Poverty in America - The Continuing Saga

[LC EFA]

Thus the saga continues..

NanceGreggs  Donating Member  (1000+ posts)  Fri Jan-30-09 06:14 PM
Original message
Poverty in America: No Shirt, No Shoes – No Service    Updated at 6:14 PM

I am a fourth-grader, and I live with my mom and two brothers. We sleep in our winter jackets and lots of blankets, because mom says we can’t afford the heating bills. She says don’t tell anyone, because they might come and take us away from her. She cries a lot. I figure I’m not the only kid who lives like this. And I think if some people knew our situation, they might help my mom out. Why doesn’t anyone know about us?

I am a Nam vet. I have lived on the street for so long, I don’t even remember how many years it’s been. I put my life on the line for my country. When I came home, I was pretty messed up – a lot of us came home that way. A lot of us now live the way I do. Why are we invisible?

I am a housewife. My husband and I worked hard all our lives, and always put something aside for a rainy day. But when that rainy day came, it poured. My husband lost his job, and then he got sick – real sick. The medical bills wiped us out. Now we live on the social security checks, but with the price of things being what they are nowadays, they don’t go far. We go to the food bank regular now, because otherwise we wouldn’t eat. I am ashamed to have to take handouts. But we have no choice. And the bills keep piling up, too. We know we ain’t the only folks living this life – being afraid every day, knowing what little we got might be gone someday soon. Why are people like us a secret?

Statistics show that 37 million Americans (one-in-eight) lived below the federal poverty line in 2005. The poorest age group is children, with more than one in six living in official poverty at any given time.

Mark Greenberg, director of the Task Force on Poverty at the Center for American Progress, wrote in the American Prospect in April 2007:
“Studies of a minimally decent standard of living routinely find that the typical cost is twice as high as the poverty line or higher. Ninety million Americans—nearly one-third of the nation—have household incomes below twice the poverty line, a figure far larger than the official number of 37 million in poverty.”


And yet these people, our fellow citizens – thanks to our beloved news media – go unheard, unknown, unseen.

FAIR’s study examined the three weeknight network newscasts—ABC World News, CBS Evening News and NBC Nightly News—over a 38-month period (9/11/03– 10/30/06). We considered every story mentioning the words “poverty,” “low income,” “homeless,” “welfare” or “food stamps,” compiling a list of all stories that dealt with issues of poverty in more than a passing manner.

It was a short list. During the more than three years studied, there were just 58 stories about poverty on the three network newscasts, including just 191 quoted sources.
For perspective, a FAIR study of network newscasts (Extra!, 5–6/02) found that in just one year (2001), the three networks included a total of 14,632 sources. Assuming that the nightly news still features a like number of sources per year, that would amount to some 46,000 sources over the 38 months of FAIR’s study, making sources appearing in poverty stories just 0.4 percent of overall sources.

Among individual networks, NBC ran the most stories related to poverty, with 25, followed close behind by CBS with 22. ABC aired only 11 stories addressing poverty in the 38-month study period—a rate of about one every 15 weeks.


People who go unheard cannot ask for the help they need. People who are rendered invisible cannot capture the attention of those in a position to assist. People who live their lives in secret – out of shame for the situation they find themselves in, or fear of losing children they are struggling to care for – cannot hope to be lifted to their rightful place in our society when no one knows of their plight.

Americans are among the most generous people in the world. We watched with a sense of pride as the money poured in for those affected by the events of 9-11, for the Katrina victims who lost everything. We had a sense of caring for each other, and of feeling good about ourselves as a nation because we do care.

We have seen, time and again, how people will reach out to others of like mind, and organize themselves to ensure that their representatives in government are made to listen and take action when an injustice is perceived, when a wrong needs to be made right.

But such actions are, more often than not, prompted by media attention to a problem that needs addressing, a situation that requires rectification.

This is why media coverage of poverty in America, the fact that is widespread and affects so many of us, is vital. And yet it is virtually non-existent.

