Nickolai

A Nation's Shame: Trillions in New Wealth, Millions of Children in Poverty

PAUL BUCHHEIT

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 school kids, who should be required to "sweep the floor of the cafeteria" (as they actually do at a charter school in Texas).
The callousness of US 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 US 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 Two Homeless Children in 2006, There Are Now Three
On a typical frigid night in January, 138,000 children, according to the US 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 year since the recession.
The US: Near the Bottom in Education and Sinking
The US ranks near the bottom of the developed world in 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 US
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 t***h, in a way he and his wealthy friends would never admit.

skott Loc: Bama

It is truly sad. Too bad we can't go back to the taxation system of the 1950's and 1960's.

vernon

the wealth did not grow by that much you are going by the fed printing all all those trillions and obamas so called stimulas progroms.if anyone is starving blame your hero.

robmull Loc: florida

"Liberalism" has never come so close to turning America on [her] head as with the current "race-card" pulling administration; and changing the necessity to work for a living to NOT HAVING to work for a living has proven quite addictive; and VERY demoralizing. The anger in our streets is palpable. "Liberalism" NEVER has worked, and NEVER will. Judeo-Christianity ALWAYS has open-doors to ALL who are hungry for "bread," and Christ. "Man cannot live on bread alone" [Jesus].

Boo_Boo Loc: Jellystone

Where is the source for this? Is there a link? If so, post it.

Thank you

skott Loc: Bama

The dark ages were the strong point of Judeo-Christianity. How nice was that. You guys need to open a history book that was written before the current Conservatives.

JimMe

If the USA's Wealthy have gorged themselves that much IT HAS BEEN DURING THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION...

We need to BLAME THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION for allowing the Wealthy to Grow So Fat...

Its the OBAMA ADMINISTRATION THAT HAS ALLOWED THE D********G 60% INCREASE OF HOMELESS CHILDREN...

And We have 20 more months OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION'S DEPLORABLE ACTIONS...

bmac32 Loc: West Florida

PAUL BUCHHEIT is the i***t behind Gmail, a wealthy liberal.

Blade_Runner Loc: DARK SIDE OF THE MOON

Financier and CEO Peter Schiff said, "People don't go hungry in a capitalist economy."

Right, they don't, but in a socialist economy, people do go hungry. Thanks to liberalism and principally Obama's socialist agenda.

With the national debt of nearly $19 trillion added to unfunded liabilities our total indebtedness is now approaching $210 TRILLION.

93 million Americans no longer in the workforce (almost 1/3rd of our population)

Thousands of unsk**led, uneducated I*****L I*******TS swarming across our border every month to bleed us.

And, the list goes on.

"Socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." Winston Churchill

Boo_Boo Loc: Jellystone

There are problems with this report. First, has anyone read their links, specifically how they count those who are homeless? The next problem, the reason for one being homeless, and lastly what efforts have been taken to reduce the homeless population.

So, shall we begin. Although I could go back thousands of years to show that homelessness is part of the history of man, and is not a problem of just the USA, but is epidemic in all countries and remains pretty much stable in population. And like any human problem, there are ebbs and tides.. right now we are in a "growth" period. Homelessness has many reason, among industrialization, wars and subsequent problems, natural disasters, medical problems, widowhood, and the values of a nation as represented by their policies relating to the disenfranchised (systemic issues). For the past 7 years the unemployment rate of the US has remained exceptionally high. If people are not working, then they become dependent on the family or friends to provide for them. In times past, family did take in their relatives who had fallen on bad times, but we now live in a different world which is a subject for another time. Lacking family assistance or even when they have family who help, most go to the state or federal government to provide. This too has problems due to the many who grow accustomed to not working or looking for jobs. And finally, some just prefer to live nomadic lifestyles. And then there are the other reasons people become homeless... returning veterans from wars often have mental issues, not of their making and not something they signed on for, but Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome was not even recognized until WWII and was largely ignored until recent times. Without a support system, many of these men and women fell through the crack and were ignored. Anther issue that is not addressed in your report, spousal abuse in the home forcing a parent (and it is not just a problem for women) to flee with their children. According to statistics, 22 percent of homeless women fled abusive spouses, and it is not just heterosexual relations I reference.

