United States: Back to the Past with 46,200,000 Poor

According to official statistics, the United States is living through scenes from the 1930s — that is to say, of the Great Depression. Census Bureau figures paint a trial of austerity in the U.S. The country has 46.2 million poor people (out of 309 million inhabitants) — the highest number since 1930 and the third-consecutive increase in three years. …

According to the government agency, we’d have to go back 52 years to see such a level of degradation in society. Those affected include mainly young people, women, single mothers, Hispanics and blacks. Suburban and rural areas are affected more than city centers. The poverty threshold is set at $22,350, which is around 17,000 euros, in annual revenue for a couple with two children. This leaves little hope of being able to buy food, receive proper health care or pay for a decent education of one’s children.

The Census Bureau says that 45 million citizens are obliged to resort to food stamps, up 64 percent since 2008. A network providing food vouchers in Chicago has found a change in the applicant profile. In some cases, previous donors are now applicants since unemployment and wage loss have hit the middle class as a whole. Add to that those who risk being evicted because they cannot pay their loans.

Also found on this gloomy list of statistics is that 49.9 million people have no insurance.

“Poverty in America today leads not only to anxiety, unhappiness, discomfort and a lack of material goods, it leads to death,” storms Bernie Sanders, Independent senator from Vermont. “As a result of the greed, recklessness and illegal behavior of Wall Street, we are now in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the 1930s … there are some in Congress who wish to decimate the existing safety net which provides a modicum of security for the elderly, the sick, the children and lower-income people. Despite an increase in poverty, some of these people would like to cut or end Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, home heating assistance, nutrition programs and help for the disabled and the homeless. “

In a Huffington Post article Bernie Sanders explains the Republican agenda, inspired by tea party fundamentalists, which has made the end of state intervention the highlight of their campaign by accusing the latter of being responsible for debt, hampering competitiveness and thus violating free enterprise in the world’s richest nation. This issue is unfortunately leading voters, anxious about rising unemployment and poverty, and with no other alternatives, to turn to ultra-neoliberal candidates, candidates of a demagogic trend that have just won two elections in New York and Nevada against Democratic candidates.