Sheldon wrote:
> resistance. The system is broken when it encourages people to not do
> anything to help themselves.
Here, buffoon-boy.
Now. You go prove that everyone who /wants/ to get out of poverty,
/can/ get out of poverty. No rhetoric. Facts. And the words
"everyone" and "wants" are not negotiable.
--Blair
http://www.omidyar.net/group/poverty/news/31/
By Jere L Hough (52), Mon, 16 Jan 2006 13:26:48 PST
Edited: Mon, 16 Jan 2006 13:27:53 PST
Comment feedback score: 0 +|-
Pam Omidyar began her topic on poverty with these words:
By Pam Omidyar (825), Fri, 19 Nov 2004 11:38:12 PST
OK, now I am going to copy from the Barnes and Noble site on this book
(quoted from the publisher):
FROM THE PUBLISHER
"As David K. Shipler makes clear in this study, the invisible poor are
engaged in the activity most respected in American ideology - hard,
honest work. But their version of the American Dream is a nightmare:
low paying, dead-end jobs; the profound failure of government to
improve upon decaying housing, health care, and education; the failure
of families to break the patterns of child abuse and substance abuse.
Shipler exposes the interlocking, problems by taking us into the
sorrowful, infuriating, courageous lives of the poor - white and black,
Asian and Latino, citizens and immigrants. We encounter them every day,
for they do jobs essential to the American economy." We meet drifting
farmworkers in North Carolina, exploited garment workers in New
Hampshire, illegal immigrants trapped in the steaming kitchens of Los
Angeles restaurants, addicts who struggle into productive work from the
cruel streets of the nation's capital - each life another aspect of a
confounding, far-reaching urgent national crises. And unlike most works
on poverty, this one delves into the calculations of some employers as
well - their razor-thin profits, their anxieties about competition from
abroad, their frustrations in finding qualified workers.
SYNOPSIS
No one who works hard in America should be poor, says journalist and
author Shipler, but he found many of them all across the country, and
delves as deeply into the cause and effect of their condition as they
would allow. Some he has followed for years now. One finding is that
the rise and fall of the nation's official economy has almost no impact
on them; another is that they have no time for rage. Annotation ©2004
Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
I think the above is one good starting place.
Here are some other thoughts on
Defining Poverty:
In America:
Poverty is a condition under which single individuals, or entire
families, do not have sufficient economic resources, or money income,
to pay for their basic needs. These needs include things such as food,
housing/shelter, utilities, health care, transportation, and clothing,
among others. In the United States, the Federal government establishes
what is commonly known as the poverty line.
Moving down along the income scale, the poverty line represents the
low-income level at which individuals and families begin to experience
serious difficulties when attempting to meet, or pay for, their basic
needs. The poverty line varies according to family size. Individuals
and families whose incomes fall at or under the poverty line are
considered to be living in poverty. A family whose income exactly
equals the established poverty line has an income that represents 100
percent of the poverty line. By the same token, a family whose income
is lower than the established poverty line has an income that
represents less than 100 percent of such line.
Each year the Federal Department of Health and Human Services revises
the poverty line to account for changes in the cost of living, as
measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), occurred during the
previous year. In addition, the Federal Department of Health and Human
Services publishes a list containing National poverty income guidelines
(a list of poverty lines that vary according to family size). For
example, for a family of 4, the poverty line for 1999 (based on annual
income) is $16,700, while for a family of 3 is $13,880.
In the world:
Wikipedia definition:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poverty Maslow:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow's_hierarchy_of_needs#Deficiency_needs
Physiological, safety, love/belonging/esteem Debt Related:
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Debt/Causes.asp
Trade Related Poverty:
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Poverty.asp
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/FairTrade.asp
Very Good site on Causes:
http://www.gdrc.org/icm/poverty-causes.htm
Corporate Causes:
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Corporations.asp
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Corporations/Rise.asp
Peter Townsend (Poverty In the United Kingdom, 1979) defined poverty as
following:
"Individuals, families and groups in the population can be said to be
in poverty when they lack the resources to obtain the types of diet,
participate in the activities and have the living conditions and
amenities which are customary, or at least widely encouraged or
approved, in societies to which they belong. Their resources are so
seriously below those commanded by the average individual or family
that they are in effect, excluded from the ordinary living patterns,
customs and activities."
For my part, I would say that a basic definition of poverty is the
chronic inability for families to obtain the necessities of leading a
healthy and dignified life, even if one or all able family members are
working or seeking work.
I would further say that those in poverty have very few assets, and are
living hand to mouth without savings, or any ability to get by if
disaster or serious illness occurred.
