FirstLight

FirstLight's Journal

November 15, 2013

80% of the US Population is at or below the POVERTY line - WHY is this NOT a National Emergency???

After this thread yesterday regarding food insecurity and food stamp cuts: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024033339

I come across this article today posted by a friend on FB: http://politicalblindspot.com/us-poor/

If you live in the United States, there is a good chance that you are now living in poverty or near poverty. Nearly 50 million Americans, (49.7 Million), are living below the poverty line, with 80% of the entire U.S. population living near poverty or below it.

That near poverty statistic is perhaps more startling than the 50 million Americans below the poverty line, because it translates to a full 80% of the population struggling with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on government assistance to help make ends meet.

In September, the Associated Press pointed to survey data that told of an increasingly widening gap between rich and poor, as well as the loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs that used to provide opportunities for the “Working Class” to explain an increasing trend towards poverty in the U.S.

THIS is where I get pissed... WTH is going on when this issue is not seen as a FUCKING Emergency?

Congress and our POTUS are BOTH responsible for the blind eye to what is happening in this country. For years now I have fluxuated between hope and despair, between thinking it is MY fault and that the Fat Cats have us under their heel... I am SICK that my children may never see college, or a real job in their LIFETIME...I am sick that I may never be off assistance even IF i finish my damn degree and put myself more into debt to do so...I am LIVID that nobody in leadership has done a DAMN thing to make US the priority. They are all so FUCKING disconnected, they have NO idea what it is like to struggle daily for YEARS with no end in sight. My parents don't understand how I can be so destitute and my sister can be so well off (but they are living on credit and *so* close to the edge too)...but my parents don't understand this is NOT the world they were able to work and buy a house and pay dr bills and be middle class in.

We have got to stop blaming just one party or just one branch of Govt...and really we should stop blaming just one administration...and really blame gets us nowhere. Personally I'd like to wrap my hands around the throats of those Wall St fuckwads and then pick their pockets.

What will it take? Will we have to reach critical mass and be on the brink of starvation before we 'storm the bastille'...?
I don't know, but I know my rage is getting there ...

Profile Information

Gender: Female
Hometown: CA
Home country: usa
Current location: sierras
Member since: Wed Jan 23, 2008, 04:23 AM
Number of posts: 13,360