Imagine the call-to-action that would be triggered if the nightly news was as interested in interviewing a homeless vet as they are in talking about a celebrity’s messy divorce.

Imagine the increase in donations to food banks and shelters if news networks focused as much attention on the hungry and the homeless as they do on the utter nonsense they fill the airwaves with each and every day.

Imagine the outrage – and the ensuing demand for increased social safety-nets, low income housing, more tax dollars spent on ensuring that all children were well-fed – if people turned on their TV and heard the staggering statistics – 37 million Americans – as often as they heard the numbers of viewers who tune-in to American Idol each week.

Imagine.

From the same FAIR study quoted above:

In a handful of stories—primarily on CBS—poverty issues were discussed solely by experts, with no poor people appearing on-screen at all. A CBS story (2/7/05) on George W. Bush’s proposed budget cuts to both farm aid and block grants to fight hunger and homelessness quoted solely elected officials, think tankers and executives of food bank.

The flip side of these stories with no poor sources are those that focus on the poor, but avoid any discussion of policy issues at all. CBS, again, is the prime culprit, having run segments on predatory lending (9/5/03), the difficulties of finding child care (11/25/03) and increasing economic polarization (12/8/05) that studiously avoided asking how government policies had helped to cause or failed to alleviate these problems. The last one blamed the “changing economy” for increased economic polarization, with no indication of what changes were made or who made them.


It’s simple. People who know about a situation tend to act, and demand action of others, especially their government. The informed can – and usually will – do something. The blissfully unaware do nothing at all.

Poverty in America is real; it affects real people, and it isn’t going to go away by itself. In fact, the numbers of those affected by it are increasing, and there’s no end in sight.

Ensuring that our fellow citizens are housed, clothed, and fed is the business of all Americans – and to get that business off-the-ground, up and running, and moving towards success, it has to be advertised by more than word-of-mouth.


You and I know that – now let them know:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4946434

Blah blah blah until we come to the last line.

Correct me if I'm wrong here, but is housing, feeding and clothing the responsibility of the individual not society ?

Also why don't they understand that "my business" is exactly that, and by definition not "their business" to advise on or attempt to define ?

lib2DaBone  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Fri Jan-30-09 10:33 PM
Response to Reply #47
56. Very good post...except we fail to see that NeoCons control the airwaves..
   
Clear Channel.. Fox.. Sinclair.... The dialog is set by the far-right religious fanatics.

So Yes.. WE CAN BLAME THE REPUBLICANS.
   

Anything to avoid blaming our own self. That would make us feel bad so can't be allowed.

Joe Chi Minh  Donating Member  (1000+ posts)  Fri Jan-30-09 08:16 PM
Response to Original message
30. Wow! I think Obama could do with your kind of widely-informed
   
Edited on Fri Jan-30-09 08:17 PM by Joe Chi Minh
input, Nance. I mean on poverty AND on how to galvanise the country, and most immediately, the media, into action.

LMAO.

Hate to break it to you dude, but Obama probably doesn't know DU exists, and if he did, wouldn't come within 100 feet of any of the posters on there for any reason.

[Chris]

Oh FFS, she's got a hole in her brain and it's leaking out through her fingers.

Does anyone read that crap?

[Chris]

lib2DaBone  Donating Member  (1000+ posts) Fri Jan-30-09 10:33 PM
Response to Reply #47
56. Very good post...except we fail to see that NeoCons control the airwaves..
   
Clear Channel.. Fox.. Sinclair.... The dialog is set by the far-right religious fanatics.

So Yes.. WE CAN BLAME THE REPUBLICANS.

Uh huh.  My local paper which is now owned by Gannett which owns USA Today is as liberal as it comes.  Sinclair, Fox, and ClearChannel are relegated to a single broadcast channel and one AM talk station that also carries Moonbat2MoonbatAM.

Hardly a monopoly.

[LC EFA]

Oh FFS, she's got a hole in her brain and it's leaking out through her fingers.

