Good article

[velvetpage]

http://www.alternet.org/workplace/43778/

Excerpt: "I wrote this book because I love this country, and I think America is a gift. Its greatest gift is this: people have come here from all over the world, and all they expected to do was work hard. And what they hoped was that their work would be rewarded. What they dreamed about was that their kids were going to do better than they were. That was the American Dream. And despite a civil war, two world wars, recessions, depressions, the American Dream has survived. Until now."

Comments

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

"I AM saying that what is considered "poor" has changed, and that the poor in America are still a hell of a lot better off than the poor anywhere else."

True. Does that mean we can effectively ignore their problems? If their children are hungry, or alone, or lacking the attention they need to stay in school, or sick with no medical care, we still have a social obligation to them. It's unconscionable that CEOs are making hundreds of times more than their lowest-paid workers. Capitalism is supposed to bring us all up. It doesn't. It's failing, badly, and the people who are being failed by it are the ones at the bottom, with people telling them they have choices and don't have to live as they do. Somebody SHOW them their choices. Somebody TEACH them how to manage. Somebody give them the necessary safety net in terms of health care so that one bad illness won't wipe out everything they have. Choices require a baseline. They require that the person believe they can make a difference in their own life, and they require an investment to get started - possibly a small investment of time and resumé-printing, possibly a bigger investment in moving house, but an investment. Who is helping them? (Answer: not enough people, to judge by the stats themselves.)

The stats I gave point out differences in home education levels. The students without computers are much less likely to pass the standardized testing in grade three; the students with computers counted amongst themselves all of the top achievers and many of the middle achievers. The students with no books of their own were also much more likely to fail. It goes back to resources. You and I would be capable of raising literate kids without the frills, because we know how to access the resources of our community and we have the skills to make do. These parents are not like that. They don't have the mental, emotional, or physical resources to provide a nurturing and educational environment for their kids. As a result, they're raising the next generation of working-poor and welfare-dependent adults. But give a kid access to these things at home - newspapers, books, or a computer - and suddenly their chances of meeting success skyrocket.

[merlyn4401.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell, we aren't ignoring their problems. There are oh my god number of government programs in place to help families. Head Start, free breakfasts and lunches at school, free clinics exist in every medium to large city to help with vaccinations and basic medical care. The resources are THERE. Now, whether people know they exist or know to use them, or even want to use them, is another question altogether.

And how much do drugs, alcohol, crime, etc factor into the inability to get going? Drugs are rampant among the poor. What about not using birth control? And having babies right and left? Having 6 babies by 6 different men is not helpful either. The existence of poverty and the continuation of poverty go well beyond the availability and effeciency of government programs. I would suspect a lot of it has to do with people not having the capability to see the consequences of the decisions they make.

" It's unconscionable that CEOs are making hundreds of times more than their lowest-paid workers" No, it's not. Those CEOs provide thousands of jobs, and make our economy go. Not only do they provide thousands of jobs in their own companies, but they provide thousands more jobs in other businesses that they use. Walmart, for example, keeps who knows how many advertisers, truckers, paper supply companies, construction workers, environmentalists, etc in business. Capitalism is not about leveling the playing field - that's socialism. Capitalism is about people helping themselves, and using good work ethic, ingenuity, responsibility, and determination to get ahead.