Tag Archives: poverty

Business/Economics, International

Government Evil: Britain allows 65 people per day to freeze to death! Number is three times what government officially reported!

“These figures are horrifying. You can’t call yourself a developed country and allow this many people to die from living in cold homes….These deaths are totally preventable. This is perhaps the greatest test of whether this government has an ounce of true compassion and moral fiber.”-Ed Matthew, Transform UK

An investigation revealed that the U.K. government lies about how many people die from freezing to death in their own homes!  Officially they said 2,700 people died in the winter of 2010/2011.  The actual number is more than 7,800!

More than 7,800 people allowed to freeze to death because they did not have the money to pay for home heating fuel!!!  That’s about 65 people per day!

The independent investigation used the UN’s World Heath Organization’s (WHO) Fuel Poverty death data. According to the U.K.’s Office of National Statistics 25,700 people died during the 2010/2011 winter.  The data from WHO says 30%-40% of those are directly attributed to people not being able to heat their homes.  That’s far more than the 10% estimate used by the lying and uncaring right wing warmongering monarchy loving British government.

“It is completely outrageous that the Big Six energy firms are able to rake in eye watering profits as people up and down the country are forced to choose between heating their homes and feeding their families! Through over charging customers, including the most vulnerable in society, the energy companies are driving people into fuel poverty!”-Caroline Lucas, Member of Parliament

Home heating fuel poverty is when a person has to spend 10% or more on their home heating.  Under that standard I think many people in the United States are suffering from Home Heating Fuel Poverty.

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International, U.S.

More proof the Occupy movement is right: When cost of living is included almost 50% of Americans are poor, yet the top 10% got big pay raises in 2010 and their employers lied about it

According to corporate research firm Global Market Insight (GMI), Corporate America’s CEOs got big raises in 2010, even though many companies did not perform well!

The CEOs of the top 500 companies got as much as a 36.5% increase in pay. The next 3,000 U.S. corporations gave their CEOs a pay raise averaging 27%!  Researchers with GMI said they were surprised, and considered the pay increases way out of line with the poor performance of many of the companies.

This news comes at the same time the U.S. Census Bureau is unofficially calling almost half of the population of the United States poor!

“SPM rates were higher than official poverty rates in 2010, overall and for most groups”-Brookings/Census Bureau Meeting on Improved Poverty Measurment, November 7, 2011

The new poverty statistics take into account “nondiscretionary” cost of living expenses such as income taxes, child care, health care, commuting to work, etc.  When cost of living is factored in it raises the official number of poor people in the U.S.

The “official” poverty surveys consider before tax income only!  This means the “official” poverty numbers have been way off for decades.  However, the Census Bureau says the new SPM poverty numbers “Will not replace the official poverty measure” and “Will not be used for resource allocation or program eligibility”!

The new SPM numbers also include some types of welfare benefits a family might be getting, plus child support, and yet even with that data the number of poor people still went higher than the “official” poverty numbers.  This is more evidence of how inaccurate the “official” count is, and how rampant poverty is in the U.S.!

The new data was released on November 7, 2011, yet I don’t recall any mainstream U.S. media reporting it. The data covers the year 2010 only, it’s called Supplemental Poverty Measure: 2010 (SPM).

When using the SPM (aka Improved Poverty Measure) a big jump in the number of poor people were found in the age group of 18 to 64 year olds.  But the biggest jump in poverty was found in the age group of people 65 years or older.

If I read the Census Bureau graphs correctly (and if I understood the Bureaus’ explanations of how they figured it), when you add the “official” poverty numbers to the new SPM numbers you get 146.4 million people who are poor  (49.1 million “officially” poor + 97.3 million SPM poor).  Even if you go by just the new SPM data that’s nearly 100 million poor people in the U.S.

Officially there are 312 million people in the United States.

Back to Corporate America’s big pay raises for their CEOs.

The top earning CEO in 2010 was John Hammergen of McKesson Corporation, getting $145 million, not counting his stock options or retirement benefits!  According to GMI, McKesson has essentially lied about how much they paid Hammergen.  They reported they paid Hammergen only (hmph, ‘only’) $46.1 million.

GMI researchers said McKesson refused to explain the difference.  GMI says Hammergen not only got $145 million in pay, he got $112 million in stock options, a retirement plan worth $13.5 million, and, if he ever got fired his severance package is worth $469 million! For getting fired!!! And the right wing neo-conservative ass holes complain about the average unemployed worker being on unemployment pittance (it certainly is not a “benefit”)!!!

