I am white. I was born in rural Arkansas and I lived in poverty until I join the army. I truly believe that poverty is the worst thing that can be done to a human being. It destroys the body and the soul
The army depends on influx of poor people that join the army because it's the only thing that can get them out of it. It's actually sad to think about, it's all by design.
@@boremir3956 If you have few choices, the military becomes a choice. The military can train you for lucrative careers that you might not obtain otherwise. I would think Annapolis, The Air Force Academy, or West Point are not just for poor kids.
@@katydid2877 Yes but what I am saying is, the army knows that poor people are more likely to enlist. It's in their best interest that not everyone is well off.
As a previous foster kid I can tell u that having a support structure in this life is huge. It's a whole different ball game when there really is nobody to fall back on. It's sink or swim. No inheritance coming. Nobody else. Sometimes it gets to be too much and your all alone. There are no family traditions to pass down. No history. No sense of community. Just me. That's hard to explain to your kids
Depending on the age of your children, it could be interesting for your family to make your own traditions as you'll be able to enjoy them especially when they're older and return home to celebrate. I hope much happiness for you as you make your way.
I have a mother worth $2000000 and two brothers. I still feel everything after "it's sink or swim...." Sometimes family don't provide support, just blackmail. She ain't ever going to leave me anything. Yet she goes to church.
I lived in Japan for many years and one of the things that I'll never forget about that experience is just how easy it was to live while not making much money. With basic budgeting I was able to live a pretty decent life making less than 30k a year. Now I make three times my old Japanese salary, but I don't really feel it. There are real structural problems that make poverty and even middle class life difficult.
I was young and on my own in the mid-60s. I lived in San Francisco for a year and Chicago for a year and in other eastern cities (NYC, Boston, Philly) making about $2000/yr and I lived like a queen independently. You literally needed virtually NO money to live well back in those halcyon days (if you didn't mind an occasional meal of catsup spaghetti...lol). I went to school in Philly, got a working BS and left with a student debt of about $800 and many places wanting to hire me at eye-popping wages. It was heaven! Those days are SO GONE!
Poverty is exhausting and expensive. Now that I’m doing better I help others as much as I can. I donate. I always carry cash. People would be surprised how many people in need are all around you if you have your eyes open. I remember the days when an extra $5 - $10 dollars would have changed my whole week.
For a single person in the continental United States, the 2022 federal poverty level is $13,590. For each additional person in the household, the federal poverty level increased by $4,720. (So for a household of three, for example, the 2022 federal poverty level is $23,030.) No one in the US can live on these amounts anywhere in the US. NO ONE. I couldn't live on what they expect 3 people to live on. It's insane. Politicians who are rich and never knew a day of poverty in their lives make these decisions.
You nailed it. Our government is corrupt and rich lawyer lobbyists with CEO's not the Agency Secretary's in the Cabinet run our statistics and they never match reality. It is a crime what the data they use to determine everything.
Working at McDonald's for 16.00/hr for 40hrs/wk, you will earn 33,000 GROSS/25,000 NET AFTER 25% taxes. 3 People living together in a 3bd/2b house for 3000/mo (rent & utilities) means that each person is paying 1000/mo in rent and utilities. That is 30% of your gross income. 30% of your gross income is EXACTLY what reasonable people suggest you should expect to spend on HOUSING. McDonald's is ENTRY LEVEL/NO SKILLS NECESSARY/NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY/FLEXIBLE SCHEDULING/PAID TRAINING/ADVANCEMENT OPPORTUNITIES. I could go on. Losers will always be losers, regardless of the laws or rules.
What bothers me most about poverty in America is people's unwillingness to recognize it's causes and finally DO something about it! So many people victim blame the poor and working poor in this country (America). It's sickening, to say the very least!!!!!
Because to recognise the cause is to admit capitalism is quite shit and that is a thing no American politician will ever do and as for the people they are taught to defend capitalism from birth even as it shafts them and their community and their nation.
Worse yet in the USA it's far more expensive to be poor. Overall the system persecutes the poor via punishing people for being poor. Believing if you punish people in poverty enough they'll eventually no longer be poor. Of course they'll be dead instead then...
Christ taught his disciples not to be caught sleeping and the germs of Germany is bedbugs squatting in the cravivses and panhandling taxpayers with their illegal aliens covenants 🛸🍎🛸🍎of crimes against humanity.
I followed the 3 steps of success and put off marriage and having kids to get and work a full-time job. I am now 46 years old, unmarried, unemployed, no children and homeless in Denver Colorado.
If you've got a college degree, you could teach overseas and make decent money You'll never be rich, but you'll never be homeless. There are several countries that hire teachers Over the age of forty You just need to have a good background check
Cost of living increases are not taken into account in aid programs. I volunteer at a food bank and the folks that come in are either families with both parents working or seniors. Most seniors only qualify for $26/month in food stamps. In my state school-age children get free breakfast and lunch. Housing is most people's greatest expense, and people go without needed medical care. It's very scary and sad.
What bothers me is that so many blame the poor for their own inability to get out of poverty. They just don't understand the realities of starting from a negative position. It's like climbing out of a hole with no rope.
@@KnowledgeSeeker78491 and how will the USA recruit its soldiers if there no poor kids? You think the kids of the rich white households are lining up to join the military?
"telling kids that they can't have seconds." That really hits me because I always remember when I was child my grandmother always, always asking the question before we left the table, "Did you get enough." It wasn't because food was scarce, but it was just a priority that we always had enough and were satisfied. We didn't have much but always plenty to eat.
As a senior, if I did not have the place and ability to grow a huge garden, in America, I would have the choice of starving or being homeless. I still frequently have to go hungry. Meanwhile, I have politicians telling me how lazy I am.
