By Moni Basu, CNN
(CNN) The Census Bureau released a depressing statistic Thursday: 46.2 million people in America fell below the poverty line last year. One in five children are poor.
What does it feel like to live in poverty?
Writer John Scalzi knows.
He remembers a Southern California childhood marred by a broken family. His mother put her two children in the back of the car and drove away from the home they’d known.
She bought a box of Raisin Bran and warned her children: “That has to last.”
John Scalzi's essay on poverty was based on his own experiences.
Scalzi, 43, was in the first grade then.
Years later, the Raisin Bran memory became a line in an essay called “Being Poor.” He wrote it in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when so many asked why the poor of New Orleans had not fled their drowned city.
It occurred to him then that wealthier Americans did not understand that the poor do not always have the luxury of choice.
But he knew.
He was the kid who wore the cheap shoes from Lucky Drug Store – the ones with the glued-on soles. He could feel them come off on the playground.
He was the kid who discovered letters from his mom to his dad begging for child support and the kid hoping he would get invited to a friend’s for dinner. He once stole a piece of meat from Ralph’s supermarket, fried it up and cleaned the plate before Mom came home. He then told her she didn’t have to make any dinner because he wasn’t hungry anyway.
Here are a few other ways Scalzi measured poverty:
Being poor is getting angry at your kids for asking for all the crap they see on TV.
Being poor is going to the restroom before you get in the school lunch line so your friends will be ahead of you and won’t hear you say “I get free lunch” when you get to the cashier.
Being poor is living next to the freeway.
Being poor is a heater in only one room of the house.
Being poor is hoping your kids don’t have a growth spurt.
Being poor is Goodwill underwear.
Being poor is thinking $8 an hour is a really good deal.
Being poor is stopping the car to take a lamp from a stranger’s trash.
Being poor is making lunch for your kid when a cockroach skitters over the bread, and you looking over to see if your kid saw.
Being poor is a sidewalk with lots of brown glass on it.
Being poor is picking the 10 cent ramen instead of the 12 cent ramen because that’s two extra packages for every dollar.
Read Scalzi’s full essay here.
What defines you? Maybe it’s the shade of your skin, the place you grew up, the accent in your words, the make up of your family, the gender you were born with, the intimate relationships you chose to have or your generation? As the American identity changes we will be there to report it. In America is a venue for creative and timely sharing of news that explores who we are. Reach us at inamerica@cnn.com.
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Being 30 with nothing better to do than blog with older dudes is not my idea of LIFE. Just another guy with a job another MR.
I was born in 1925 and at age three I had Polio.Things at that time were very tough. With my father making less than $30.00 dollars a week he and my mother had to find a way to pay all the bills and get me to the hospital three times a week for therapy. I know how today's citizens are battling to survive. I think it is about time the country stops importing all the things they do. Lets stop all the importing that we do and put our Citizens back to work. If we can't make it here then import it. Otherwise make it here. Check where it was made before buying.
You are exactly right but the rich will not let us do that. They want us to protect the 90% of the money they have and the best way to do that is buy stuff from China.
A bit late for that. Most domestic manufacturing has long since shuttered their doors. Thousands of new industries would have to spring up overnight to make everything we buy. And we'd all pay 2-3x more, which struggling Americans can't afford. This is what trade agreements have gotten us. Lower wages and poorly paying jobs with no benefits in exchange for $20 MP3 players and iPhones.
Most of the "poor" in this nation would be considered "rich" in others.
So they have it great don't they, why don't you give up all your stuff sell it to the poor and go to one of those 'truly' poor countries
I was thinking the same thing. It's all perspective. Someone with out a TV, with out a car, living in a shelter would say they are poor. At the same time someone with basic cable, a car, and living in an apartment would say they are poor as well. The first person would love to be in the second person's shoes.
And your point is?
A sour-tasting article. The writer seems to be giving an undeserved comical-spin to his reams and reams of lists of examples of what being poor is defined by. I would have thought he would have had more taste and respect for what he has been through......instead it seems to have warped him.
I find blaming the obesity of poor people on the fact that food from places like McDonald's is inexpensive ridiculous. One might eat cheaply from the dollar menu, but you won't get fat or stay fat by eating reasonable amounts of food, whether it's a burger or a salad. They are still consuming too much food. If they ate less from the dollar menu, they'd lose weight and have more money to spend on other things, albeit not much more money. And, while they might not be healthy from consuming fast food from the dollar menu, they would not be as overweight.
Take it from educated America. Eating a greater percentage of processed food with limited options exercise (congested urban areas) will lead to obesity as well as diabetes, high blood pressure and myriad other chronic conditions. It's a proven fact. You don't have to overeat – just have limited options for fresh food.
It's nice to live down the street from a full-service grocery store or farmer's market...
Processed foods in this country are cheap and either fat-ridden or carb heavy or both. That is why the poor have obesity problems and diabetes problems. Cheap processed foods are killing this country's health. You see many fat rich women? There's a nutritional reason you don't, and it isn't based on how much food; it's based on what kind of food. In Michael Pollan's Food Rules, he cautions: "Eats plants and more of them." Ever checked out the difference between fresh veggies and a box of mac and cheese both on calorie count, carb content, and price? Try it.
We need Mitt Romney more than eve. We need a leader. We need someone to help us get out this desert that we have wandering in the past 31/2 years. As it turns out Obama was not the annointed one afterall.
Romney spits on the poor and the hardworking. Everything he's had in life was given to him on a silver platter. He is not the leader we need right now.
Hey according to mitt all these people are just lazy. How can you blame obama for the fact that these people are just leeches laying about milking welfare programs?
On one hand people who are struggling to get by are just expecting handouts, on the other hand it's obama's fault that there isn't enough jobs. Make up your minds, you can't have both.
No one said he was. Not even Obama. He's just a man that asked people to come together to help fix the giant GOP mess. All we have seen is the GOP standing by the side lines dragging us down to get rid of the troublesome magical black man. If he can make the few changes with no help imagine if the country pulled together just to lift us up and get it back on track. Then the rich can go back to raping the middle class & we'll look the other way, the American way.
What an odd statement. The original article on which this post is based was published in 2005, long before Obama became President. I guess there were no poor in America four years ago. Huh. Tell that to the author who is an adult writing about his childhood experiences.
Geez, even with free education, free inoculations, free breakfasts for school kids, free lunches for school kids, free healthcare for kids (at least in California), free emergency medical treatment, free women's clinics, Section 8 housing, food stamps, the WIC program, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, credits for having more kids, a heavily welfarized Social Security program, unemployment insurance, disability insurance, etc., etc., etc., people still can't feed themselves with all of those handouts? So the War on Poverty, to the tune of $1 trillion a year, is a big fat failure. What's our exit strategy for the failed War on Poverty?
No exit startegy, the DEms are dug in. Remember, its for the children! (How come it is always about the children, unless you are a school teacher on strike?).
The bottom line is simple and cannot be refuted.
Until the rich start doing 90% of the work_for the 90% of the money they have then I say tax the hell out of them by making them pay for all of the government including healthcare. They will only be taking care of the work force that lines their pockets.
They use republicans to divide us so we don't focus on how they take all the money.
So in your eyes a Fast food worker is equivilant to a Doctor. You want to move upt he chain then work harder.
Nope. Doctors do and should make more money. If they are in the top 10% then they should also pay for our government and healthcare.
The Rich already ARE paying the majority of taxes. And you want more? That is not the solution. More jobs is the solution. Too many educated, skilled people are out of work because we don't have jobs......and there are too many educated, skilled workers who are under employed. Bringing back jobs from China isn't going to solve that problem.
It's not about job training and education, it's about JOBS. Not the crappy ones we'd bring back from China, although that would help. It's about energizing our economy in a way where those skilled people will find work they are suited for.
And that won't be achieved by job training and education.
