로그인





연락처 :
bolle1917@gmail.com

http://www.alternet.org/economy/numbers-are-staggering-us-world-leader-child-poverty

The Numbers Are Staggering: U.S. Is 'World Leader' in Child Poverty

The callousness of America's political and business leaders is shocking once you start looking at the numbers.

America's wealth grew by 60 percent in the past six years, by over $30 trillion. In approximately the same time, the number of homeless children has also grown by 60 percent.

Financier and CEO Peter Schiff said, "People don’t go hungry in a capitalist economy." The 16 million kids on food stamps know what it's like to go hungry. Perhaps, some in Congress would say, those children should be working. "There is no such thing as a free lunch," insisted Georgia Representative Jack Kingston, even for schoolkids, who should be required to "sweep the floor of the cafeteria" (as theyactually do at a charter schoolin Texas).

The callousness of U.S. political and business leaders is disturbing, shocking. Hunger is just one of the problems of our children. Teacher Sonya Romero-Smith told about the two little homeless girls she adopted: "Getting rid of bedbugs, that took us a while. Night terrors, that took a little while. Hoarding food.."

America is a 'Leader' in Child Poverty

The U.S. has one of the highest relative child poverty rates in the developed world. As UNICEF reports, "[Children's] material well-being is highest in the Netherlands and in the four Nordic countries and lowest in Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and the United States."

Over half of public school students are poor enough to qualify for lunch subsidies, and almost half of black children under the age of six are living in poverty.

$5 a Day for Food, But Congress Thought it was Too Much.

Nearly half of all food stamp recipients are children, and they averaged about $5 a day for their meals before the 2014 farm bill cut $8.6 billion (over the next ten years) from the food stamp program.

In 2007 about 12 of every 100 kids were on food stamps. Today it's 20 of every 100.

For Every 2 Homeless Children in 2006, There Are Now 3

On a typical frigid night in January, 138,000 children, according to the U.S. Department of Housing, were without a place to call home.

That's about the same number of households that have each increased their wealth by $10 million per yearsince the recession.

The US: Near the Bottom in Education, and Sinking

The U.S. ranks near the bottom of the developed worldin the percentage of 4-year-olds in early childhood education. Early education should be a primary goal for the future, as numerous studies have shown that pre-school helps all children to achieve more and earn more through adulthood, with the most disadvantaged benefiting the most. But we're going in the opposite direction. Head Start was recently hit with the worst cutbacks in its history.

Children's Rights? Not in the U.S.

It's hard to comprehend the thinking of people who cut funding for homeless and hungry children. It may be delusion about trickle-down, it may be indifference to poverty, it may be resentment toward people unable to "make it on their own."

The indifference and resentment and disdain for society reach around the globe. Only two nations still refuse to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: South Sudan and the United States. When President Obama said, "I believe America is exceptional," he was close to the truth, in a way he and his wealthy friends would never admit.

Paul Buchheit teaches economic inequality at DePaul University. He is the founder and developer of the Web sites UsAgainstGreed.org,PayUpNow.org and RappingHistory.org, and the editor and main author of "American Wars: Illusions and Realities" (Clarity Press). He can be reached atpaul@UsAgainstGreed.org.

?

List of Articles
번호 제목 글쓴이 날짜 조회 수
478 [인도네시아] The Indonesian Counter-Revolution 볼셰비키 2021.01.29 307
477 [인도네시아/미국] Files show new details of US support for ’60s Indonesia bloodbath 볼셰비키 2017.10.22 217
476 [인도] India Is Making Labor History With the World's Largest General Strike 볼셰비키 2016.09.09 115
475 [인도/스탈린주의] Indian Stalinists stump for right-wing bourgeois government 볼셰비키 2019.05.03 484
474 [이탈리아/예멘/사우디] Italian dock workers refuse to load Saudi arms ship over Yemen war 볼셰비키 2019.05.21 509
473 [이집트쿠데타/이스라엘] Israel general: Israel was behind coup against Egypt’s Morsi 볼셰비키 2019.04.07 354
472 [이집트] 군사 쿠데타 2주년, 폭력과 혼란의 이집트 볼셰비키 2015.07.09 195
471 [이집트] Murdered Italian student Giulio Regeni paid the ultimate price for his investigation into Al-Sisi’s Egypt 볼셰비키 2016.06.16 113
470 [이집트] Egypt: Italian student tortured to death 볼셰비키 2016.06.16 109
469 [이슬람혐오] Most UK news coverage of Muslims is negative, major study finds 볼셰비키 2019.07.10 178
468 [이스라엘] The Forgotten History of the Jewish, Anti-Zionist Left 볼셰비키 2020.07.17 152
467 [이스라엘] The Dark Side of Israeli Independence 볼셰비키 2018.05.12 663
466 [이스라엘] Israeli human rights organization declares Israel an apartheid state 볼셰비키 2021.01.19 200
465 [이스라엘] Israeli forces leave 41 children homeless after razing Palestinian village, UN says 볼셰비키 2020.11.07 224
464 [이스라엘] Israel kills 10,000th Palestinian since 2000, US media largely ignore it 볼셰비키 2020.08.09 171
Board Pagination Prev 1 ... 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 ... 45 Next
/ 45