I was a gig worker: An adjunct professor. I taught on 3 different campuses at a time, and had no time to devote to my students as I was so busy just doing the work administration required of me. I had no health insurance. I taught the equivalent of 1 and 1/2 full time jobs and made about half the money of a full-time instructor. I had to retire in a foreign country because my pension was too small for me to even rent a small 1 BD apartment in the US. That's what 8 years of higher education got me in the US.
Adjunct professor of what? If you wanted to make more money, you should have done something that people are willing to pay more for, not just something you think is interesting.
@@minoozolala What you consider to be in the best interest of society and humanity may not be what everyone thinks. Besides, it is often the case that if we do the things we like to do for a living, that might not pay as much as doing some jobs that are less interesting and harder to do. It should be up to the "market" to decide (based on supply vs demand) how much each job pays. If you don't like that, start your own business and pay yourself hat ever you want (that's what most billionaires did).
Thank you, Matthew Desmond and Chris Hedges for this discussion! 😊 Poor, uneducated people are easy prey for predatorial extractivist capitalist system😢
A lot of rich Democrats like the Obamas, the Clintons, the Pelosis ...live in the US. Why do they not share their tremendous wealth with the poor and the homeless
YES, MEN LIKE, HOPE BRYANT, TALKS UP, JACKS UP, A STORY OF HOW HE WILL EDUCATE THE POOR, ESPECIALLY, BLACK POOR, TO CURE CAPITALISM, WHEN ALL ALONG HE REVEALS IN ONE OF HIS BOOKS (WITH THE WORD, "LOVING" IN THE TITLE) THAT HE IS ALL COZY WITH THE DAVOS CROWD, WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM (WEF). WARNING: DO NOT WANT ANY OF THAT.
There is saying that a presenter shared at a conference in 2006 that is most appropriate for this video, "Every society is perfectly engineered to get the results that it is getting." American-style poverty is an industry that fuels the economic engine that maintains (with an oppressive system of criminalizing laws) and sustains (by deceiving people into voting against their best interests) the wealthy and the powerful.
“Did you really think we want those laws observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with.” Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand “The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” - Ayn Rand
Abuse is rampant for those in poverty and shaming is constant. You can't get disability without a lawyer, I've seen this with family and friends several times. It's a miserable life of difficult hurdles and endless hardship.
world War 3, could solve it, the suffering will never end and get worse if decisions are left to evil leaders and indifferant citizens living comfortable lives
Getting an attorney for disability claims isn't difficult as there are attorneys who specialize in it, but after it's approved, they take a cut of your money.
Spot on. One of my coworkers husband had terminal cancer and applied. He was denied disability. He knew they were going to lose the house soon and leave his children and wife without a place to live. He went on a nutrition strike and died in three days. It was in time. I helped her file with social security and in five days she had gotten the mortgage current. She also got back pay for the denied disability.
For the first time in my life as a young man when I had to move far away from the Security of my Parents Home, I was on my own living in a new city in an apartment on the university campus, I had met many people who were struggling to make ends meet. Now after 40+ years later those people are still my friends and keep in touch with me. Sadly most of them are still stuck in the same old poverty. What is wrong with this country??
Generational Wealth to pass down to the next generation and so on so forth. No assets? forget having kids, You can be happily married without kids not unless you have income generating assets you could lose your job or business but if you have assets it's fine.
The 70s was absolutely the American apex of worker rights, housing affordability, and a sense of civil rights. The music and cars were great as well. So glad I grew up in that era.
The music was good and the cars were downright AWFUL (after 1972). The 60s had good cars, and then starting in 71-72 automobiles entered a very dark age. Think the Pinto and The Pacer, as well as the Mustang II. Also the land yachts with v8s that produced a whopping 150 horsepower. Good times. The 70s was also the apex of inflation.
I remember the gas wars during that time… 25 cents a gallon on one corner, and 24 cents a gallon on the other corner. The next day they’d both be lower! Ahh. The good old days, when a family could afford to spend a Sunday driving a hundred miles to the beach or sightseeing in other counties.
My son's girlfriends is a Navajo Nation tribe member and the poverty she described to us is heartbreaking. The Native Americans are and have been suffering with such extreme poverty, and no one cares.
It’s shameful. They’re poor because they’re dependent upon the government. Reservations should be completely eliminated and those people should be helped to assimilate into the country so they can get out of poverty .
sanchezhandymen34444' In a historic settlement, the federal government will pay the Navajo Nation more than half a billion dollars to settle claims that it mismanaged reservation funds for more than 60 years, the tribe and the government announced Wednesday. At $554 million, the settlement is the largest obtained by a single American Indian tribe against the U.S. It caps a drawn-out dispute filed in 2006 with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. On August 16, 2021, the U.S. Treasury allocated additional $217,907,006.50 to the Navajo Nation. With this second allocation, the Navajo Nation received a total of $2,079,461,464.93 Fiscal Recovery Funds. Tourism, mineral production, and lumbering are the main sources of cash income on the Navajo Reservation. Budget provides $4.7 billion for DOI's Tribal programs, more than $690 million above the 2023 enacted level, including investments that would support public safety and justice, social services, and educational needs to uphold Federal trust responsibilities ...Mar 9, 2023 health care>The Navajo Area Indian Health Service operates hospitals and clinics at population centers on the reservation. Treatment is free to tribal members.
@@Shadow-7773 So.. a lawsuit was filled by the Navajo Nation, heard in court and was brought to an agreed settlement? Thank you for the information, I had not heard of this, I will look into it.