Obama wants job training and education; Romney wants jobs, and he knows how to create them. The hurdle he has to jump over is getting America to support American produced energy to begin with.
Creating jobs NOW is a short-tem solution to eradicating poverty. Sure it will provide those currently educated with a means to support themselves, but it does not fix the problem of the continuing generational poor living off government subsidies.
A more effective solution is to get at the root of the problem and address famiy issues that perpetuate that proportion of the poor who make a living out of government hand-outs. That requires education at all levels -both parents and child. It also requires job creation to employ those who do get an education. Certainly no easy task, but more effective than the band-aid hand out solution being used in welfare.
Your exit strategy is investment in education and jobs. You don't get jobs without a trained workforce. One way or the other you are going to have to subsidize the population. You want out of your war on poverty, you're going to have to pay for it!
What better example of American ingenuity is there than our Apollo 11 astronauts: Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong. Both public school educated. It's a good investment!
Your exit strategy should also include programs in effective and responsible parenting, as well as family planning. A child raised in an environment that does not value education, with poor adult role models, will be less likely to get that education they need to escape poverty. This starts at the grade school level – not at the tail end where you get kids into college that are not prepared for it, who subsequently drop out.
I watched my brother stretch a dollar like it was made of rubber. Wife is a teacher and he does a mixture of jobs (weekend post office runs, real eastate, remodeling, electrical work, etc...) They own a $300,000 house in in Colorado and is putting two kids through college. Doing all that on about $100,00 a year. It can be done if you quit whining and get your A$$ to work.
Yes it is their intent to keep people poor and stupid. That way you are forced to work in their factories and fast food chains for minimum wage while they make millions.
It's simple logic. Everything is about profit.
"Forced to work at fast food"? Sounds like an unambitious person that is not going to make it anyway.
You have not seen what I have seen. I work two jobs and go to college and spend NOTHING in excess and still worry that I'll be homeless soon...
And i'm a great deal better off then most in my area.
The sound of silence coming from liberals is due to them....not taking responsibility for expanding poverty at a break neck pace.....WAY TO GO LIBERALS....
Absolutely. Bush created their situation in 8 years, so if Obama can't save them all in 4, hes like, such a jerk!
That thurr is some good t-bag math yep.
How, in the name of God, can you blame poverty on liberals. We are the ones that fight for Social Security, food stamps, decent wages, birth control, and educational opportunity. We oppose jobs being outsourced, Wall Street greed and tax cuts for the rich. It is the Republican conservatives that spread poverty across this country and revel in the consequences The Republicans and their Tea Party masters have a lot to answer for. Just listen to Romney and be ashamed.
the last time I look, it is Bush & his cohorts rePUBICan that crashed the economy. The already rich made more money in mortgage scams and the middle class get foreclosed on! There is not redistribution of wealth there! I actually dont understand where that terms come from, because if rich folks pay more in taxes will all that money go to poor people or does it go to pay off the deficit that Bush ran up (in a supposedly good economy)!.
This is so sad to read in this of 2012. They need work!!!!!!!!! This is why I am voting Romney to get dignity back to the people.
Romney is going to tax them to give tax breaks to the rich, who then pocket all of that money instead of creating jobs.
Then he will deny the healthcare.
How is that helping?
Helping? You sould like that is what has happend. NO, what is GOING to happen is he is going to improve the economy and these people are going to get their butts back to work.
No wealthy choose to be poor. All poor who have become wealthy choose this. MR doesn't know what choosing to be not poor requires. He and his family have even been hungry let alone starving. MR believes what he says because we the people and he have nothing in common.
I remember when i was 8 my sister would always get the fries at McDonalds with her cheeseburger w/ no onions and i remember being mad at her for going w the extra fries. I never asked for them. My mother was divorced and it was 1978 in suburbs of Midwest. We had all we needed becuase my Grandparents moved in this big 5 bedroom house- but then my Mom put us in the Toyota Corrola and hit the road things changed in my mind. My mother was a Law Librarian-
But she would always dress us up on "alligator" shirts. I still remember when after soccer practice at the pizza place- some kid asked me why i always wore those stupid alligator shirts. I guess i wasnt poor . But something felt wrong becuase with my Mother- you could feel the shallowness of her change purse. There was never anything in it. still she insisted that we go to Catholic schools (grandparents probably paid) but i guess i made out well. I am a builder of homes. Last year i made nothing- but paid my wife so far this year 25 k. We put our kids in private catholic schools- we just drive 10 year old cars. why tell you this? Becuase sometimes you can cheat poor. Sometimes like on christmass or that fist date or the trip to the zoo- your not poor. Being in the ocean on a summer day is not poor- its just wet. Being at the mall with friends is poor.
What an incredible life you must have that trolling like a punk or pre-teenage girl is actually enjoyable to you!?
!!!!!GOLD STAR POST!!!! Perhaps your first hand experience will set them FREE! Spread your word, it's a powerful statement!
HERE I AM! "WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS MESS"? Oh, is that a question or statement? Republicans. That is where your anger should be directed. They were in power when the financial meltdown occurred, and had control of House, Senate AND Executive for 6 years straight before our economy imploded. Since several years ago, a Republican House has voted against all legislation that would help our country. Your anger is like a man screaming at a chair that he fell out of. The chair was helping you out, supporting you (Obama). Gravity is the one you should be mad at (GOP).
Imagine a liberal lying. Democrats held both houses from 2006 until the GOP took back 1/2 in the last election. Do some research before spouting off false lies. As far as who's fault is it, both parties are at fault. Haven't any of you figured out that it doesn't matter which party is in office we all get just as screwed either way.
Today him and his mom would be living in subsidized housing (heat and utilities included), on food stamps, WIC, Medicaid, and have a free cell phone with 250 free minutes a month. They would be getting several hundred $$ per month in cash from some program, probably TANF. The value of all their "benefits" could total $20,000 – $28,000 per year. All without lifting a finger, except to sign up for the programs. That's the American version of "poor".
When are you knuckleheads going to figure this out. I was poor for my entire childhood, from Reagan to Clinton. You can't pin any of this on any one politician. It's us. It's the American people not giving a damn about each other as long as they can blame someone else. It's the sad rationale that "it's not my problem to care for my neighbors". You all make me sad, seriously. Is that what we are now? The "your problem, you deal with it" crowd?
You all should be ashamed of yourselves. All of you.
Part of the problem is don't have to worry about my neighbor, the government does it for me.
Regardless of political view at the end of the day you have to work hard to make it in this life. Be a decent person and understand that no one will take care of you like you will. You don't have to stab every back on the way through life, but be there when your shift starts.
Well stated, Michael.
while I agree it takes hard work to make it, I also think it's foolish to think that all 46 million of these people are just lazy or don't show up to their shifts.
Thank you.
Well, it finally happened. On the verge of completing five weeks of school (1/8 of the school year or 12.5%), we’re outside in a temp, all thirty-one of us including myself. Backpacks on the floor, hoodies hung on hooks, stacks of books inside of each desk.
My students were simply designing a poster to describe a component of science that we’ll eventually measure using the metric system. The metric what?
“Mr. Bruglia, there’s a roach.”
“So what,” I replied. “I see them all the time.”
“You do,” the young female student with legs covered with bed bug bites asked back.
“Yeah, I just kill them. Don’t like them much. Get into everything,” I tell myself aloud.
I slowly tear a piece of paper towel from extra lab supplies I purchased the previous week and walk over to the wall, hoping it doesn’t crawl into the ceiling tiles (I have to eat my lunch at my desk soon), and crush it folding the paper towel thirty or forty times. Maybe it was fifty times. All gone. Whew!
“Get back to work,” I tell the trio of female students.
I walk over to my desk and pick my computer bag and briefcase up from off the floor and place them on the desk.
