Sunday, December 04, 2011

99 Report for Awopradio Sunday December 4th : Focus on Poverty in America and How it is Effecting Our Children and Youth


"I want you to be concerned about your next door neighbor. Do you know your next door neighbor?"~~Mother Teresa
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Numbers Tell The Story...MIC CHECK:::
22-29 Million Children Living in Poverty....in America
8 Million Foreclosed since 2008 and 4 Million more due to Foreclose...In America
49 Million People on Foodstamps....In America
46 Million Living in Poverty....in America
One in Four Children go to Bed Hungry....In America

You can listen to the Full 99 Report here at Beginning of AWOPradio show 7PM EST.
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If we are to talk about the 99% that the Right would love to paint as Losers, Worthless Hippies, try redirecting their focus. Explain to them that the past ten years have not been kind to Our Children or our Youth. That we now have more children living in Poverty then we have had in over 80 years. They also are growing up in Poverty, facing issues such as Homelessness, Joeblessness. This Holiday Season Store Santas are now being trained as to what to say to Children that are asking for a Job for Mommy or a Home. For People who don't understand the 99 Percent or the Problems that the 99 % and Occupy are trying to Highlight, need a Wake Up Call. They need to be told the Numbers and the Truth.

The Mortgage Crisis has made living conditions for Children a nightmare with no security and no permanance. One Crisis that has not been properly dealth with is that many of these displaced families have nowhere to go, they don't have the money or the credit rating to even rent. They are forced to live in their car or flea bag hotels because most Homeless Shelters do not allow families, they are divided by genders. They often don't know where they are sleeping that night or what or if they will get to eat.

Food Insecurity is the new Fancy Term the Government is using for HUNGER. The Numbers are staggering. 49 Million Americans now on FoodStamps. 40% of those are Children.

From News Change.Org ( who is monitoring and measuring Poverty in America), They have more on the shocking stats of Children in Poverty.

SNIPPET:::
And that's only those who technically live in poverty — at or under the U.S. poverty line, which is $22,050 for a family of four. But a study from the Economic Policy Institute shows that families need more than twice that, at least $48,778, to meet basic living expenses. When we take into account all the families who are struggling to meet these basic needs — defined as low-income families — the number poor children jumps to 29 million, or 41 percent of all American children.The poverty rate is higher for children than any other age group. Children make up 26 percent of the population, but they are 39 percent of the people who live in poverty. Every day, 2,660 children are born into poverty.

While many still think of homeless people as single adult men, children and families are actually the fastest growing group among the homeless, making up 40 percent of the homeless population. One in 50 children in the U.S. is currently homeless.
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LEARN MORE HERE:::
(1) National Center for Children in Poverty.
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(2) Feeding America has more about WHO is Hungry and how you can help, and the Actual Stats of Hunger.
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(3) CBS has been doing an amazing series about Children Living in Poverty
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(4) Current GOP plans would shove 50 Million more into poverty, read more here and remember to VOTE...
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(5) Read more about Poverty in America and Learn more here, about how extensive this hidden crisis is...
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(6) DO Read this excellent Daily Kos post by Erika , or @BeautyVault on how OccupyCleveland is bringing focus to Foreclosures and it's impact, on working class families and why it needs more attention...and why it is a Crisis in America.

(7) And then there is this from Miranda Leitsinger ( with MSNBC and Rachel Maddow, and the Maddow Blog ) , Miranda included in her story the Foreclosure Mess in Cleveland and how the Occupy Movement is trying to spotlight this deplorable issue...her story includes how OccupyCleveland came to help a single mome fight for her home...incredibly moving. ( In October I canvassed so many hundreds of homes, and seeing so many empty homes and notes left on the doors and toys in the yard...it was heartbreaking, I am glad that this issue is finally getting Media coverage.)
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If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.
Mother Teresa

4 comments:

Taradharma said...

Gulp. Shocking stats. Imagine this happening in this country. The land of "Family Values." Love to see the politicians, or 'leaders' come up with a plan to feed, house, clothe and educate America's children.

I recently saw a documentary on foster youth in California....something like 70 percent of all prisoners in the state were foster children.

Anybody HOME?

enigma4ever said...

Oh Tara....
I know I read these and I see them everyday and I was shocked..and on another level I am not..I have seen folks sleeping in their cars..and the kids...I know which ones are hurting you can see it in their eyes..you know at the grocery store families don't shop together..it's too painful...

and about the Foster Youth, in January we have a woman on who is the director of the Orange Duffle Bag org, that is an organization that raises support and money for Homeless Foster youth that have aged out of the system...it's a really good program...but sadly that they were foster children doesn't shock me...its horrible though..

Enigma4ever said...

66% of American make less than $40,000 a year.
.05% of Americans make more than $1 million a year.
The top 20% of Americans control 93% of total financial wealth; 1% controls 43%, and the next 19% controls 50%.
This leaves the bottom 80% controlling only 7% of total financial wealth.
25 million people in this country can’t find a full-time job.
50 million people in the U.S.A. live without health insurance.
47 million people in this country need government help in order to feed themselves.
15 million families owe more on their mortgage than the value of their home.
More than 8 Million people lost their homes in the foreclosure crisis so far.
The U.S. housing market has lost an estimated $4.9 trillion dollars, as 59 million homes have declined in value.

References:
U.S.A approximate numbers (U.S. Census): population, 312.7 million; work force population, 153.8 million; number of households, 117.5 million
Inequality and the Common Good, Institute for Policy Studies.
Wealth Income and Power, by G. William Domhoff, UC Santa Cruz.
The Rising Age Gap in Economic Well-Being; The Old Prosper Relative to the Young, By D’Vera Cohn, Gretchen Livingston, Paul Taylor, and Richard Fry.

Enigma4ever said...

numbers above from OccupyCleveland