As a caucasian woman,at 86.5 yrs, I have lived under the poverty level many years. Single mothers struggle to support their families, and now I clearly see how poverty hurts all. Greed and selfish "representatives" pocket funds which are needed to balance the economy WE PAY FOR. These Criminal acts must be stopped
stop. it's the "greedy and selfish" moms. you shouldn't be a single mom because you should not be laying down with broke bum men. no ring and no job means no access and you'll be fine.
@@darkstarmatter5678riiiiight-- because things like the death of your husband, domesfic violence, addiction and even accidental pregnancies are never in play. Yours is the extremely simplistic solution to a very complex problem. Take away a woman's right to abortion and you make these problems exponentially worse.
everything they're discussing defines class war. our problem is too many of us are asleep, or distracted by tv, sports, or conditioned to believe the rich aren't greedy bastards, bleeding us to death.
You're so right. That's how the Romans stayed in power almost 1,000 years. America has a long way to go to hit that mark and I don't believe it will. The number of guns in private hands is just one aspect of how people are changing for the worse. Their values, their treatment and views of others are despicable. Trump took advantage of that concept, which further increased racism and divided the country. Distractions like sports, etc., only help the rich and those in power. Corny to say, but it's a very sad state of affairs.
@@georgepresley5120 whoa,,, george, if you really believe the system isn't rigged you have a long way to go. class war started here before the united states was the united states, and hasn't stopped. we have people living on the streets, men, women, children, families. all the while ceos are getting hundreds of millions a year, over 570 billionaires made during the pandemic, here in the usofa. wages stagnate while the number of rich increases. other countries have public health care and free college and university education. while we have staggering numbers of bankruptcies from medical expenses and huge debt for college students. time to wake up and learn where you live. this is an oligarchy.
We have become so desensitized that we have no empathy until we find ourselves in the position to have sympathy. Why do we have to fall from the fifth floor to understand that an injured person feels pain? If the dollar actually loses its global worth, so many of us who are smug now will understand poverty on a level never know.
I hope the dollar loses its global worth. China will beat US economy by 2037, which is a good thing because they’re doing a lot of things better than USA. Better public transit, less crime, overall more equality. China makes America look like a third world country
In their defense, most of them were born with empathy, but their news sources keep telling them the poor are just lazy, and really, they're fine, and oh the poor are the reason the middle class have less!! And they just don't want to work!! It's lies after lies after lies until a person starts to believe it all. I've watched it happen around me. I've watched those lies take hold. I've watched people On food stamps start to hate everyone else on food stamps. Because of course they need them & they deserve them but their tv keeps telling them that most people don't, so obviously they're just the exception & other people are the problem. It's insane.
You captured our predicament perfectly I did all the right things career/business but was still shafted in my old age basically sleepwalked into the scam of relieving us of our lifetime wealth and savings via “mandates and unscrupulous laws”
I will find this book and dive in. I too lived in Milw and learned about generational poverty. Made it my personal mission to empower moms to learn,do more in the inner city. I worked in nursing 39 yrs in 3 states, never had a union job, never got more than 3% raise even with walks on water reviews. Had hospital systems mismanaging things so massively on daily basis my life and my patients were in danger but execs always had their 6 wks vacation each year though I had to fight to get 5 days in a row off...except once in 39 yrs. Now after the covid mess in healthcare, with fewer working, more is expected and I am sure they are using all the same tricks to avoid paying staff. I actually got used to living on 25k/yr... no vacations, only buy on sale and not much. Poverty became my way of life . When became disabled took 3 times applying to get it through with help of charity lawyer, judge in case was disgusted saying was clear 3 yrs before. Would rather work than be disabled. Just discovered is a company that administers health care from feds, takes their $5 bn cut a year but doesn't improve healthcare, just profits off all medicaid, medicare, imprisoned healthcare. Feel this needs to be stopped. Accountability is severely lacking lately.
Therein is the source of the problem. Shrewd people, leeching off the systems. I am alright Jack, to hell with you. A totally different mindset of my Parents and Grandparents generation. It was not about pulling a fast one over your peers and neighbor and community. The consequences are and the reaping.
I'm so sorry for your financial struggles after giving so many years of providing health care services to those in need... Please try to stay strong and I pray that your health improves!!
This man is absolutely right. I taught history for years. The Industrial Revolution is one of the best examples of this designed poverty. Wealthy industrialists were able to keep wages very low due to having a large class of poor people. The workforce was virtually endless because if a worker quit, died or got sick, someone else would take their place immediately. Poor families had all members working including small children. Poor women did not have access to birth control, so they were constantly having children they struggled to feed.
Fiat money makes this worse. Wages have stagnated since the early 70s after Nixon took America off the gold standard. You end up with more debt which leads to inflation which leads to more poverty.
@@brianbeecher3084yeah, definitely a great example now of how they can get new gig workers everyday and don't care if the ones being exploited quit. Revolving door of modern day slaves. Sad.
@tracyjacksonjackson4221 I don't believe it was the industrial revolution, but our staunch stance on unregulated capitalism & union busting labor exploitation. Much of EU has also experienced the industrial revolution & despite WWII economic devastation, insisted on instituting policies & regulations that balanced labor rights & capital to the benefit of the greater society! In the US, despite our claims of "government by & for the people", our laws & politicians prioritize corporate profits over citizens' wellbeing & that is simply wrong! I hate that the world's strongest economy has such rampant poverty! But it's all political & sadly, until this system changes (which is rather unlikely in the next 3-5 decades), the only solution for those in poverty today is to simply stop having children so as to at least not subject yet another generation to the cruel fate of poverty.
Raising some good points. I will never forget seeing my vulnerable elderly neighbors die of strokes while they were being evicted from a home they were promised they could stay in
As an accounting professional, it sickens me how common it is to hear from partners, managers, and supervisors that taxes are theft. Exactly! So why does Amazon not pay a dime in taxes?!