I had my carpets cleaned today and talked to the carpet cleaner "manager" who was cleaning my carpets and learned his does not make enough to cover basic needs and so gets government help. Because he is a manager, he also knows the books and said, "if my boss could give me what he pays the government in my behalf (liability insurance, workmen's comp. etc), he said, I could afford to pay my own bills. So much for the government-they spend so much time protecting the workers, there is more poverty then there needs to be-and how many goverment employees are paid with the money that worker could have in his own pocket?
Karen, did it occur to you that he doesn't make enough money because the owner of the company doesn't pay his workers a living wage? Did you think that maybe some of that money that you feel shouldn't go to the government needs to go to the government because there are so many people that the 'job creators' won't hire with their increasing income. Finally, consider this as well: the Republicans want to do away with minimum wage as well. Then the owners of the company he works for can lower his pay even further because he has no protection.
Where did you hear that Republicans want to eliminate minimum wage?
Sounds like a sucky manager. Sure,we'd all be rolling in the dough if social security, medicare and all that didn't come out of our checks.
And what makes you think his boss would pay him all that if the government didn't make him provide all those things? More likely, he just wouldn't have them, either.
The top 10% are destroying this country.
What do you mean "are"", you are way, way too late on this one pall, it was long over when Dub was elected. History, baby.
No.
soon Amerika will be just like Mexico, 1% rules; 10% protects and insulates rulers; 89% are cartel foder-peasants. Look for the Cartel in a city near you!!
You are EXACTLY right.
I do agree that is the path we are heading down.
I think the numbers can be higher Obama 2012!
Perhaps if the 1% wouldn't have taken all of those tax breaks they got for 8+ years under W and used them to fuel their own bank accounts and lifestyles, instead of creating jobs like they were supposed to, that number of poor would probably be half of what it is right now.
But thats conservative math for you. Dubya took 8 years to destroy the economy, so naturally Obama should have been able to recover everything in 4 years. Oh? He didnt? Well, put another conservative flunky in, with the same policies as Bush. Now that will get American back on track!
is everyone in the GOP really that dense?!! Someone explain to me how that makes any sense????
Come on JT watcha talkin'bout???
I'm a single guy with a roommate making 57k per year in a suburb of NYC. I am basically living pay check to pay check. I don't know how normal people survive. The average family makes 55k per year and the average person makes 35k per year.
Ha. Same boat. Single guy, live in a studio, $50K a year, no car... not only paycheck to paycheck but fairly deep in debt. I take care of my girlfriend and we have a fairly high entertainment budget, but still.
I have no idea how a family survives on $35K etc. No idea.
I dont quite understand how 50K a year cannot be enough for a single? lets pretend your rent is 1000/month that 12000...
38k left. lets subtract another 3600 for food a year if that works.
thats another 34400 left... what else to subtract so that 50k a year isnt enough?
57k a year should be enough, shouldn't it? However I know what you mean....I make 56k and in the same boat. I have a mortgage and was a single mom....my son is now 26 and moving home because he can't find a job.
The problem is not that we need education and job training, we need JOBS. Good jobs. Not the jobs that are going to China.
So many sad tales here and I only have the one violin to play a sad song.....
If that is sarcasm directed to the working poor, God have mercy on your soul.
Yes there are a lot of sad stories, it is almost hard to believe them and impossible to relate if you have never been poor. I have. My mother worked 7 days a week and my father worked for minimum wage. We never took a vacation as a family, but we never missed church on Sundays. We only had one chair and a bench at the dinner table. We were 8 of us in total. I hated being poor, but I never complained. Yes, I was embarressed in school and never brought my friends home. The place was infested with coach roaches. We were poor, but honest hard working people. I joined the military 10 days after graduation. I remember my mother telling me that my suffering was over. My own bed, plenty to eat and I was getting an education. My two younger brothers joined after I did and served this country with honor. Out of 8 kids, 4 of us have college degrees and the others obtained technical schooling all paid for with no help other than the G.I. Bill. I am the proud father of 3 kids that all graduated from college with no loans, scholarships, or government help. My wife and I have a net worth of close to $1.6M, but we've never forgotten our roots, where we came from. !st generation Americans, working as migrant workers to achieve the American dream. The 47% out there just need a little help and time to make it; no one wants to be poor, but that is life and you cannot change it overnight. I never wanted pity from anyone, just understanding and respect. The rest, well I earned it!
That says it.
if you can't afford kids, don't have any
Yeah,,,, except some of those in the 47% Romney was talking about know "Uncle Sam" will pick up the tab. Thanks for that Democrats.
"VET"? You do know military servicemen are also part of that "47%", right? Along with retired seniors, children, and people that work full time jobs but don't make enough money to pay taxes.
Pk he is working and can't make a living. It's wrong. We need a living wage. If a person has a job, works hard, works full time, it should be enough to join the middle class, and expect better for your children.
THANK YOU! that's what is wrong with this country...the birthrate is out of control...poor people who can't even support themselves think that bringing another person into this world won't be worse?? Not that I think only "well off" people should have kids, but the 47% poor population has an average of 3 kids per birth mother...and who pays for them?? the other 53%...sad really...I would NEVER bring a child into this world if I couldn't fully support them and my family...wish more people thought this way...
"...depressing statistic" for who? The democrats love these kind of numbers. It means more power for them. They ultimately would desire everyone to grovel at big govmnts doorstep.
No, actually all they really want is for people to be paid enough to live on. What difference does it make that Walmart can sell a $3 T-shirt if no one has three bucks in their pocket?
I have a laundry basket just like his!
I was poor for through most of my 20s:
- living off nothing but flour and water, and one piece of fruit per day (did this for 6 weeks once until I found out where the homeless ate)
- going to the bar with your friends and having only water
- not being able to afford coffee
- not being able to afford anything other than ramen and a few pieces of fruit
- not being able to travel across town because you cant afford mass transit
- when you go to a restaurant with friends ordering the cheapest appetizer (and savoring any leavings your friends might offer)
- perpetually having to live with roommates (actually, Im quite OK with this)
- material possessions? Dont even think about it. Everything you own is seconhand (which doesnt have to be a bad thing)
- I remember getting a job where I made $6\hr after years of $4\hr and I felt like a prince.
- Not having insurance and not being able to schedule an appointment at the free clinic because the homeless took precedence.
A few years later I went to India and saw real poverty and I learned I had it good even in the worst of times.
Yeah, I would want to hang out with such a depressing soul sucker. He probably leached off his friends until they got sick of him.
I dont know why you would want to make such an awful comment.
Yeah, I wouldnt want to hang out with such a depressing soul sucker. He probably leached off his friends until they got sick of him.
One of these days you will be eating your own words. Let's hope it does not happen, but from your own mouth you have cursed yourself.
Class war is OVER and the rich won! ...news at 11
This Obama goal. He want change America? You got it.
Obama made america better...with sarah failin and mcpain, the CHANGE would have been much much worse than bush.
Food stamps have doubled, not because the Dems want everyone to be poor but because there are no jobs that pay a living wage to be had in this country. They were all shipped to China by Romney and pals.
oooo crystal ball I see!
Absolutely correct.
Me want change Amerika, too!
GREAT JOB OBAMA. You failed. Give someone else a chance.
Actually, he succeeded. He loves seeing these people on the dole.
John"s definition of poor is pretty dramatic. I don't think he really knows what being poor is if you can drive around picking up "antiques" in your poormobile. I grew up in the slums of the lower east side of Manhattan. We had no heat in the winter sometimes and roaches were everywhere. My sister and I made a game of killing roaches and keeping score. We would turn off the lights for a few minutes and then turn them on again to kill the roaches when they came out in the dark. We saw huge rats run across our living room while sitting on the sofa. Our clothes came from John" Bargain Stores on Delancey Street. Despite all these disadvantages, we never thought of ourselves as being poor. We worked hard and slowly improved our situation. Stop thinking you had things so bad John.
