The Real Deficit

Our media constantly has pundits declaring how terrible our country's financial deficit is.Talk shows from the right and left bemoan the fact that our federal and state governments often spend more than their revenues. Yet, at the same time the pundits and we alike demand tax and often spending cuts. When asked what to cut those in government never suggest that the legislators themselves should take pay cuts. Instead the legislators and governors and presidents suggests that others must bite the bullet and sacrifice. The pompous legislators on the right often attack social security, medicare, and medicaid benefits and demand that they be cut or eliminated. The left leaning legislators and administrators demand that social programs are sacrosanct and cannot be cut, but that waste must be cut. The problem is that waste is often not identified so it cannot be reduced even if desired. Both the left and right leaning groups agree that more well paying jobs are needed but neither side explains how this will be accomplished. The background music changes , wars come and go, jobs are shipped overseas by large corporations, and the people continue to sink into a lower standard of living as our population increases. This represents the "Real Deficit". Human poverty increases in the uSA as politicians scramble to blame each other and argue rather than attempt to improve the lives of all citizens.

The US Dept of Census just released a report stating that the US poverty rate is 14.3%. This means that the average income per person living in poverty is approximately $5,500 per year for up to a family of four.About 51 million citizens of the USA are in this category and many more millions are barely treading water above the poverty standard of about $5,500 dollars annually. The population of our country is now over 310,000,000 and growing each moment. How will those now borne exist if they become entrapped by poverty because adequate jobs are not available, and poverty increases. Since 1960 our population has increased by nearly 35 million people. In 1960 approximately 36 million men women and children lived at or near poverty earning an average of under $120 per month per person or about $1,400 annually. At that time a household typically had one wage earner, so it was common for a family of three or four to live in poverty with about $1,400 annually. Since 1960 we have added about 35 million people to our population and nearly 15 million more people have are now living in poverty in the USA. Almost half of the population increase entered poverty roles between 1960 and now. The increasing number of poor people living in poverty in our country represents the REAL DEFICIT.

If the trend continues by 2050 when the estimated population of the USA reaches 415 billion approximately 100 million US citizens will be living in poverty. One in four of us will be barely able to survive. Chaos and turmoil will be inevitable. What will you do to prevent this probable scenarios when desperate people decide to take what they need to survive. There is time between now and 2050 for many of you to change the path to poverty if and only if political priorities are changed. Only the younger people today can do what is required to force politicians to tackle the most important political issue that they will face: poverty. The time to take action and vote sensibly is now if massive poverty is to be averted in this century.