Everyone knows the way to alleviate poverty in the United States is to allow millions of impoverished low wage workers to flood across the southern border. That’s by design too!
In 1980 I was a well-paid educational textbook writer in NYC. Within 3 years of Reagan's arrival and transformation of the tax code, that career was gone---and so were the next two professional avenues for which I worked my ass off. Then somehow I got into an Ivy League PhD program, taught 6 years for pennies while the school got richer and richer, and my graduation present was bankruptcy. Then 22 years of permanent part-time university teaching on LESS than minimum wage. I'd had it---and sold my family home and left the US for good in 2015. Doesn't matter how hard you work or what you contribute. The American "ideal" is to pay people nothing, and it's getting closer every day.
This is now so obvious the strike occurred as I saw this as I didn't become a teacher because college was only 2,000 per year for tuition and books a Pell Grant was able to attend college in '81-84 then I was required to care for my mother dying of cancer the trauma emotionally I had to stop college. Medical care in California is the worst since Reagan became governor who was bought by General Electric. The surgeon was allowed to kill people during surgery and same surgeon forgot type of surgery he discussed with me with also received my confirmation of precise details of surgery that he changed then wrote totally false hospital record violated law by refusing to provide my medical record to repair the harm with his defective implant that he was to notify the FDA that was not written. Electronic Healthcare Records created for profit not for better health care as the GAO report gave to Congress .
I was born in 1981 and at 41 i was working overseas and divorced my wife of 5 years cause I was working my ass off and she refused to help out so I lost half of my life savings 200k came home and was left homeless and now I am like fuck the us I am moving to another country as well I am also a 16year veteran
@@kp6215 KIlling Americans is a cottage industry as the 666,000 FICA recipients that died because they thought Covid was a hoax and refused the vaccines as the media told them to. The same media monopoly of 90% in 8 corp hands all facing a FICA payroll tax hike. Mortuary Services Index was up 27.5% in Aug of '21. Funerals spiked church attendance.
Poverty in America is not the goal, but the outcome of a system whereby slavery was transformed from an illegal, politically incorrect system to one where labor is "outsourced" to "independent contractors" where individuals house and feed themselves independent of the master and are no longer whipped in the traditional sense, but whipped in other ways.
Exactly! They figured out a way to have their cake and eat it!! It's not just us black folks anymore. They've enslaved the vast majority of Americans, and to my great astonishment, they support and defend the very ones who are enslaving them!!!!! 😱🤷🤦
A lot of rich Democrats like the Obamas, the Clintons, the Pelosis ...live in the US. Why do they not share their tremendous wealth with the poor and the homeless
This is not unique to the US, it exists in every developed nation that had a neo liberal revolution. The Keynesian model was about full employment and a functional balance of power between labour and capital. The inflation and chaos from the oil crisis in the 1970s was blamed on the economic model and neoliberalism was championed as the solution. Controlling inflation became an obsession and was used as a sledgehammer on workers rights and level of employment. An unemployment rate of about 4-5% was set out as the ideal to control inflation. As working class wages have gradually fallen in real terms, the unemployment number can come down because the working poor don’t drive inflation. It is truly sick.
I recall in/around 2016 when the UN rapportuer on poverty was about to present his findings to the Human Rights Council the Trump administration pulled out of the UN Human Rights Council. The rapporteur reported about 5M Americans live in THIRD WORLD CONDITIONS. It's horrible.
True but the rapportuer did his investigation before Trump was in office. My point is deep poverty is created by capitalism and policies implemented by both capitalist parties (Dems & GOP).
A lot of rich Democrats like the Obamas, the Clintons, the Pelosis ...live in the US. Why do they not share their tremendous wealth with the poor and the homeless
Reagan started the trend towards extreme inequality that is still ongoing today; when the corporations gained unlimited political power at the expense of working class. The top 1% gained more wealth out of the bottom 80%. A growing portion of America struggle just to survive, not contributing to country's development--America is in decline.
True & whether a Republican or Democrat gets elected, we the people will get more of the same failed Republican trickle down economics we’ve been getting since Reagan. Why? Because both parties are funded by the same big money donors to get elected & represent their donor’s interests at OUR expense. So maybe voting for leftist 3rd party/Ind candidates isn’t the wasted vote. Maybe the truly wasted vote is voting for the Democrats & Republicans. Right? 🤔 🤨
And people still want to say that Regan was a great president. He was the one that started this country's downfall and it has just been sliding faster ever since he was in office. Just goes to show you how propagandized the American public actually is.
? The USA is doing great, did you not see the SOTU from Biden? Lowest unemployment in 50+ years, highest average wage, most amount in savings and investments EVER. We are so rich as a nation. At Fidelity Investments they see 1 in 6 of every dollar pass through their company in some form of fashion.
Knowing states sit on money and doesn’t help anyone is disgusting and those in charge should be held accountable! The entire system needs to change, from top to bottom!
In 1990 I was making $250k/yr as a graphic artist. A judge's daughter rear-ended my car, totaling it, and me. She never got a ticket, I got nothing. Couldn't work, lost my home, savings, everything. Then a cousin who was "caring" for me, took all my inheritance when my parents died. The poor generally have been taken advantage of, and that is how we got here. Don't tell me I'm lazy, I AM DISABLED.
A long time ago, I knew a lady whose 21 year old daughter was killed in an auto accident by the son of a political figure who was DUI, the driver was never charged or fined the lady never got over it. The Lord Jesus is the only one who is true, He is your only true friend, trust in the Lord alone. He does not change, He does not lie and He will always be there for you. He is our surety and our strength. You can find in Him.
