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[credit: Jim Morin, The Miami Herald]
Wackydoodle axes: Are they eatin' cake yet? |
Some numbers encapsulate the moment and remain in the memory: 9-11; 99%; 38th; 54-40; 1776. Mitt Romney, the plutocracy's anointed son, is going to have to do a lot of fast talking to remove 15% from American voters' memory this election cycle. Nevertheless, he seems to relish
throwing his conspicuous wealth into our faces by making misstatements like "I am not concerned with the very poor". Of course, the media and Newt have made hay with his malaprop out of context. Revealingly, Mitt thinks there is still a social safety net in America. Someone should tell him that Repugnants since Ronald 'Raygun' have been doing their upmost to 'monetize' it. Poverty has actually increased in America, with more people who think they are middle class falling out of it. All it will take for them to wake up from their happy dream is one personal catastrophe. Another 2.6 million people slipped into poverty last year according to the Census Bureau, and median household income fell to the 1996 level.
Official poverty reached a low in 1973 of 11.1%, but by 1983 the number of American poor reached 15.2% or 35.3 million. Poverty has remained above 12% except for the economic boom times of the 1990's when it declined. Currently, the
Bureau says the rate is 15.1% or 46.2 million, the highest number in 52 yearsThe young and minorities are still disproportionately represented among the poor while older Americans, thanks to Social Security and private pensions, are doing better than previously in our nation's history.
Our government's response to this crossroads in history:
[credit: Glenn McCoy, Belleville News-Democrat]
