The number of people that are poor and in poverty is increasing dramatically...

[kentuck]

Yet, neither Party wants to talk about the poor. They talk about the "squeeze" on the "middle class". That is all fine and dandy but what about the people that are struggling to find food and shelter?

There was a time when the Democratic Party would talk openly about helping the poor. But for some reason, they took poverty off their agenda? It's time to start talking about it again, in my opinion.

[darkangel218]

1. I completely agree. nt

[LWolf]

2. The two are related.

As the middle class disappears, the ranks of the poor grow larger. An expanding middle class means a shrinking number of poor.

Personally, I'd like to make poverty extinct. So it would be great if tptb would actually acknowledge the poor.

[DJ13]

5. I'd like to expand the middle class from both the poor and the 1%

[LWolf]

8. Yes, I was thinking that.

In order to significantly expand the middle class from the ranks of the poor, the 1% are going to have to give up some of their wealth.

There's not that many of them, but they sure pack a bigger punch when it comes to resources.

For each 1% that moved down the elevator into the middle class, how many could move up?

[Skittles]

13. see, you need to rephrase it differently

saying the 1% needs to give up some of their wealth sounds like we are TAKING from them - they simply need to GIVE BACK WHAT WAS OURS before GREED took over

[winter is coming]

14. I wonder how the Walton family would react if there were billboards nationwide,

pointing out how much money they have and how many of their employees need food stamps?

Same for the Koch brothers: a picture saying, "This man thinks the minimum wage is should be abolished. His hourly wage: $XXX."

[Skittles]

19. OMG I saw an ad last night about the REAL Walmart

how GREAT THEY are because they DONATE FOOD to food banks!! WTF - if someone steals 10,000 bucks from me they are not off the hook because they donate ten bucks to the food bank

[kentuck]

15. Also, I would add...

..that they took it via our tax codes. We need to reform the tax laws and we need to ask these people to pay their fair share. If they want to leave the USA, don't let the door hit them in the ass on the way out. They are not keeping any jobs in the USA because of their generous spirits.

[Skittles]

20. CORRECT

[Dustlawyer]

23. Now look here! The 1% paid good money for those politicians to change the laws to favor

the 1% for the last 35-40 years! They did it fair and square, to the politician's campaigns and Super Pacs, so you'd be stealing from them!


Sarcasm included!

[Skittles]

25. true

I know they think they "earned" their wealth while the rest of us, you know, need to stop whining

[LWolf]

24. You're right. nt

[leftstreet]

3. Politicians don't want impoverished people voting for them

Then they'd be expected to actually do something about poverty

[SoCalDem]

4. Like a snowball speeding down a mountain

It gathers momentum as it heads downhill..

What we have is the "largest generation" aging steadily, and being more and more tentative and fearful as they age. How do I know this? I AM one of them.

Boomers grew up believing that they (we) truly were going to succeed, and many of us did, but millions more just did okay...not great, but okay. Okay works for a while, but not forever.

They got jobs, had kids, bought houses & cars.... did all the things they/we were "expected" to do. They saw THEIR parents (for the most part) being able to retire after 25- 30 years at a job (career), and they expected that their turn would also come. We all learned, as children, to "take turns".

What they (we) did NOT see coming, was that their parents would be the LAST of a two-generation, pre/post-WWII experiment, and that things would be very different at the end of their own lives...and whatever they had planned for their own children would not be happening (for most of them).

None of this happened overnight, but time has a way of accumulating things, and when many/most of us were not paying close attention, the "rules of the game" were being changed. We morphed into a dog-eat-dog society, where grabbing & getting is valued more than caring & sharing. We are a society that worships wealth & acquisition, and that scorns failure to achieve them.

Most of society still clings to the belief that if they work hard, they too will succeed, but the tools to succeed are increasingly withheld from them.

Virtually zero interest on money saved, invisible (and incorrectly reported) inflation , multiple recessions, stagnant/decreasing wages, a diploma with a $40K+ debt attached, stripped-away home equity, crushed unions, dissolved/unfunded pensions, downsized/outsourced jobs (and healthcare along with them) ...all of these have been things we have had to deal with at the same time as the children of boomers struggle with their inability to afford college, find jobs, homes of their own, or even dare to fall in love & marry.