I worked 34 years for the same company. I was severely injured at work and when the found out I needed multiple surgeries, I was summarily fired and workman’s comp denied my claim. I am now disabled and trying to live on $800 a month Social Security. And I have politicians and rich businessmen telling me I am lazy.
@@The.world.has.gone.crazy... Right, peaceful protest against police armed to the teeth with military grade weapons. No one is willing to face the reality of the western fascism.
Because the media has manipulated the middle and lower class to blame each other for their problems. Basically divide and conquer 101. People are slowly catching on, but it is a slow process. Even some of Wall Street is catching on because the woes of wealth inequality are coming to their doorstep. Overall though, there's still work to do.
According to certain economists, there are projections indicating the possibility of the United States and certain parts of Europe experiencing a recession during a portion of 2023. While a global recession, which refers to a decline in annual global per capita income, is relatively uncommon due to the faster growth rates of China and emerging markets compared to developed economies, it is important to note that if economic growth lags behind population growth, the world economy is generally regarded as being in a recession.
My primary concern at the moment is finding ways to generate additional revenue during challenging economic times. I cannot afford to witness my savings diminish to nothing.
Given the current delicate economic season, it may be difficult or ineffective to take significant action on your own. Therefore, I would strongly recommend seeking the expertise of a financial professional who can offer valuable financial guidance and assistance.
That’s why I always make it a point to speak with a financial advisor before choosing any investments. Apparently, I’ve been using one since the pandemic, using profits oriented tactics and minimizing risks as a buffer against inevitable downtrends. In addition they have valuable access to insider knowledge and analysis, making failure virtually impossible for them. I’ve made over $1.5million passively investing with John Desmond Heppolette, my advisor for over three years now.
Your financial advisor really seem to know this stuff. I found his online-page when I made a google search of his full names online, read through his resume, educational background and qualifications, it was really impressive. I left him a note and booked a call session with him..
Thank you Chris for continuing to bring the issue of poverty in america out of the media shadows. This system needs the poor to occupy these poverty wage jobs. A job should lift a person out of poverty not keep them in it.
Sounds good, let me know when McDonald's pays a basic living and I can afford a house and the basics on a basic wage, since that's not happening, have fun having kids that will be homeless and on only fans lol
i've only been saying this for over 30 years. the ruling elite can end poverty at ANY TIME if they wanted to. but they choose not to because poverty exists because its designed to exist. poverty serves at least 4 purposes. 1) it acts as a punishment to anyone who resists or rejects the system. 2) it acts as a deterent to political action. if you continue your complaining we'll make you poor. 3) and it acts as a means of social control. a people divided are much easier to manipulate and pit against each other. comptetion becomes cut-throat as masses do whatever necassary to avoid the horrible fate. if you get out of line poverty is the horror you face. 4) lastly, the poor are a scapegoat on which to blame all society's ills. of course poverty's existance is intentional. its all a part of the "equalism" philosophy. i even posted videos about on youtube that no one watches. JUST THINK, if i'd been listened to by the elitist left we'd be 30 years ahead of where we are now. odd how the left REFUSES to give the poor a voice while rich "leftists" make millions off of their insincere ant-poverty rhetoric.
This was an excellent interview! I’m from DC and my dad worked for the fed govt for almost 50 years. He has the same retirement plan as the senators on Capitol Hill. Good health insurance and 80% of his salary for the rest of his life. My generation and younger no longer has the benefits and investments of large entities that our parents had. Teachers and sanitation workers which are honorable and necessary jobs can’t afford housing. As a nurse I have significant student loan debt to repay. I think a livable wage, decent education and affordable housing are a good start but in a country where profit is valued more than people, it will be harder and harder for poor and working class families to survive.
Because of people are valued more- What happens? They reproduce nonstop. And then what happens? Scarcity of resources, supply and demand, prices, space, etc. You can divide or do as much math is possible and it'll always end up that resources are limited. The people who run the world and have models from beginning of intellectual time, all the way up to now; always point to resources being scarce when populations reproduce non stop. Even basic stuff like global warming: If I put 1 person in a room, the room is normal temperature. If I fill every space in the room with people, the room will get super hot. The earth has been receiving new people since beginning of time not to mention everything else, cars, machines, etc. When it comes to population control- it's either a few here and there. Or like almost everyone together a flood or unlivable conditions. I feel for people. But at the end of the day. It is what it is.
It's absolutely disgusting that Senators get all that benefit off tax payers , yet work hard with corps to take these same benefits from tax payers it's a big scam .
I moved from Ohio to Alabama to homestead eight years ago. I'm shocked at the poverty here in the south and just accepted! Governor Kay ivey took millions in what was suppose to be money for struggling Alabama citizens from the financial devastation due to covid and instead built two massive prisons ...they claim the prisons cost $900 million dollars!!! Almost a BILLION DOLLARS!!! I watch the jail rosters for my county here , and nearby counties...the jails here are absolutely stuffed with the poor!!! People that couldn't pay their auto insurance, failure to pay fines from tickets, marijuana charges ( its still a serious offense here !), etc!! Families are torn apart because of this...children put into foster care, etc. This is ludicrous!!! Trying to bring awareness to this to locals is pointless I found ...all they care about in this state is football and beer. Unbelievable!!!!
They cut has build a mega indoor farm and employed a whole ñot of people ,teach them a trade and have a ñot of tax payer people happily employ,againt an ugly money pit call jail.
I've lived in poverty all my life an never had time to worry about how to do it we just did with the help of our family, friends and community. I never realized how poor we actually were, twelve thousand a year and 3 children we survived only. Many times I've wondered why does it have to be so hard and we just live without a lot most take for granted. I know I've overpaid and have been cheated by employers and trades people because I've had no choice. I still choose to help others when they need an give my time an attention to those less fortunate.
