Poverty Grows As The Rich Get Richer

There is little doubt that the recession hurting most Americans has not bothered the rich people in America at all. The rich in this country (and the corporations) are making more money than ever and are paying less taxes. While they make record-breaking amounts of income and have accumulated massive amounts of wealth, both the tax rate and the total amount of revenue they pay the government have fallen to levels not seen in several decades (and for those devious enough to hide their money in off-shore tax shelters, no taxes are paid at all).

But things are also growing for the people at the other end of the monetary scale -- growing worse. In 2007, the bottom 50% of Americans (more than 150 million people) controlled only 2.5% of the country's total wealth -- a figure that has only gotten worse with the massive unemployment and cuts to the government social safety net. And evidently the Republicans in Congress think 2.5% is too much for that 50% of the population, because they would like to raise taxes on these people while demanding further tax cuts for the richest Americans.

In fact, figures just released by the Census Bureau show that poverty in America has reached a record level. For the first time in this country's history at least 46.2 million people (in 2010) are living below the poverty level. That's a rise in percentage from the 2009 level of 14.3% of the population to a 2010 level of 15.1% of the population (the highest percentage in 18 years). Perhaps the most shameful part of the growing poverty situation is that in 2010 at least 22% of all children (more than 1 in 5) are living in poverty, a rise from 20.7% in 2009. The poverty rate for those between 18 & 64 has risen from 12.9% in 2009 to a level of 13.7% in 2010. Here are the 2010 poverty rates by race and region:

BY RACE
African-Americans...............27.4%
Hispanics...............26.6%
Whites...............13.0%
Asians...............12.1%

BY REGION
South...............16.9%
West...............15.3%
Midwest...............13.9%
Northeast...............12.8%

Frankly, all of the above statistics are shockingly bad for a nation that is still the richest on the face of the Earth. And regardless of what right-wingers want to think, the bulk of those poor people are working (or trying to find work). It's just that the hard work they do doesn't pay enough to pull them out of poverty and give them a decent standard of living. Even though the minimum wage in this country was raised recently, it still does not have the buying power it had 30 years ago.

And it's not just the poor that are falling further behind with every passing month. Those workers with jobs that allow them to live above the poverty level are also losing ground. The real median income for family households fell in 2010 to $61,544 (a drop of 1.2%), and the median income for non-family households dropped to $29,730 (a drop of 3.9%). [Note -- median income for women is still only 77% of the median income of men.] Income fell 3.2% for African-American households and 1.7% for White households. Here is the income drop by region:

West...............-2.9%
Midwest...............-2.5%
South...............-1.9%
Northeast...............-1.2%

Now anyone with a sense of decency could look at these horrible statistics and know that something must be done to help the bottom 50% of the people in this country -- those working, those looking for work, and those unable to work. But evidently the congressional Republicans are without even a shred of decency, because they want to cut every social program designed to help these hurting Americans (including education, which could help them climb the monetary and social ladder).

Two programs they would love to cut or abolish are Social Security and unemployment insurance. Every Republican presidential candidate and member of Congress wants to cut the benefits of both programs (and many would like to eventually abolish both of them -- along with many other social programs). This is sheer insanity. Last year unemployment benefits kept 3.2 million people from falling below the poverty level (including 900,000 children). Social Security kept 20.3 million people from falling below the poverty level (including more than 1 million children and nearly 14 million elderly Americans). Without these two programs alone, the number of people living in poverty would balloon to 69.7 million Americans.

I simply do not understand how the Republicans can continue their mean-spirited economic policies -- calling for less help to hurting Americans and more tax cuts for the rich (the only people doing well in this recession). Whatever happened to being our brother's keeper? Isn't that what the religion they proclaim so loudly teaches?

How can anyone vote Republican with a clear conscience?