The latest numbers emerged from the federal government. Although the recession technically ended, someone should tell the rest of America. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage report for 2010, poverty increased to 15.1 percent in 2010.

A total of 46.2 million people are in poverty, the highest number since the government started tracking poverty in the 1950s. “Income down, poverty up, health insurance coverage down or flat,” said Ron Haskins, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, in a statement.

“The news on economic well-being in the U.S. is not good. Worse, children’s poverty increased for the fourth year in a row and at 22 percent is the highest since 1993. Child poverty has been higher than the 2010 level in only three years since the mid-1960s.” Poverty is defined by family size and income.

The federal government considers a family of four with annual earnings of less than $22,314 to be poor. In 2010, 9.2 million families lived in poverty, up from 8.8 million in 2009. Poverty increased among every racial and ethnic group except Asian Americans.  The share of white Americans living in poverty grew to 13 percent, up from 12.3 percent in 2009.

African Americans and Latinos saw similar increases in poverty and remained significantly more likely to be poor than whites. In 2010, black poverty climbed to 27.4 percent from 25.8 percent in 2009, and Latino poverty reached 26.6 percent, up from 25.3 percent in 2009.

The uninsured continues to rise as well. The share of Americans covered by private health insurance continued its decade-long fall. Nearly 50 million Americans lacked health insurance in 2010, an increase of 900,000 from the previous year. The number of Americans who participate in a government health insurance program, however, continued its four-year climb.

Alice O’Connor, a historian at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of “Poverty Knowledge: Social Science, Social Policy and the Poor in Twentieth Century U.S. History,” said explanations for rising poverty often focus on the work ethic and personal choices of the poor.

But since the Great Recession, she said, a growing number of Americans have come to understand that the availability of living-wage jobs plays a large role in determining a family’s economic state. Despite that recognition, O’Connor said many still fail to understand the role social policies — such as those that make collective bargaining difficult or tax income from work and investments differently — contribute to increased poverty.

She noted that public health insurance programs for poor children and adults and cash welfare assistance, among other social safety net measures, have seen significant cuts in many cash-strapped states. And many workers — particularly men — are effectively earning less than they did three decades ago, while also lacking access to health insurance and other benefits. ”

What we are looking at today is really the result of decades of eroded protections for workers and just a declining number of good jobs,” said O’Connor.

The article Poverty in The US on the Rise appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

I have waited a few days out of respect for 9/11 to say my piece. Although like everyone else, the images and memories of 9/11 are forever with me, I don’t have the same feeling about it as most others. Celebrating the ten year anniversary does not make me particular proud to be an American.

All over Facebook and in the media, people use the anniversary as a way to celebrate the fact that our country survived the worst terrorist attack on American soil. But, did we survive? To me, it seemed like our nation’s complete mentality changed on that day. Instead of hope and optimism, we became scared. No longer wanting to help others or welcome immigrants, we became paranoid.

Every day, it becomes increasingly difficult to find a reason to be proud to be an American. Yes, we like to say that phrase, especially on anniversaries of horrific tragedies and holidays, but are we really proud? The income gap continues to grow in our country, as we become a banana republic where only the wealthy one percent has any power.

More than 45,000 uninsured Americans are uninsured and with no healthcare, children die of treatable diseases. We execute poor men who have been railroaded because they cannot afford lawyers while letting rich men off scot-free even though their greed caused the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression.

We start two wars to fight against an idea and a small sect of radical fundamentalists. We are restricting voting rights to millions of Americans because suddenly Jim Crow laws are back in vogue. We hate a particular religious group because men who perverted their religion were responsible for 9/11 while our own “Christian” religion has become an instrument of hate.

In 2008, it almost seemed like maybe we were letting go of the 9/11 post apocalyptical period. Maybe we could have hope and change and move forward from that day. We elected our first black president, even though he is only 50 percent black. But, the last three years, things have become even worse.

Instead of focusing on the growing unemployment and recession, we worry about a pretend Mosque in New York City or where the President was born. Nothing is accomplished because the focus remains on the negative. The last decade has been bleak. My twenties were spent in a country that seemed comparable to communist Russia.

The media controls the message and the message has been on asinine stuff for ten years, so that the simpletons won’t become enraged at the direction of our country. Let’s focus on Angelina Jolie and Kim Kardishan so no one will notice how many rights we have lost. Pay attention to gay marriage, abortion and those damn welfare mothers who are taking your money so you don’t notice billionaires like the Koch Brothers who are controlling politics and court decisions while raping your mother.

I can only hope that the color will return to our country now that we have survived the first decade after the terrorists shot down our hope and dreams. However, I don’t really see it. Yes, we survived. But, we aren’t any better for it. We did not get any stronger after this tragedy.

We became scared little kids and I am not proud to be an American in 2011. Not even a little bit. I know our country can do so much better. We can help out neighbors and preach love instead of hate. I know we have the ability to do it, but we are so far away from that vision of America. I don’t know if I will see it in my lifetime.

 
Lightcraft Studio / Shutterstock.com

The article Op-Ed: Not Proud to be American appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.