God bless, man. I've been the same. Despite having had the privilege of my single mother now earning nearly $150,000 a year, I've watched her literally cry about having called the electric company to schedule a late payment because she just wanted to buy some Christmas decorations. My mom is a woman who went back to school at 43 with two teenagers under her roof and no financial assistance. And regardless of how bad she's treated me as a result of past experiences with her father, brother, and my dad, it has truly upended my sense of hope to watch her efforts get drowned in debt. Again, my mom is a woman who makes well into six-figures. But she is still so trapped in the cycle of poverty that something as basic as buying $100 of Christmas lights means having to make payment arrangements on the light bill. This country is DESTROYING the people who've worked the hardest to overcome their circumstances. And worse, the guilt that gets shoved onto white men like myself makes this even harder for everyone to face. I often feel like a total POS because I can barely pay my own rent, let alone give my own sister money to pay for gas so she can drive to and from school to pick up my her 7-year-old daughter. I don't want my niece growing up in a world where she can't trust the men she knows to look out for her. I may be gay, but that kid deserves to trust me as a protector and provider as much as any man she ever looks up to.
Yep, those who are poor, have been poor or who just make enough to barely be above poor, give the largest percent of their incomes to others. Those middle class and upper class, give a few bucks at church on Sunday and congratulate themselves for being "generous. "
I have a question: I didn’t grow up poor I was blessed in that regard, so that’s why I’m asking this: Do you think that it would help to have maybe lived with another family that was also poor and pooled resources, until your family was able to climb out of poverty. Or do you think that it’s just too hard to have two families with 2 wives and 2 husbands (& children if they have them) share a space for 2-4 years? And then perhaps purchased a double house, so one family lives upstairs and one lives downstairs? I always think that that would be a good idea, but I’m unsure if other people namely black people or white people would be willing to do this.
Not just in America, but thanks to the lack of healthcare and it being tied to a job at the mercy of an employer, it is certainly much worse than anywhere else in the west.
Thank you, Chis Hedges, for having Matthew Desmond on today. Thorough conversation from the both of you.. I will buy his book today. I would love for Matthew Desmond to meet the man who has been filming our homelessness on American streets. He is on RUclips for years now and his name is Mark. Futhernore, I don't know if Professor Cornel West has seen thses videos but I think this would help his campaign to have these people shown and speak as he is putting his campaign together. Again, I must apologize because of my not being computer savey and cellphone savey or I would connect all of you together. Mr. Hedges have you read about what Google has done now? I am sure you have. Today is Sunday and I hope you and your family are having a wonderful day.
In the USA, individuals living in cars due to partial homelessness result from a complex interplay of factors. High housing costs relative to income, stagnant wages, and income inequality drive this issue. Job loss, weak social support, medical expenses, evictions, and lack of affordable housing also contribute, while systemic problems and inadequate policies further perpetuate the phenomenon.
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Sending billions of Dollars to Ukraine is by far more important that the thousands of homeless and poor people that roam the streets of the United States, so thinks the senile at the head of the country!
I’d encourage you to expand your understanding of inequality to more of what Hedges and Desmond are talking about. It’s not just Ukraine or Israel or Saudi Arabia. It’s extraction by billionaires 24/7/365
But think about the last part of your statement. The 'senile' at the 'top' part of the country. They are at the 'top' for a reason, what they are doing is deliberate not 'senile'.
@@jayx.6813 I guess that the more than 140 billion dollars that were sent to Ukraine could have contributed in large part to treat homelessness and poverty in the US. In large part...
I'll take it one step further, I believe that they hate us. Not just the republican party, but the rich as well. But they need us. And thus do we find ourselves here, in a hell of their design.
I just came across this randomly and it actually makes me very sad to see what’s going innen the U.S. I’ve always known it’s hard to make a living over there being not rich but to listen to this was heartbreaking. It is unbelievable and actually makes me value my country even more. So many people in Germany are complaining how badly we are off but compared to the U.S. we live in paradise. I really feel for all those people trying to survive while the richest are living of them. Even with a good education you can’t make ends meet over there. Which is an absolutely shame. 😢
Heartbreaking indeed, here in Spain we dont have big salaries but enough to live decently and health care is great and free, load off your shoulders, l am astonished at the level of callousness and exploitation in the so called riches country in the west
It isn't that bad here. Homeless are drug addicts. Poor are on welfare and refuse to work or stay at a high school kid type of job. I have a friend whose niece has two kids but never been married. She doesn't work but took a nice vacation this year. But on paper, she is living in poverty to increase her handouts.
Me being born in Chicago and living in those conditions i can attest to everything his book speaks of..... Absolute truth about how this country is designed and operates, completely ridiculous
@@flossyravenA lot of Appalachian people don't have access to a Dr or Dentist. Once a year thousands of Drs and dentists from all over the US go up and treat all those people. People from all over drive and camp out overnight to get their tickets to see the Drs and dentists, both done on the same day all done in a large auditorium. Everything gets done the same day, denture casts and fittings, x-rays, bloods, everything. All of the Drs and dentists volunteer their time free of charge. The only time I've ever seen the main stream media address the issue, was when Diane Sawyer did a quick show on it, the show never even showed the worst of it. In Chicago, the city council spent $55 million on migrants for the month of July, used buildings for the migrants that the African American community wanted to use for neighborhood kids but never got. The council did this even with opposition from the African American community. However the city did give $3 million for kids living in dangerous areas so they could have summer camp and feel safe. It seems to me that Chicago is more concerned with gaining future voters, than they are about the people already living there. Comparing the poor people of Chicago to the poor people of Appalachia is like comparing apples to oranges.
