We have heard the stories of countries devastated by hunger, poverty, homelessness, lack of health care, poor education, and abuse and neglect of the elderly. Now imagine that one of these country's is the United States of America.
Seriously. The United States of America is portrayed as a wealthy nation, which is true for a small population. People we refer to as the VERY wealthy. The United States has about 27% percent of the world net worth, with 87% of that wealth owed by only 25% of the United States population. That means that 75% of the households in the united States are not considered wealthy.
Hunger is real in the United States as there are 17.2 million households who experienced hunger. Most of these are children and the elderly. People often joke that United States Seniors eat dog food. Guess what, it is no joke. For many elderly it is as close to eating meat as they can afford. Over 14% of the elderly, 65+, live in poverty and several million more live just above the poverty line. That fine line is often less than a $100 difference.
Approximately 43.6 million Americans lived in absolute poverty which is 15.1% of the population. It is estimated that over 50% of Americans will experience absolute poverty in their lifetime. Of this total, 15.4 million Americans live in extreme poverty. This means their family’s cash income is less than half of the poverty line, or less than the federal poverty level of $22,050 for a family of four based on 2010. 36% of children in poor families do not have an employed parent.
Over 30 million households either paid more for rent and utilities than the federal government says is affordable, which is greater than 50% of there income. Many households are forced to live in overcrowded or substandard housing, which means there is no hot water, no electricity, no toilet, or neither a bathtub nor a shower.
Homelessness is of great concern in the Unites States as well. Over 20.5 million were homeless in the United States in 2010. Of these homeless, 23% are United States Veterans and 40% of the homeless Veterans are men. These men and women risked their live to defend our country and the thanks they get to end up homeless? That is a pure outrage!!
Homeless people are subject to violent lives, due to rape, beatings often resulting in death due the severity or the lack of health care, hunger and death from the cold. Lack of nutrition, health care, violence, and weather conditions account for most the deaths of the homeless.
All our lives, we paid for social security and Medicare insurance, which was deducted from our income. When we reach the years to collect this social security insurance income, we have to pay income tax on an item that we were taxed on our entire income earning lives. Also, once on Social Security, if you want Medicare Health insurance, you must pay for it from your Social Security income. There are no Golden Years for many seniors in the United States.
Over 50 million people in the United States do not have health insurance. Even more than this number, do not have dental insurance.
According to the United Nation Conference in February, 2009, South Korea had the most effective education system in the world's richest countries, with Japan in second place and the United States and Germany near the bottom. Statistics have established a relationship of education performance to nutrition, health and home environment. Children of poverty, undernourished, uninsured, and poor housing are contributing factors to poor education in the United States.
Knowing all these things does not change the devastation that is encompassing the households of the United States. It is pathetic that a country portrayed as such a wealthy nation is in reality, not so wealthy. The majority of the people who live here suffer the lack of basic needs. Basic needs!
What happened to the days when people stood up for their rights? The days of Women's Liberation, Equal Rights Movement and Anti-war movements. Did we care more about our country way back when or are we just so beaten down that we can't get up again?
I wish I had the answers to this dilemma and that we could fix our country. I understand that many countries throughout the world have higher poverty rates and poor health care than we do in the United States, but it comes down to misrepresentation of a reputation. Yes, we are one of the wealthiest nations in the world. Yes, we are the land of the free and the home of the brave, but we are also the land of the hungry and the home of the poverty stricken and poor. I don't think that is what Francis Scott Key had in mind when he wrote our National Anthem, do you?