These younger ones are afraid & unable to grow up, and millions of them never left home or if they did, many have had to return. Often they are returning to homes of Boomer-parents who got the triple-whammy of having their grown up kids still with them, at the time in their lives that their own elderly parents are declining, and are with them as well..or are receiving financial help from them. This is happening to them as they lose their own jobs and health/wealth.

A robust family (early on) that could support them all on one full-time job and one part-time job (or no other job, if Mom stayed home with the kids) is now stretched to the max, with no relief in sight.

The pensions of old, were replaced by gambling on 401-ks which have spectacularly underperformed and the ubiquitous pink-slip at age 50-something.

Our economy has been regularly scrubbed (of wealth) by the ones at the tippy top of society because they have the tools and the know-how to repeatedly do it, and because they feel entitled to have it all..

Soon there will be more "room" when the Boomers have passed on. Hopefully, that "room" will allow for truly National Healthcare for ALL, and with that, a society where people are free to quit a lousy job, and when people can start businesses because they do not have to get benefits from an employer. Maybe there will be a more bold and activist group that will emerge, ready to really shake things up, and start to take back from the takers-at-the-top.

I won't be here to see it happen, but I really hope it happens for our country.

[DJ13]

7. That should be its own thread

Great summary.

[SoCalDem]

9. done

[mick063]

6. There is no stronger method for combating poverty than large middle class.

The middle class fuels the economy and fills the coffers of government.
When those in poverty are uplifted, they join the middle class.

The reason people talk about putting a halt to diminishing the middle class is because it is the solution to mitigating poverty as well.

[Scuba]

10. We have two Parties? Who knew?

[KT2000]

11. I would love to see

how many people within the new poverty group are there as a result of chronic illness. When that happens the paychecks stop and it is a quick slide into poverty.
Of course, there are attacks on people who are on disability as if they are scammers but the truth is - there are a lot of sick people in this country that no one wishes to acknowledge.

[caseymoz]

12. Coming soon: Caste System

The poor are being written off, and unfortunately, the wealthy now believe the security apparatus is in place to do it. That's what I think.

[OnlinePoker]

16. Saw a little poem on Reddit this morning

Republicans are Red
Democrats are Blue
Neither party
Gives a fuck about you.

[winter is coming]

18. I've seen it expressed differently:

"One party does its best to keep you down. The other won't break a sweat to help you up. Either way, you're in the shit."

[Autumn]

17. If they consider the "middle class" being squeezed what do these idiots think is happening

to the poor? Things are getting worse for them. They don't seem to give a shit cause all they can talk about is cutting the safety net for the poor. Hypocrites.

[kentuck]

21. Exactly!

And there is nothing left to squeeze out of the poor and those already in poverty.

[bvar22]

22. The LAST time "The Poor" were mentioned as an ISSUE for the Democratic Party...

...was the day John Edwards resigned from Campaign 2008.
The POOR, andThe "Two Americas", as an issue for the Democratic Party
DIED that day.

[Autumn]

26. I think Democrats have started to believe in the trickle down theory

The rich do well it trickles down to the middle class, middle class does well it trickles down to the poor.

After all these years of trickle down I think most of us on the lower tier have learned that the trickle down we are feeling sure is warm and yellow.

[bvar22]

27. You said it.

"Trickle Down", an era of deregulation, "Free Trade", "Free Markets", Privatization of The Commons, and the invention of the giant "Invisible Hand", started 30 years ago under Reagan,
and has continued steadily through both Democratic & Republican administrations.
NeoLiberal Economics ("Trickle Down&quot is one of the FEW issues upon which the current "Centrist" Leadership of the Democratic Party AND Republican Party absolutely AGREE with each other. The ONLY opposition to these NeoLiberal "Trickle Down" policies comes from the Far Left Fringe Wing of the Democratic Party,
and 3RD Parties that shall remain un-named.

NeoLiberal "Free Trade", "Free Market" policies has been EXPOSED as nothing more than a 30 year Transfer of Wealth from the Working Class TO the 1% Ownership Class.

If YOU Work for a Living do NOT trust ANYONE who advocates for MORE "Free Trade".
THAT person is NOT your friend.


You will know them by their [font size=3]WORKS.[/font]

[undergroundpanther]

28. I'm sick of hearing about the fucking middle class

Poverty is really suffering,and frankly it lets some poor people delude themselves into thinking they are middle class when actually like most people they're working class or working poor.

Isn't middle class an income of 80,000 to 100,000 range?
They might barely feel a pinch. But not the million cuts the poor feel.

[Wilms]

29. ^