@dragorn3212 Dude red states are even worse. Look at Louisiana, Florida, West Virginia, even Texas. You don't see it as profoundly because being poor in those states is more akin to a serious crime where you will be chased away, kidnapped, beaten, robbed, or killed. At least in Chicago we're trying to do something. It might be far from enough but we try
@@burningsnow9870 Technically every state is majority red, its only in the blue parts which are cities that you see these disfunctions. Yes florida is a red state but places like miami and orlando because of the high number of blues they screw it up.
@@chadabercrombie6860 that’s so very true. Following a mental collapse in 2010 I have been unable to work full time and I live with family. I’ve had to buy and resell things to make enough money to live on. I’ve been denied disability benefits. I do receive food stamps but that’s it. I don’t feel like a human being who matters to the world. My son was 18 when I got sick and is a good man so I was at least successful as a parent. It’s as though every step forward I take is twice as hard because I’m so far behind I can’t see the forest for the trees. I often wonder why I’m even here because I feel I have no purpose. I lost my parents in 2020 and 2021 to Covid so I lost the opportunity to care for them very long. Poverty has so many aspects and the worst is the mental toll. That’s why addiction is so prevalent. Often the poverty comes before the drugs which compounds the problem. I would be very interested in the number of impoverished people are mentally ill or suffering from PTSD. You hear of how much money Bezos and Musk donates but I can promise you I’ve never benefitted from them and I wonder who could say they have. No, they don’t owe me anything but in my opinion when you are blessed you have the responsibility to pay it forward.
The main reason for poverty in America is that wealthy people make money off of the poor. Housing in slums, Prison industrial System, NGOs and food programs to name a few. Food programs: Example, walmart can donate the rotten food to the food bank and claim full price for it on taxes.
@fd-to7ex you can always tell the children by the emoji and unsophisticated answers, if children are on your side you're probably wrong. there is no fixed amount of money in the world, the more goods you produce the more wealth there is
@fd-to7ex "Ok Boomer" = an unoriginal phrase by people who are unable to think for themselves. A phrase indoctrinated into the inexperienced youth, by the communist professors who control their minds.
The initial premise here is completely insane. Poor people cost an economy (including the wealthy who pay the lion's share of taxes) due to food stamps, housing subsidies, health services (Medicaid, etc.) and other welfare costs. Prisons are very costly and don't generate a profit. And you are wrong about donated food, if it is rotten it isn't donated and it can't be deducted in fully. It's a complete lie that the main reason for poverty is that wealthy people make money off of them. The main reason for "poverty in America" (which is a completely different standard than poverty in Africa, Asia, and much of Latin America) is that people lack the education and skills to provide for themselves. Don't fall for the lies of communist propaganda.
I recently came across Matthew Desmond's recent book Poverty By America and I was shocked at what I read. This conversation is a really good recap of the book - I'm so glad more people will hear his important message.
I appreciate ALLIES like Matthew Desmond and Chris Hedges! When I think of poverty, I think of the hard working Black men in my family who were relentless in their pursuit to "work and provide for their family." Rarely taking days off, working double shifts, 2-3 jobs to give us "a better life." Waiting, hoping, planning, praying for the day to be able to retire and be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor, only to be DEAD WITHIN A YEAR of their retirement. Cancer, stroke, heart attack, claimed them ALL! This is the burden of living between need and barely having enough to survive. It needs to change! REPARATIONS is the only way to reverse this reality of premature death precipitated by a lifelong goal of trying to escape poverty.
The saddest part is that the people who need to hear this the most never will. They are willing participants being used as pawns in the bootstrapping narrative perpetuated by the “powers that be.” Great video production!
@genkiferal7178 IDK, because years, and decades of American foreign and domestic policy created the migration of so many poor "brothers and sisters" to this Country in search for better lives! The slightest bit of research clearly shows this to be the case. But that cognitive dissonance thing is a bit*h!!!
@@genkiferal7178 my guess is because American altruism to foreign entities citizens is to save face and atone for crimes against humanity done to their nations years ago. America does not feel it owes its citizens anything past their inalienable rights of being American. In the black culture, we call it sweeping other's front porches but neglecting our own. Just my take.
@@lynnerene i am sure that is part of it. I hope the black communities start setting up black markets so that they can by-pass the digital currency (CBDC) coming to the USA. You'll need to have more people able and willing to work off of the books. I've been asking myself how I, too, can work off of the books and I haven't found the answer yet. We'll all still be forced to pay for electricity, utilities, gas for our cars, etc. with our "digital wallets" (CBDC and digital IDs), so it will be safer for 5+ people to live in a house owned by a family member and that one family member can be the one using her "digital wallet" so that the rest of us don't have to. I have found so far that the black community is least likely to call me a conspiracy nut than white folk and black coworkers sometimes discuss the subject before I so. That is an encouraging sign.