Seriously your response to this man's essay is just dumb. Poverty is the theme of the article and how it affects all of society one way or another. Only fools like you think that we should all just shut up and take it; or say stupid things to usurp this man's experience. We all have experiences and they should be respected. Think about it before you tell someone to get a life. And before you critique me on my username...yes I'm a combat vet (Iraq) but I'm sure you're a combat vet too, that probably saw more combat than anyone after you;;that's the type of person you are:, I grew up poor, and can relate to this article, but I'm not going to get on a soap box like you and slam someone for writing about what kids and families go through in America. Look deep into yourself sir.
Probably collecting a little disability, using the VA, getting your monthly, yeah you hate government.
Obama is not poor and never was as an adult..............
Wow!
The Obama regime has been pumping money into banks and corporations
since 2009.............tell us something new CNN.
Tell us that the poor are the voting pawns for Obama...OR something
truthful like that!
"...one in 5 children ARE poor." Really, professional writer/editor?! How about, "...one in 5 children IS poor." sheesh.
verb tense is based on the subject. The subject of that sentence is children. children is plural. Thus, the verb must be plural as well.
sheeesh
sorry, but you're wrong. the subject of that sentence is "one" which is singular. "children" is the subject of the prepositional phrase.
double dog sheesh
I haven't been in a grammar class in about 25 years, but "One" is the subject. The "in five children" is a prepositional phrase describing the subject. If he would have said "Twenty in 100 children are poor", that he would have written it correctly. I also prefer milk chocolate to dark chocolate, but who cares?
'One in five children live in poverty' Thank you, 'I don't need no man' and 'No Fault Divorce', the main contributors to these statistics. But, I guess the PC police will rip me apart for the truth...
I make 3x what you do. I would never be rude to somebody like that. You are sad.
And now people who couldn't afford health insurance before have to pay for it whether they get coverage or not. Obamacare steals from the poor and middle class.
The bottom line is simple and cannot be refuted.
Until the rich start doing 90% of the work for the 90% of the money they have then I say tax the hell out of them by making them pay for all of the government including healthcare. They will only be taking care of the work force that lines their pockets.
They use republicans to divide_us so we don't focus on how they take all the money.
How about we tax the hell out of you.. Lets take 90 % of what you make and just give it away.
FourleafTayback, the bottom line is you are a Nazi living in a proudly Deomocratic country with an economy with mixed capitalist and socialist traits. You aren't going to change that (and you didn't build that). Learn some compassion, grow a heart, and stop feeling superior to others. You aren't. And you are hereby BANNED from voting until further notice. If you don't like it, go back to the Third Reich.
Steals? In return for thier money, they get healthcare.
Stealing would be more like increasing taxes on the poor, so the rich can have more money, and then hiding that money in off shore accounts so it can't be taxed, and if it can't be taxed it can't help people. Thats stealing
Every single person in that picture is fat and overweight. Doesn't look like they are starving that is for sure.
You wingnuts scare me. It's like one big conspiracy theory of half-baked ideas and full-baked lies. "Pay for insurance but don't get coverage?" lol...
Actually, if you bothered to read "Obamacare" (which started out as RomneyCare in Massachusetts, incidentally), you would see that there is an exception to those whose premiums would exceed 8% of their annual income, which means most of those below the poverty line. Nice try, though. I guess little things like "truth" and "facts" never get in the way of you goose-stepping Republicans....
If you hate that your jobs are shipped overseas stop buying products made from overseas. This will bring jobs back fast.
They will simply make the parts in China and assemble them here. We have to get legislation on the books that forces the trade imbalances to end.
voting for romney wont fix this problem. it is his kind that has caused this problem.
You can hope and be an MR or you can change and not have BO. Quite a victim I feel like today faved with the freedom of choice.
Poor people are disgusting trolls, keep them away from me! Are there no work houses? are there no orphanages?
Spoken like a true rich m0fo. It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.
riordan is a poor soul, whom really needs help
People, read a book! That was sarcasm-in the form of a quote from Ebenezer Scrooge.
- Being poor is wearing hand-me-downs from all the older girls in the neighborhood
- Being poor is having to borrow your mom's shoes to wear to school because yours have a hole in the sole
- Being poor is waiting for Grandpa to bring some meat from the abandoned lockers that hunters rent to store their deer from the fall hunting season
- Being poor is knowing you can't go out for cheerleading, band, pep club or anything that costs money because you know there isn't any
- Being poor is having to make valentines from scraps of reused wrapping paper because there isn't any money to buy store-bought valentines
By the way, 70k is not a lot of money. Are we supposed to be impressed?
Exactly 70K is not a lot. I would never be rude to someone like that.
All depends on where you live. Where I live, 70k, is a lot. You can go out to eat at nice places for $50, not $200 like NYC. You can get a nice house in a good neighborhood for 90-110k, not 800k. Property tax is $100 a month, not $1000.
Romney would tell the poor just to get a job. Since so many jobs require applying on-line, we'd need the poor to have Internet and computer access. If they are homeless, that's not likely. If they get to a local library to apply for a job, and they are homeless, just what will they list as their address? Home phone? Cell phone? If they actually get a job and they are homeless, who will do their child care while they go to work? Will they have gas money to even get to work? ... just wondering how one gets out of poverty with all the "advice" the GOP has!
And Obama would just say collect govt. assistance and we won't ask you if you are looking for a job. Hardly a solution.
The flaw in your theory and one the Romney and other Republicans have rooted in our being is that if you are homeless your attempts work your way out of homelessness do not begin with traditional methods of obtaining a job as you have mentioned. Instead you will be starting in labor pools, odd jobs, possibly sitting outside of the local box contractor store at 5AM waiting for people to hire you for $30-$40 cash a day. WORKING 7-days a week, buying ZERO cigarettes or alcohol, Zero drugs, eating $1 menu, and SAVING the rest. Every penny goes towards the next step in the process. That is when you may progress to the library/free internet connection and begin posting on CL in hopes of getting TWO JOBS and continue to work 60-90 hours weekly........Until you get to the next level.....and so on. It's possible and self reliant people do it every day.
Many public libraries as well as state employment agencies provide job finding services. There are missions, churches and other organizations that help homeless people with housing. There are government programs which give people cell phones. There are public transportation systems if you don't have a car. There are solutions to every single excuse you laid out. Maybe it won't be a glamorous job, but it is a start. Even people who come to the U.S. with literally nothing–no money, no home, find ways to succeed.
I wasn't raised in this country and I didn't realize that my childhood would qualify as poor but looking at the examples in this articles, it does seem to be the case.
Being poor means when your school uniform trousers are ripped in the backside, you didn't get a new one. Instead your mom fixed it with an awful looking patch that attracts all the attention to your butt !!
Being poor means that your dad makes you dig a stick into a giant, muddy puddle of water for 30 minutes to find the missing flip flop you lost in the puddle.
The bottom line is simple and cannot be refuted.
Until the rich start doing 90% of the work for the 90% of the money they have then I say tax the hell out of them by making them pay for all of the government including healthcare. They will only be taking care of the work force that lines their pockets.
They_use republicans to divide us so we don't focus on how they take all the money.
Reading this and overlaying Romney's disdain for the poor is chilling. Romney's platform is to create more poor people. His position on rape – forcing any pregnant woman or girl (yes, girls can get pregnant as young as 5th grade these days) to have babies even if they pregnancy is due to rape or incest – will create more and more poverty. More people Romney himself loathes. So, these girls/women are forced to have babies they have no ability to care for, a GOP led society will refuse to assist them ... we now have poor women, poor children – who will grow up uneducated and poor and hmmmm, perhaps resort to crime ... I do not understand or support the GOP agenda at all. They have passed zero jobs bills. Just yesterday they BLOCKED a bill to help our military members coming home to find jobs. The GOP is firmly aligned with the very few uber-rich in this country and they gladly steal from the poor and middle class to continue to line their own pockets. More than ever – I want to know what Mitt is hiding in those tax returns he refuses to produce.