Just like it says in HR 1905, we are slaves!

 

Business/Economics, U.S.

Class War: Occupy Wall Street protests escalate, more than 700 arrested after Brooklyn Bridge blocked, hundreds arrested in Boston, Occupy Chicago continues, Occupy Los Angeles grows

“Over 700 summonses and desk appearance tickets have been issued in connection with a demonstration on the Brooklyn Bridge late this afternoon after multiple warnings by police were given to protesters to stay on the pedestrian walkway, and that if they took roadway they would be arrested.”-official police statement

October 1, what had to be several thousands of protestors took over the Brooklyn Bridge.  It had to be several thousand because New York city police say they arrested more than 700 of them.  The bridge is now open to vehicular traffic.

“This is our Tahrir Square. We’ll stay here for months if we have to.”-Emilio Baez, Chicago protestor

The protests in Chicago, Illinois, are now a week old.  At lest 30 people are protesting in front of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.  The protestors are calling for the end of the Federal Reserve.

“We had to set a stand to let Bank of America know they cannot foreclose on families and put them out on the street.”-Carolyn Grant, Boston protester

In Boston, Massachusetts, about one hundred people were arrested during protests in front of Bank of America’s headquarters. Reports vary on the number of protestors, from several hundred to more than 3,000!

Boston cops made statements that revealed their true attitude: “They wanted to be arrested, and we obliged.”-Edward F. Davis, Boston police Commissioner

In Los Angeles, California, several hundred people continued the on again off again, Occupy LA protests, by marching to city hall.  No arrests were made, people driving by joined in by honking their horns.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Business/Economics, International

Class War: Studies reveal Money does make you happier, but it only drives you to want more

A Chinese newspaper gathered data from studies done around the world, about wealth, and the people who have it, and found that many common myths about having lots of money are false.

I always heard that “money doesn’t buy happiness”, turns out that’s a lie. One study, by Justin Wolfers and Betsey Stevenson, concluded:

1) Rich people are happier than poor people.

2) Richer countries are happier than poorer countries.

3) As countries get richer, they tend to get happier.

However, Psychologist David Myers says the degree of happiness depends on the relative disparity between the rich and the poor.  Apparently the more impoverished a country is, the more happier the rich bastards become (is that why Wall Street is trying to take down main street U.S.A.?).

Also, University of Michigan researcher Ronald Inglehart discovered that once a person becomes wealthy, it takes even more and more money to keep them happy, like a drug addict (again, is that why Wall Street is trying to take down main street U.S.A.?).

What about the myth of suicides and rich people losing their money?  Many people think of the Crash of ’29, when supposedly dozens of people jumped to their deaths, from their high rise offices, after losing all their money in the stock markets.

While some rich people do kill themselves, people living in poverty are still more likely to end it all.  Several studies have been done, including by the UN World Health Organization, and they conclude that the majority of suicides involve people living in rural (poor) areas!

U.S. deaths are caused by poverty…. about the same as deaths from heart attacks and stroke, study finds

The Global Social Crisis: Report on the World Social Situation 2011

Every Thirty Minutes: Farmer Suicides, Human Rights, and the Agrarian Crisis in India

Poverty, Mental Illness and Suicide Linked

 

Business/Economics, Idaho, Opinion, U.S.

What Economic Recovery? Idaho Poverty rates highest in the U.S., new report also insults single parents

“We need to really be concerned about the growing number of children in poverty. Our poverty rates are growing faster than the rest of the nation and that has long-term consequences.”-Lauren Necochea, Idaho Kids Count

The latest Kids Count survey found Idaho leading the country in poverty rates for children.  The national average is 18%, from 2000 to 2009.  During the same time period, Idaho’s poverty rate hit 29%!

To make things worse Idaho politicians are slashing and burning federally funded social programs.

Other bad news from the survey: Idaho teens who drop out of school, and are unemployed, are increasing year after year, 8% in 2008, 9% in 2009.

The Kids Count report also says teen deaths are on the increase.
Strangely the report considers single parent families to be a bad thing! It says single parent families are on the increase, but my own experience shows that is not a bad thing!  I’m a single parent and raised three children who were A/B students in grade school, now they’re all working adults, with two of them also taking part time college courses.  They have their own newer model cars, one is a homeowner, another is a landlord (on top of her job and going to college).  Tell me how being a single parent hurt my kids!