Can your reply to my reply?
Ted - Capitalism has not been able to cure us of that underclass.
Tim - Because the underclass is defined in relative terms. If the economy as a whole had 100 times as much real wealth and the underclass had 20 times, than most individuals, including most individuals in the "underclass" would be financially better off, but official statistics would show a large underclass and a greater disparity in wealth.
Tim, the reason I didn't respond to your comment is because it didn't have any bearing on what I am calling an underclass. It seems you do not understand how poverty is defined. It's not a ratio btween the poor and the rich, but rather the amount of money that is needed a reasonable standard of living.
And again, I repeat.....capitalism has failed to cure poverty.....and I will take it one step further......in fact, capitalism in the US is leading to a bigger gap between the rich and the poor.
Also "There is no great degree of starvation in the US.", is simply true. There might be people who go hungry every now and than, or get very low quality food but there is no great degree of starvation in the US.
Sure the favelas in Brazil or the tin shacks in Mexico are worse then our slums, but not by much.
Third world poverty is far worse than the poverty anywhere in the US.
Yes, its worse. But the difference is not as great as you might think
And our poor do not live better than doctors in third world countries.
If you compare a typical recipient of public assistance (not the homeless living on the street, or some other selection of the poorest of the poor in the US) to a doctor in the poorest countries in the world (Not Brazil or India, but something like Malawi or Sierra Leone), I'll think you'll find that you are wrong.
Sorry but I don't believe that's true.....in general.......but again, what does it matter. The situation that people are barely making it in the worst slums of American cities is not marginalized at all because they may or may not be living better than MDs in poor countries.
You and other Republicans don't seem to have a clue how difficult survival is in the poorest ghettos of American cities. It only takes disasters like Katrina to put the poorest people out on the streets. There are people who can barely keep up when times are good. Its really a shame that compassion is in such short supply in your world.
ted |