Rob, wouldnt you say its in the best interest of the Democratic Party to maintain more poor people after all they classify themselves as the party of the poor and if everyone got reach then wouldnt they vote Republican and the Democrats would lose there voter base.
And for the GOP voting down the bill to help vets find jobs how about the Dems, lead by Pelosi, to not approve budget so there would have been time when we couldn't pay the military. How about you tell the men and women in the military and on deployment that their families back home may not get money because the Democrats in Congress are too busy and stubborn to care about them.
It really doesn't help you come across as having a credible argument when you start out with such a ridiculous lie. Romney has repeatedly stated that he does agree that abortion should be legal in cases of rape and incest.
Rob, we know that one man running for President cares about these issues, and one of them just talks about it. Just like Romney says he wants to promote a 2-state solution in the Middle East, but tells his rich donors that it will never happen. He talks about cutting taxes more, enriching the rich, the 'job creators' in order to create jobs. We've tried this before, it doesn't work. Recent studies have shown that the poor get poorer when the rich get richer.
What a change. Thank Obama. More 4 years and another 50mil. OOOOeeeee. it's call forward.
Name one thing the GOP has done or plans to do to change this... seriously.... the GOP controls the House. The House is the only body that can introduce legislation to make any changes – WHAT HAVE THEY DONE?
Er...you miss the part where all the jobs lost and economic crash happened while GW and the Republicans were in office?
No, but YOU apparently did miss the part how the Democrats were in charge of Congress when the economy tanked in 2008, not the Republicans. The Dems had been there since January of 2007.
So...you are proposing an entire economic collapse of a country can occur instantly, overnight and is not a prolonged process of years of mismanagement and poor regulation? So basically the Dems took office and that night the economy exploded before they got home from work and before they passed any legislation?
The Dems took over in January of 2007. The collapse happened in 2008. That is hardly 'overnight.'
This is where globalization and corporate control of our government has led us. Doesn't matter if you are Republican or Democrat...when lobbyists from the rich write the legislation for your country and your elected leaders simply rubber-stamp it, be prepared for 3rd world conditions in your country.
The bottom line is simple and cannot be refuted.
Until the rich start doing 90% of the work for the 90% of the money they have then I say tax the hell out of them by making them pay for all of the government including healthcare. They will only be taking care of the work force that lines their pockets.
They use_republicans to divide us so we don't focus on how they take all the money.
Outstanding comment
Saboth, if everyone in America knew and understood your comment we would change the world!
Want to find blame.. I do.. So, look in your garage, is the car, or cars foreign. ? If they are you put about ten Americans out of work for a whole year on that one purchase... Look in your closet, are most of those designer clothes from China, then blame yourself.. Check out the kitchen, are most pots, pans , silverware, plates and utensils from China.. Then you can blame yourself.. Do you shop at Walmart ? Then blame yourself.. This is what has driven out economy to the ground folks.. Don't blame the president... Blame yourself... I know, you need to save money.. Really, at the expense of your country ?
Sorry – wrong. That view is ultra simplistic, one-dimensional and the facts and figures do not support it. Policy, Government, Wall Street and the massive Redistribution of Wealth to the rich are the main elements to Blame. Human behavior at it's worst is to blame, NOT buying superior products on an open market. Government and legislation are For Sale and the wealthiest Americans have installed their own agenda.
This allowed them to then behave as they liked, kids in candy store, on Wall Street and elsewhere to make Billions and Billions for themselves in endeavors that created NO jobs and pocketing money that sits in their pocket, NOT helping the Economy by actually circulating like this vast wealth is supposed to circulate so that ALL can do well, not just the 1%.
You ever try to find an american made can opener? I have, don't waste your time. I had one once when I was growing up lasted 20+ years. Bought a Chinese one lasted 6 months, when it worked. Searched high and low every store I could think of to find one made in the USA no luck.
Hope and change.... hahahaha...
Hope is not a form of action. I can hope to get a paycheck or I take action and work for one.
Change your life by taking action!
and when you get that paycheck, does it go to pay bills? or to an off shore account in the Caymens?
... I thought so
No, your not supposed to be impressed. My point is just how pathetic bums are leaches are. Maybe if these millions of poor people would apply themselvies in life they would have something.
Being 30, with over 250k in the bank is pretty nice. Beats trying to collect 300 bucks a week in unemployment like lazy Americans,
You hardly ever fly your extended family to one of your several vacation homes for the Fourth of July. Your children generally have jobs, and don't just trail around behind you giving testimonials about what a wonderful guy you are. You don't have more than $250 million in a trust for your children and grandchildren. You understand that success is largely a matter of luck and not just deserts for your general wonderfulness and godliness. You empathize with others' pain...
At least Romney is traveling on his personal dime, the obumas are traveling and taking vacations on our dime.
Obama has failed us...but Democrats think everything is going great. They have no plan...if they did they would have used it by now. TIME FOR ROMNEY.
... And R-Money's plan is??
The_bottom line is simple and cannot be refuted.
Until the rich start doing 90% of the work for the 90% of the money they have then I say tax the hell out of them by making them pay for all of the government including healthcare. They will only be taking care of the work force that lines their pockets.
They use republicans to divide us so we don't focus on how they take all the money.
Sure, I'll vote for Romney's plan. Can you tell me what it is? Provide exact specifics and details. I'm particularly interested in how he'll pay for his 20% tax cut while balancing the budget AND decreasing the deficit, and how taxes on the middle class will NOT go up $2,000 per year. You know, since every economist and expert states it's all a load of horse manure.
Thank you Obama, We finally got change. Hope is dead a long time ago. Now we will go forward?. I though we was going forward from 2009. So, which way we go last 4 years.????
Consumers create jobs. With almost all the money taken by the top 10%, the rest of us can't consume so there will be fewer jobs.
Money taken from you ?! Somebody actually stole money from you? Answer is no, of course not.
Yeah, you can shut up, too. Should I regale you with the stories of all the wonderful things Reagan did for the poor in the 80s when I was eating gov't cheese while my mom and dad worked?
I don't plan to vote for Romney, but we also need to look closely at Obama.
What "Change" have we gotten?
We're still in a recession.
Gitmo is still open for business.
We've only dug a deeper hole in our war with Islamists thanks to resentment over the drone war.
Oh, right, we did get change.
Don't Ask Don't Tell was finally put to bed.
We got an "Affordable Care" act that indirectly addresses health care and is based on a lot of theories about indirect costs.
And for two years, the dems had a lock on Washington!
Please tell me what else we got, because I see Obama's term as a whole lot of continuation of GWB's policies to the point that his original SecDef was the same guy!
The bottom line is simple and cannot be refuted.
Until the rich start doing 90% of the work for the 90% of the money they have then I say tax the hell out of them by making them pay for all of the government including healthcare. They will only be taking care of the work force that lines their pockets.
They use republicans to divide us so we don't focus on how they take all the money.
Why should I have to pay for your health insurance? It's not my fault you decided to clean gutters instead of hire a pro and broke your arm. Pay your own way, slacker.
So who's gonna clean your gutters if everyone decides to get a Ph.D.? Our society needs diversification just like every other society, and we should make sure that the people who have the worst jobs (the ones that majority don't want to do) are healthy so that they can continue doing those jobs. If all those people start getting sick and die because of lack of moneny for healthcare, we all gonna suffer and be less productive, and in turn we'll make less money (that includes you). Instead od paying for routine health care and treating those that need to be treated we will pay much more for their emergency care and then social security, free lunches, free higher education and free healthcare for their parentless children. We'll also pay more for other emergency services like police who will need to fight criminals that rise from poverty and we'll pay more for firefighters since it seems that more fires happen in poor houses that have 1 electric heater per the entire wooden apartment complex etc.
