(no subject)

[velvetpage]

This is so depressing, and so NOT surprising.

When generational poverty is well into its third century; when education is seen as something the rich, white folks get; when that education pointedly excludes such basic health information as sex ed, including birth control and how to protect from STDs; when bureaucrats see medicaid as a series of caseloads to be reduced, rather than as communities of people who know of no other way to live; when people pull out "personal responsibility" as an excuse for cutting people off of the only health care they have any possible access to, without offering any help to replace that health care or get the kind of job that would provide it; is it any wonder that babies are dying needlessly, in much higher numbers than they should be in what is, theoretically, the richest nation on the planet?

Comments

[dagoski.livejournal.com]

I think we(my fellow countryfolk) need to puncture the idea that we are the richest nation in the world. If you clipped off the rest of the country, the Northeast and the West Coast would definitely qualify. But the South? Egads... I don't think it's so much the political situation down there as the simple lack of economic activity. That's one of the prime motivators for pork in the Federal Budget. It's the only way politicians can bring money down into their districts. Shortsighted, but they're operating in crisis.

And, anyway, it's not like the West Coast can claim to be any promised land either. They've probably got one of the widest gaps between haves and have nots with the cost of living hurting anyone who is not rich. California in particular has problems in finding money for social programs due to Proposition 13. We've got a lot of wealth in the states, but it's concentrated in only a few hands and the anti-tax initiatives that went through other states have hurt anyone who has to rely on public infrastructure.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Even if you get rid of that notion, you're still left with a country that is fairly well-off by pretty much every objective measure - and yet, the infant mortality rate is climbing instead of falling.