If we apply this new standard across the board,
most of our Democrats will have to be Stoned at the City Gates.

[Bonobo]

40. Maybe so, but our First Lady is "hot"! nt

[Cronkite]

30. I was very impressed with the young lady and her outlook on life.

I also admire her father, he did what he had to do in order to keep the family together. A lessor man would have turned the children over to state custody. I was happy to hear they had found a home TOGETHER and were getting back on their feet.

[Beacool]

32. Yes, that was good to hear.

People can adapt to the worst circumstances and somehow come ahead. The other family was also able to leave their car when they received help and the father got a job.

[coalition_unwilling]

37. We have a country where the six WalMart heirs control as much wealth as the

bottom 30 million Americans.

Stop and let that statistic sink in and then ask yourself when the last time was that the Democratic Party ran against the excessive concentration of wealth.

[reformist2]

39. Just as the age of monarchs ended, so will the age of tycoons.

It took a long time before people could admit that their king was not anointed by God to rule over them. I think we will soon come to the realization that billionaires should not rule over us either.

[coalition_unwilling]

46. Or that people should not enjoy a life of privilege merely by virtue

of winning the sperm lottery (inheritance).

[Major Hogwash]

43. Where are the jobs, Mr. Boehnor?

That's the question that has to be asked every day until the election.

The GOP party turned their backs on Americans.

[LeftTurnOnly]

47. I watched it.

Brought tears to my eyes:'(
But the bit on Van Gogh was pretty neat.

[Beacool]

50. Yeah, pretty depressing stuff.

I think that most of us see these families and think, what if? What if I lose my job? What if someone in the family has a serious illness?

It's so easy to go from middle class or working class to abject poverty. It may take some people longer than others depending on their safety net, but what would happen to all of us if our source of income dries up?

Scary.......

P.S. The Van Gogh segment was very interesting. I love the Impressionists. The best collection of their work is at the musée d'Orsay in Paris. I enjoyed that museum more than the Louvre.

[Starry Messenger]

49. marking to watch later.

Rec.

[Beacool]

51. Thank you.

[antigop]

53. Why don't Hillary supporters hold her accountable for her statements on outsourcing? (Post #33).

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1043884

[antigop]

55. tapping foot....still waiting. n/t

[aikoaiko]

57. Statistics like "1 out of 4 children in poverty" show me how out of touch I am with reality

Granted all my friends work for the same organization where we get a steady average paycheck (albeit one that is harder to stretch each year).

One out of four is just an amazingly high percentage.

[Beacool]

59. Yes, that's almost 25% of all children.

Also, more people are on food stamps than at any time since the program was established.

Very depressing times......