So if you came up with a business idea, developed a business plan, set it into motion and then worked your butt off nonstop to make that business successful, gaining expertise and experience along the way, you wouldn't deserve a larger salary?
When life throws you lemons, make lemonade.
Thank you~ Obama!
No, Obama signed two more free trade agreements while in office. He helped move it along. Read some facts sometime.
I find it interesting that people are reading this article and "blaming it on Obama". This man is talking about "growing up" poor, which was most likely during the 80's. That was certainly not under Obama's watch. The poor have always been there, but now they are getting more attention as more people that used to be "middle class" are now living in poverty thanks to corporations shipping the jobs overseas that the lower middle class once performed.
The lower middle class was getting paid way too much for unskilled labor. Now is the time for us to use skilled labor and make tons of money, like a lot of people in the US do.
Malnutrition can effectively minimize a child's ability to retain information. If a child cannot pay attention due to starvation we can call it ADD our lately autism is used quite loosely. Feed people and they can develop properly starve people and you wind up with a two party celebration
We are the ONLY country (and I have traveled the world) that has MORBIDLY obese poor people. People actually in danger of dying from causes related to eating to much, who are called "poor". Look at the photo of the line above. How many of these "poor" people look like they have missed a meal ?
looks like they should miss a meal!
This is not true. Poor people throughout the Americas (US, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, etc ) are more obese because of malnutrition. They cannot afford the healthier options and can often only afford to buy the cheap processed junk food. A poor person is fatter (in general) because they buy the food on the dollar menu at McDonalds, not the 10 dollar organic salad. They also don't have time and/or access to exercise and fitness. What poor person has enough money to afford a "Pilates Body"?
Co-signed
Kyle, tyour response shows your ignorance. It doesn't cost anything to get on the floor and do situps, pushups, and stand up and go for a run. The view is that you fail to see is that poor genarally relates to lazy which generally relates to overweight. Note that I said generally so don't give me that all poor are not fat excuse..
Bob, low quality food causes people to have less energy in general and feel more depressed (psychologically speaking and physiologically). Not everything can be contributed to being lazy. Many poor people are not lazy, many of them work 2 jobs and they don't have the time to make healthier foods or to exercise. It's not their fault that stores offer coupons mostly for processed foods, but they do not offer coupons for fresh foods. It's not their fault that those the companies that some food industries (like corn, soy) get subsidies from the government, but not the industries that produce healthier options. It seems that I never use any coupons and I spend a lot of moneny on food that I later have to prepare because none of that is ever on sale, or at least not to the same extend as the sales of processed foods. No wonder poor people buy processed foods. That also saves them time since they can store those foods for longer periods of time, which means they don't have to go to store to buy fresh foods everyday and they save money on prep time.
Everything seems easy for you Bob, but not everyone has the same reality as yours.
its these poor people above that have to eat whats "cheap" cheap is not ever HEALTHY! Its usually the leftover crap that takes our bodies too long to break down so instead turns into FAT.
Well said Chris... It doesn't exactly look like the pictures from ethiopia. Maybe these are the rich Americans?
You are a moron. People get fat because of poor eating habits, the HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP that is in everything, and lack of exercise. If you only have $8 to spend on your family for dinner... what do you buy? Organic & HEALTHY foods or a big bag of Taco Bell or McDonalds because it's heavy on carbs, fats (the item that makes you feel full), and SUGARS. Do you think most poor people can afford a $30-$35/month gym membership when they are worried about just feeding their kids and surviving? Get the facts straight and then come back and spin your ugliness.
That's the irony of it. Actually, it's malnutrition that causes obesity. It's eating bad foods (processed) instead of fresh fruits and vegetables. Actually, we live in a country that feeds it's poor and indigent cheap processed foods thus causing an assortment of chronic conditions, i.e. diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. Guess what that does??? Increases health care expenditure thus increasing the cost of health care for all!
So we can either create better economic options for the indigent thus providing better food options or carry the bill until we are crushed under it's weight...get it? That was a joke.
Many poor are forced to eat poor food choices because noodles for example, go farther and full a person up. Many poor who are over weight can not afford fresh foods and veggies. Educate yourself.
You are not poor if you can buy a computer and afford internet to read this article on cnn.com : Get a job.
Awesome, Yes!
I have experienced poverty. We always have Hope and Change, though. But Mitt Romney even wants to take that away from us now.
Hope is not a form of action. I can hope to get a paycheck or I take action and work for one.
the Lord helps those who helps themselves!
BO! your President did not put 50 Million people into poverty in the last 4 years. This is a culmination of redistribution being funneled to the higest income earners over the last 30yrs. Mine and your wages (if you have any) have been stagnante for a very long time while the very people you idolize continuously make more money in a year than you will ever in a lifetime. While all the while they control the very goods and services we need by minuplulating the cost of goods and said services. Don't give me a lecture that the increased regulations and corprate tax is whats driving up the cost, if that's the case then while your at it explain their record profits (untaxed). Would you republican voters wake up, you work your fingers to the bone to increase their profit margin which is in the millions and yet complain that others are getting over on you. Why don't you complain about the people that spit in your face everyday and expect you to work harder for less and in some cases won't give you a raise.
Employers can spit in your face everyday? Just where the in the Hell do you work?
let me get my violin!
Very hard to make ends meet. Don't really think rich people actually know how it is. Single working very hard and feel like I am spinning my wheels.....I know other countries are worse. BUT isn't this the USA...
not the USA that WAS
it's the new one that IS
Under the last 4 years of Obama and Democrat rule the number of people in poverty has grown like a weed...BUT he really cares....Yeah right..and if you pull this leg it plays jingle bells.
People of the United States of America,
If there was ever an excellent reason to stop all U.S. Foreign Aid 46.2 Million Americans in poveriy is the best reason I can think of. The U.S. should also withdraw from the United Nations because it is really useless.The 10s of Billions of U.S. Dollars should be diverted for use in fighting poverty in this country.The U.S. Government should cut a check to everyone below the poverty line for 20K each and you will see how fast the U.S. Economy start to recover.
That's a years pay for me, two full time jobs. Sadly my family of four used to be middle class making almost 50k and one job. I would love to get a check for that much.
most of them would just use the 20 grand for cigs, liquor drugs and jewlery
no thanks
That's a racist view. The world depends on the U.S. to help them.
But Hope and Change was going to fix this, right liberals?
Sure, if the republicans would at least try to work with the democrats. Sadly the republicans refuse to work with them and the democrats are too pansy to do it the way republicans did during the Bush administration, pass everything regardless of what the other parties say. If only both parties would stop fighting so much and see that the country needs them to work together and against the people.
Oh, yeah, those evil Republicans. They're like the evil policeman who pulls you over for DUI before you run over and kill someone. Or the mean salesman at the hardware store who stops an eight-year-old from playing with the nail guns because the kid can't seem to grasp the concept that what he is doing could be very, very bad for himself and everyone around him.
Hope and Change would have fixed it.. But it wasn't the hope or the change the GOP in congress was hoping for.
Their hope and change was to create a better life style and more power for the rich.
So mostly a stalemate..
Thank you Obama for standing up to it.. Even if we havn't moved forwards as fast as we should have.. We have moved forward.. its a long fight when so many GOP only want better for the rich..
But more and more Americans are catching on.. And understanding WHO it is that is standing in the way and why..
Greed and desire of power is ugly..
Rome fell because of it..
In America, if you be careful who you marry and when you have kids, your chances of being poor are tiny (like 2%). How am I supposed to feel sorry for the man's mother? It was his choice to have kids with a loser. In grade school, I was picked on, made fun of, etc because I studied hard and did not party. Girls often instead chose the "cool guys," and those guys often ended up being losers. Fast forward to now, and I am making money and I'm supposed to pay for the kids of the girls that got knocked up? Can't I at least hand it to them personally so I can see a look of "yeah I shouldn't have gotten knocked up by a loser?"