Does anyone read that crap?

For some strange reason after I read the first couple of lines my eyes glazed over, right until the last couple of lines.

I figure anything really important will be raised there and the rest is just padding.

[Chris]

Joe Chi Minh  Donating Member  (1000+ posts)  Fri Jan-30-09 08:16 PM
Response to Original message
30. Wow! I think Obama could do with your kind of widely-informed input, Nance. I mean on poverty AND on how to galvanise the country, and most immediately, the media, into action.

Rahm Emanuel will get right on that.

[Chris]

For some strange reason after I read the first couple of lines my eyes glazed over, right until the last couple of lines.

I figure anything really important will be raised there and the rest is just padding.

In Comp I, I was taught to skim long, rambling, pointles tirades by reading the first sentence of each paragraph and skipping the filler.

My brain still hurts.

[Chris]

Thank God Nance Greggs never changed her user name at the DUmp.  How else would we find her?

[Rebel]

These shitheads need to visit some of the countries I've visited. There IS no poverty in the United States. Hell, people in poverty here have TV's, cell phones, "rides", and a home.

Hey DUmmies, try Somalia. Oh, that's right, you really don't give a rat's ass about those "brown" people, only the ones that are setting up f'n IED's. 

[PatriotGame]

Oh FFS, she's got a hole in her brain and it's leaking out through her fingers.

Does anyone read that crap?

This is as far as I got:

NanceGreggs

The commie bitch has a reputation as everything she blathers on about is relatively the same old shit.

[PatriotGame]

Rahm Emanuel will get right on that.

Let's forward that thread from the DUmp to good old boy Rahm straight away.

[Chris_]

I have another challenge for the DUmmies. Since "Ensuring that our fellow citizens are housed, clothed, and fed is the business of all Americans – and to get that business off-the-ground, up and running, and moving towards success, it has to be advertised by more than word-of-mouth" why don't you get the ball rolling?

There are many of your DUmp members who claim to be suffering through homelessness, tough times, etc. What you should do is set of a committee of three or four DUmmies to oversee things. Then one of you should go to PayPal and set up a an account for the less fortunate. All of you donate to this account. At the end of each month the committee decides which of your less fortunate gets the proceeds.

Remember, just because all of us evil, fundy repukes aren't eager to hand over money to you doesn't mean that you can't share among yourselves. Shoot, I'd even chip in a little, but I can't afford to in this terrible Obama economy.

Think of how you could help someone like the bobblehead.

[ScubaGuy]

bobbolink  Donating Member  (1000+ posts)  Journal  Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Fri Jan-30-09 10:11 PM
Response to Reply #7
49. Only "so much you can say"???? Then why is there so much IGNORANCE?
   
How many low-income homes are available as opposed to how many are needed?

How many low-income homes are destroyed every year and not replace?

How much money do well-to-do people get in housing subsidies as opposed to low-income people?

You don't know those answers?

Then there's plenty more to say, isn't there?

WTF?  Is there some program that I haven't seen.  Free shelter for the rich or something like that?

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

WTF?  Is there some program that I haven't seen.  Free shelter for the rich or something like that?

Yes, but it involves working in a high-stress environment for an average of 60 hours a week.

Which coinciently explains why so many DUmmies have failed to take advantage of this particular program.

[ScubaGuy]

Yes, but it involves working in a high-stress environment for an average of 60 hours a week.

Which coinciently explains why so many DUmmies have failed to take advantage of this particular program.

OK, I think I heard of that program.   Wasn't it called WORK or something like that?

 

[The Village Idiot]

Uh huh.  My local paper which is now owned by Gannett which owns USA Today is as liberal as it comes.  Sinclair, Fox, and ClearChannel are relegated to a single broadcast channel and one AM talk station that also carries Moonbat2MoonbatAM.

Hardly a monopoly.

Sinclair owns affiliates of liberal NBC, CBS and NBC and produces very few of its own programs as far as I know