To review, homelessness is a direct result of: unemployment, natural disaster, wars, medical problems, widowhood, abuse, and preference.

Let us now address what the Federal Government has done to address the issue. Back in the days of President Bush the homeless issue was elevated for the first time from the 1980s when people were sleeping on the streets of DC and was "scaring off" tourist. Yes, that was the reason it was addressed, DC was loosing tourist. Back to President Bush, well he recognized that the homeless were not seen as much but those people still existed and needed help. So he commissioned an investigation and asked for recommendations that could 1). Address the immediate problem and get emergency help to those in need and 2) establish a program that would address issues before the person became homeless. The discovery phase showed that not only is there a problem but it was and still is larger than you would expect. The following is from that discovery phase...mind you, this is information form the time of President Bush and the problem is worse now. "Homelessness in America is a “revolving-door” crisis. Many people exit homelessness quickly, but many more individuals become homeless every day. During a given year’s, four or five times as many people experience homelessness as are homeless on any particular day. On any given day, at least 800,000 people are homeless in the United States, including about 200,000 children in homeless families. Calculations from different sources show that at least 2.3 million people experienced homelessness at some time during an average year. Because more families with children than unpartnered people enter and leave homelessness during a year, families represent a relatively large share of the annual population. As a result, during a typical year, between 900,000 and 1.4 million children are homeless with their families." They developed a plan, first was the immediate relief program. States were given around 1 billion dollars to address homelessness in the state. And the requirement for aide was revised to allow those without a permanent address to receive ongoing assistance. And the work on Recovery Act investment plan was started, signed in 2009. Government moves slowly at times. Anyway, in this plan, expanded by Obama, there was a provision that was unchanged by the Obama Administration; "The Recovery Act investment of $1.5 billion in Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing did many things. It was a strong policy statement with real dollars attached that said we need to focus on prevention and rapid re-housing. It also gave communities needed funding during the economic downturn to stem the rising tide of family homelessness. It created a learning opportunity to determine which strategies deployed locally are the most successful in reducing the number of families entering shelter and the length of time they spend there. Today, the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds can be used for deploying similar strategies."

In the study mandated by President Bush are some strong recommendations which were largely eliminated from the signed Recovery Act included:

•Programs that negotiate with landlords and help with bad credit histories;
•Housing trust funds, rental assistance programs, and access to funds that can solve a household’s short-term problems, such as paying back rent, security deposits, and other moving expenses;
•Programs that encourage developers to build or renovate attractive, accessible properties; and help managers ensure good maintenance and repair; and
•Programs that help people develop personal and family financial management sk**ls, establish or reestablish good credit and rental histories, and retain housing
•Rebuild communities, especially the most troubled ones;
•Build more housing and subsidize the costs to make it affordable to people with incomes below the poverty level;
•Help more people afford housing, by providing them with better schools, better training, and better jobs; and
•Prevent the next generation of children from experiencing homelessness.

And the big one, stronger laws to force spouses to pay court order child support and provide stronger penalties for spousal abuse. The hope was to make it easier for the primary caretaker of children to have a better safety net and better protection by authorities.

Dave Loc: Upstate New York

About 75% of the world's population would consider themselves died and gone to heaven if they were able to live the life of American poverty

Nickolai

Really ? Do you have first hand experience on American poverty ?

buffalo Loc: Texas

We have spent nearly $6 TRILLION on illegal, unConstitutional, immoral warmongering on the phony war on terror and untold, unaccounted for billions (perhaps trillions) on the security and domestic spying police state that is destroying individual constitutional rights and freedoms all to enrich the banksters and military industrial corporations and yet we are told we cannot afford to feed, let alone take care of poor people and feed hungry children? The greedy corporate puppet politicians tell us that social spending is bankrupting the US? What is wrong with this picture folks?

Dave Loc: Upstate New York

Yes, I grew up on welfare and in public housing at a time when welfare was far less generous than it is today and before the idea that welfare was a right. Tell us about your experience with poverty.

Dave Loc: Upstate New York

What is wrong with this picture is a false depiction of us not feeding people - if there is a person who cannot get food they are either a neglected child or an adult who is mentally deficient