You've gotta be trolling. The optimist in me simply refuses to believe that there are people out there thinking things as stupid as what you've written.
I feel the same way. I waited to get married and am waiting to have kids. I make great money now (at one time I made only $25k a year) and my future wife makes great money too. We are almost debt free and want to pay cash for our first home. I do not feel sorry for or see the need to pay for food for kids of people who made poor choices. If these people having kids without the means to care for them had to take responsibility for themselves... I bet they would think more carefully about the choices they make.
Try working in a government agency or two where you deal with the people on welfare with four kids by four dads, and another one on the way and don't think they should have to change a thing about the way they live. It is a depressingly efficient way of stealing your optimism.
"Borrow money from your parents" Mitt Romney
Obamacare will solve their problems, just fine them for not being able to afford insurance.
Being poor in most countries means you are skinny, here in America it means you are more likely to be obese...why is that?
1: in most countries the poor arent thin.
2: junk food is cheap.
The poor are obese now in America because they have no healthy food options in their neighborhoods. They are no major gorcery stores left in the poorer areas of town. Convenience food and corner stores are all that is left. Its a wasteland of unhealthy choices. Eating healthy is expensive. Living paycheck to paycheck does not allow one to stock your cupboard and fridge with healthy fruits and veggies. It allows you to purchase fast and cheap.
2 reasons.
A) higher fat foods tend to be cheaper. To feed a family, it is much cheaper to get a 1.39 burger than to buy cuts of meat that actually make a meal.
B) There tend not to be grocery stores in poorer neighbourhoods.
It's pretty relative. It's true that in this country even the poorest are better off than in some countries, mostly because of aid programs to prevent them from not having any food at all. But it is also more likely that the poor in this country will use that aid to buy the cheapest foods that are loaded with fat and bad for you. They get that kind of food because it is cheaper than "healthy" food. So it could be said that their bad health, I.E. obesity, is a product of their poverty. In this country healthy and "organic" food is a luxury, strangely enough. I suppose they could buy dry goods like rice and beans though, which are pretty cheap but ignorance often goes hand in hand with poverty, unfortunately..
Millions of poor people came to this country and made this country 200 years ago.
What is wrong with todays people.
Well now there is a sytem in place that we all have to adhere to that doesn't really make it easy to go off and live off the land and the sweat of your brow. If you want to do that you have to save up and buy the land now, which is more than most people can afford. But if you want to try you have to work for someone, usually who doesn't want to pay you very much. If you got a mortgage for the land then you would have to make a profit to pay for it. So with an economy controling every aspect of our lives, we do not have the freedom our ancestors did really.
Millions of immigrants to this country also lived in abject poverty until this country educated their children and provided them with better futures. Children died for lack of health care. Fathers died or were maimed by industrial jobs due to the lack of unions. Statistics show that today's youth have less chance of improving their lives than did their great grandparents. This isn't a new condition. We have been in a backwards spiral in this country for many years. The rich get richer; the poor get poorer; and more and more people slip out of the middle class.
The kids I feel for. Mom and dad, who are probably just lazy and/or unskilled because they goofed-off in school, I don't feel bad for.
You must be very lucky. I hope you are appreciative of that luck.
very touching, I am moved ...
So many people ending up in poverty under the Obama Error...he has failed us. He has no plan to fix it or he would have used it by now to stay in power...which is all he really cares about.
Believe me, the poverty numbers will increase exponentially in the new oligarchy.
My wife has been employed the last several years with her engineering firm working on projects funded by the stimulus packages Obama set in motion, so it has helped keep us afloat. But truthfully it doesn't matter who is president. Politicians intefere with progress whether they are democrat or republican. Congress and the Senate have their petty conflicts and will prevent either Obama or Romney from getting anything done. Also, if you do not make more than $200k a year and you vote republican you are a fool, because they do not help you. If you really think with less regulation, businesses are going to pass the buck down the chain and employ more people instead of pocketing the surplus and getting richer, then again, you are a fool. Poor people voting republican because they fall for the propaganda that they are "moral" or a christian are the biggest impediment to progress in the country.
It's good to know that some people think like me. Nice to see that someone can see that freedom we have today is not really freedom since we cannot just go find some land in a forest and build a home or cut a tree or kill a bear. Everything is protected and all of us are part of this society. It's sad that people don't understand that we need some protections like free healthcare and free education to give us the ability to even contribute anything to this society or be able to live within this society. Education is important as it provides us with skills, knowledge and abilities that relate to our occupation and that relate to our knowledge of this society and how it works. Healthcare is important because we want people to be healthy and we want people to work, we don't want them to loose houses wonder the streets or die and not contribute anymore. It takes a lot of money to raise and educate a person and we want that person to contribute not die and drain more money from the government because of something that could be prevented. Like you, I don't understand why people that make less than 200K a year (or lets be even more conservative, let's say people that make less than 75K a year) are voting Republican. And why would people want their politicians to talk religion? Shouldn't that be the job of preachers? And why are they so opposed to gay marriage? Shouldn't they be happy that there are adults that want to take care of each other in sickness, or when other problems arise? That's counterintuitive for me because I think that these people dont' want others to depend on the government yet they oppose when two adults come together and imply that they want to take care of one another.
But we continue to send billions of $$ to foreign countries. I think we should cleanup our backyard first and help the people who made this country. Sad.....
...Who cares?
If half of the self-righteous "Christians" would simply follow a bit of advice...:
Matthew 19:21 – Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Jeremy, please do not quote scripture you know nothing about, the point of the story there was he loved money more than Jesus. This article is a story about dead beat dads, leaving their families to starve and expecting everybody else to do their JOB as father and provider.
But the quote is entirely appropriate. Today's Xtians pick and choose which tenets of the religion they wish to abide by. The quote is from the man they purport to believe is their lord and savior, but the words they choose to follow instead are those of the shifty charlatans like Joel Osteen...."Jesus WANTS you to be rich". Doesn't jibe with the "good book", but obviously those rules were only meant to apply to those already poor.
Nothing is more amusing than a Christian-hating liberal quoting scripture.
Except for "Christians" who know nothing of compassion.
Actually we do. But where do you draw the line between someone who really deserves help and those that can help themselves? Are we supposed to pay for all bad decisions made by stupid people that don't seem to have any common sense?
46M is 15% of 300M Americans. Those 46M are still in the top 3% of the world globally when it comes to income. It’s not ideal but one has to take personal accountability for their success. I have to believe half of them are in that position because of their own bad decisions. Lack of education, work ethic or criminal behavior in the past. The other half might of had no choice (the children) and that is where government steps in.. free lunches, section 8 housing and grants but the poor need to own their destiny. Take ownership and break the chains. I did it and so can you.
"Those 46M are still in the top 3% of the world globally when it comes to income." - You're joking right? Stop comparing incomes across the globe because that makes you sound stupid. A person that makes 1000 USD/a year in China or Cuba has much better living than a person that makes 15K USD/a year in the USA. They can eat organic foods, and they probably have better shelter than those living in a trailor parks or those small shacks with walls covered in siding. "I have to believe half of them are in that position because of their own bad decisions. Lack of education, work ethic or criminal behavior in the past." - How can they make better choices if they don't know how or if they don't have any role models? If no one tells you about better options, then how will you know that better options exist?
Turning away from God=more single parent "families"= more people in poverty. Easy divorce for women was one of the downfalls in this country. No personal responsibility, you have consequences for your decisions and the actions that follow. And of course I realize that it is now socially acceptable to divorce as often as you desire for any reason or none at all.
Are you sure about that genius.
So why religious countries in Africa are the poorest in the world, and super liberal countries, Scandinavia, Switzerland france, etc have the highest living standard in the world.
Right, because it is always the woman lacking in personal responsibility isn't it? No man would EVER walk away from his wife and kids and leave them high and dry, now would he? Or drink to excess and beat them. Or abuse the kids. Or gamble away the mortgage money. You need to grow up and take off the conservative colored glasses.
So, when is the last time John was poor. Way different today then 20+ years ago. Screw you John and you to CNN!
And when have YOU been poor? Or are you some wealthy Romney-ite who is just a hater with money?
Poor today, Poor Yesturday, Poor Tomorrow you moron. Always a democrat and always pay child support! Your an idiot!
Carla, please, my mom made $33.00 yes 33 dollars a week to take of us, but she taught to study and apply ourselves, so you to can make without all the handout, we need to take care of KIDS but WE AMMERICANS spend 60 Billion a year feeding stupid dogs
I was very poor growing up with a single parent who worked hard and never got a handout from the government. We took pride in ourselves and did without. NO CELL PHONES and all the latest gadgets. Oh, no tv either and we survived, More should try it
Ask the Republican Congress for putting 50,000,000 Americans in poverty because of their obstructionist policies and blaming Obama for it. Some people drink the Kool Aid.
So the governments intent is to keep people poor? Sounds like a great plan.
Yes, it is their intent to keep people poor and stupid. That way you are forced to work in their factories and fast food chains for minimum wage while they make millions.
It's simple logic. Everything is about profit.
...and you're one of them.
Yes, Tom, some people DO drink the Kool-Aid. Those Republican "obstructionists" are trying to keep this country from becoming an open-border, socialist welfare-state of massive governmment dependency and limited freedoms.
NEWS FLASH . . .
Just in from the Obama News Network . . .
Certainly this is evidence that Mitt Romney makes way too much money; compounded by fall-out from the GW Bush Administration and GOP failed policies of eight years ago!!!
Learn to count bud... GWB's presidency ended 4 years ago. But it lasted 8 years so I can see how you were confused.
Secondly, there's nothing about any president in this article, just the unfortunate situation that 46 million americans find themselves. in.
I'll bet several of these children have 5 or 6 brothers and sisters.
First world problems. There are countries where:
1. Being poor means no food on some days of the week.
2. Dinner for children only, parents are never hungry.
3. Selling kids ! in the hope that they will get food and cloths at least.
4. Being humiliated.
Robmey/tea bagger solution kill em all
im an imigrant from mexico who came here at sixteen learned to write and read english i didnt go to school but learned a trade i used to make close to 20 bucks an hour and when the market crashed went from 20 to 13 an hour so i picked up a second job and no am not rich but i live well and my secret is no drugadiction or smoking try it it it actually works
Good for you for taking personal responsibility. You could teach people who expect their government to pull them up by their boot straps an aweful lot.
Congratulations. You have self-respect.ambition and pride great assets..Please don't vote for Obama because you will need three jobs !
It is all obamas fault too.
Being poor is all the that Mr. Scalzi says, as well as feeling helpless as the future comes because how will I ever get out of my situation? How will I get to give my daughters any of the things I had when I was younger?
when Romney wins he will find a way to help him find a job.
Victim of globalization!
Victims of unregulated Wall Street greed.
Keep buying Chinese manufactured goods! Buying cheap has a price, that America is paying for. Bring jobs back to North America. Buy NAFTA made, and help the regions economy. It will only get worse.
"Poor and content is rich,
and rich enough
But riches fineless is as poor as winter
To him that ever fears he shall be poor."
From William Shakespeare's "Othello"
Are you sure having all this is poor. For most of my years I hadn't notice I was poor with the ramen noodles, picking trash and only having a stove in one room.
Our impotent leader is leading more and more citizens into the humiliating life of dependence on the government. A real leader would create opportunties for folks to create for themselves a path to self-sufficiency.
And Mr. Romney is going to change all that and help these people? Lol your delusional.
How would YOU do that, be specific.
How would the President just pull jobs out of thin air for you? Sorry, but take your complaints to the companies that have shipped all their production overseas. Stop blaming the President and immigrants that you imagine to be taking all these jobs that don't exist. Everyone wants to buy cheap stuff, companies ship jobs overseas so they can make tons of cheap stuff to sell you and then you complain there aren't jobs. You can blame everyone else, but your own consumer buying habits.
Oooooooooobama ooooooooooobama oooooooooooooooobama
wow, I thought i had a rough childhood, but those remarks left powerful emotions in me. I also grew up in Southern California to a divorced family and the only child, I went through tough times but after I read this, I'm very moved. I think I need to collect my thoughts for a bit..
I don't know?.....Ask Mitt Romney he seems to be an expert on Poverty in America with that 47% comment
Just could not miss the chance could you?
Like Obama has done a great job !!
Not sure where or what the cover photo is from, but NONE of those people look like they've missed any meals. Mostly they look like they eat prettty darn well!
The irony of being poor and is that nutrient poor colorie rich foods are far cheaper (see USDA food desert maps) and more easily accesible, leading to a dovetail of being poor and being overweight. risk of diabetes and obesity tend to rise as your socioeconomic level falls due to the lack of access to proper nutrition.
Actually, if they ate well they likely wouldn't be fat. Those 99 cent burgers etc. that are cheaper than you can buy the ingredients for, are what's causing that fat.
Comments like yours are why some poor people can catch a break; they are judged by how they look. They have to make sure they don't look too good when going to ask for food stamps or else they will be turned down. Being poor doesn't always mean you have to look malnourished. Yeah, they LOOK like they haven't missed a meal, but what ARE they eating? Fast food that's has no nutrition? Until you have walked in their shoes, you have no right to judge them. You need to be grateful for what YOU have and pray that you don't end up like them.
Cheaper food is fattening food. Fast food – dollar menu stuff etc are all very fattening and unhealthy. If you have money, you can eat healthy. It is a lot easier at least.
Heaven forbid you should be poor or fat or both in America. According to most of the (presumably perfect or at least smugly self satisfied) commentators it's all your fault. You're a lazy loser with no self control, no will power, no self respect, yada yada yada. It's not just this poster who needs to grow some f-ing empathy. There is a saying – there but for the grace of God go I. Some call it karma. I suggest you learn about it before IT teaches YOU.
Before I experienced this myself I never thought it possible. I don't eat fast food at all, it's too expensive. I get one meal a day most days so my children can eat three meals, sometimes going without for a day if we run out of money or food. We don't get much meat because that is too expensive. We don't buy bread because that is too expensive, I kind of like it that way since I make bread everyday. So the diet of this house is frozen veggies, canned fruit and starch. I want to make this very clear for those who will say I am just lazy. I don't live like this out of choice, do you think I like the hunger pains from not eating? Do you think I like having to feed things to my children that I know is unhealthy? I have to stay home and watch the children because I can't afford a babysitter or daycare. My husband works two full time jobs just so we can live. I used to be middle class. I used to make enough money from just my one job to live well and be well. But medical debt changed all of that. I went bankrupt because I couldn't afford to keep my husband alive and pay the bills. Before you say such hateful things you should think about why people are in these situations. Most people don't choose to be poor. Poverty is a very terrible thing and I only hope that you never have to live like I do.
Only in America can you be POOR and STILL BE FAT! Can I have a Handicapped Plackard Mr. Gov'mt?!?!?!
Just ask the 50,000,000 Obama put into poverty in the last 4 years.
yeah, Bush had nothing to do with that. moron
is that the liberal response to everything that looks bad for obama? typical liberal bs, zero accountability
DNA and Billy Blanks – GET A CLUE!!! Nobody's accountable!!
Not an Obama fan, but isn't the problem all the Middle Class jobs being shipped overseas?
you guys were blaming Obama before he even took office.. It's just ignorant. People get into a cycle of blaming the president no matter who he is, without thinking.
So is there any poinit in your life you are not going blame bush? I don't expect ofailure to fix every problem all at once but after 4 years it would be nice if he at least tried to start fixing things......
You could turn them into fertilizer for the lawns at Mitt's mansions.
Welcome to my world
Sounds like you are inept. Maybe you should apply yourself more.