You're absolutely right poverty and capitalism go together but it is a bouncing act and the government knows that and the rich know that so we have come to the crossroads where there's more poverty and they don't know what to do so there's a runaway effect the Greeks knew it the Romans knew it Napoleon knew it cannot be sustained so here we are at the crossroads making a deal with the Devil on the verge of war and nuclear annihilation Chris was right the narcissist and a psychopath have taken over 😢
@@latexsalesman i am sorry you're in that situation and i hope things get better for you. I understand where you're coming from as an individual with your own personal philosophy and outlook about economic systems, but i think we, as Americans, should strive to improve our system to provide the best outcomes, overall, for as many of us as possible. We can and should do better. To just shrug and say "every system has some poverty" will not do us any good at all. Sure, every system contents with povert, but there are varying degrees, and the fish should be to reduce poverty
😂this video is funny I just sit and listen to these fools of course he is going to say the government programs doesn’t create poverty because it’s funding it helped out so many families funny that he say that almost everyone in the United States that is homeless right now we’re staying in subsidized and affordable housing and was getting some kind of government benefits government funding programs do create poverty because people rely and depend on that shit and in order for u to get any government benefits u have to have a limited amount of income coming in and even then u still don’t know wen they going to cut u off of the benefits and wen they do unexpectedly people are left with nothing because they didn’t have much of no income coming in for themselves because they had to get qualified for the government funding programs now those jobs he talking about aren’t much better than what’s in our workforce now they still were unskilled industries and weather they are with the union or not unskilled industries don’t last long we cannot improve our economy with everyone working as security guards cashiers chefs line cooks fast food stadiums ushers warehouse distribution manufacturing that’s all bull crap where are the skilled industries the engineering pharmaceutical science technology math architecture infrastructure industries they all outsourced and went over sees to countries like China even though they trying to down play China right now talking about nothing going to be manufactured in China anymore yea so what because China is becoming more advanced and innovated they have more software engineering and tech industries real skilled sectors not bottom line general labor crap like what we have here in the United States and our economy cannot become prosperous with government funding programs just look at the most prosperous counties on earth Denmark don’t even have any minimum wage there citizens make over minimum wage countries like Singapore Dubai Switzerland Sweden never had no dam government funding programs they don’t have any food stamps social security financial aid welfare section 8 subsidize housing yall want to know why those countries dont because it creates nothing but poverty topped off with over regulation and heavy restrictions that’s why we have such a bad poverty problem in the United States because they don’t do anything to really solve the problem they just give out stimulus checks house people under shelters give them baggy lunches 🤣😂like what the hell they don’t create training in this country so we can develop new skills needed in high demand industries so we can actually compete and be competitive in the new world of innovation the United States the u.k South America Canada are going in the wrong direction entirely they either want u working hard under w2 paying high taxes in return for poor services and a decline in standard of living or living off of government benefits and government funding programs enough is enough I’ve had it with this crooked government I order for the entire u.s government and all politicians in the United States to step down
This was both fascinating and heartbreaking at the same time. I worked for 20 years in healthcare with the last ten in a long term care facility and an assisted living facility, ending right before Covid. Wages were low and they made sure that they did not have enough staff so that you could count on doing the jobs of 1 1/2 employees. I always had to have two "side gigs" to barely get by. Seeing how they took advantage of staff was shameful, especially when it came to caring for sick and disabled elderly. At one point I had a 7 hour heart ablation surgery. Asked my boss to fill out FMLA paperwork-turns out she never did. And one week after i came back to work she told me to extract carpet (big machine!) in one of the apartments. I refused. The fear is always there when you have jobs like this.
Homelessness is as extreme as it gets. More and more people are one paycheck or emergency away from going down that road themselves, or are already there.
Then you didn’t go to India or Nepal or Pakistan or much of Africa or China or many many other countries in which a good number of citizens live in abject poverty.
An interview that needs to be watched across America. To see the realities of poverty. What is so scary about America is the selfish Dog eat Dog attitude. 💚☘️🇮🇪
It’s only selfish in a material sense, because as human beings, it’s truly impossible for any of us to thrive spiritually when our fellow humans are suffering.
Poverty in America is a trap, once you’re in it’s increasingly difficult to get out. You pay more for almost everything, and have limited access to wealth building tools. Someone in the US has to generate a substantial income consistently in order to cope with life; which is not the case in order parts of the world .
Exactly, and when the stakes are so high & people are in constant fear of falling back down the ladder (no matter how high up they’ve gotten) it creates a vicious cycle & leads to all sorts of bad things, such as the ones discussed in this video.
If I had 55 thousand per year, I would be celebrating. I'm super smart and don't even come close to that much money. I fervently await the coming rebellion.
I don't know what you mean by "super smart". It could be scientific prowess, a way with words as academics, possessing deep background knowledge in history or economics, having a great memory and logic functions or financial savvy, mechanical genius, spatial awareness and design capability, etc. There are many essential, useful jobs, life-enhancing work, at which people labor for about half that 55,000, gross, working full time. Your intelligence might make you a more efficient, better worker. But anyone who "does the job" deserves a decent wage. Most working class people, unless employed in say, a weapons components factory, aren't paid well. And to be fair, many employers could not afford much better wages. They aren't subsidized by government contracts. I am in the under 55 thousand category too, but I don't think my costs-squeezed employer could afford a big raise. Everyone has to eat, I've noticed. I work in the dairy and frozen department of a small family-corporation store. I like the job and setting. But I will never be "well off" from it, other than physically from all the exercise.
Agree! 61 yes of age. I have worked since the age of 14 - even through college years. Couldn't finish because of lack of funding. I've worked in the same industry for nearly 20 yrs (health insurance examiner) and don't make $18.00 an hour. Every day is a struggle, and I know I have it great in comparison to others! My heart goes out to them. Now, to find a way to organize...
55k isn't much in alotta cities and that is not take home still have to minus taxes benefits and retirement . I make over that but I live in high property tax Texas and a single woman so mortgage isnt cheap and I make it but never really able to save much if any money monthly and that's with no car note .
Higher education does not guarantee a middle-class lifestyle. I have both Bachelor's and a Master's degree and still have not reached a middle-class income. Most of the jobs today are low-income jobs and there are very few that offer middle-class salaries.
That is why I attended 2 colleges, got my student's loans discharged and never worked a " job" that supposedly " pays" wages. Didn't see any point of getting out of the house to " work" for nothing in return
Wow! This is a fantastic video and we can now explain why we see so much poverty around us. Many people want to believe that these people can do better if they just get out and get a job. This couldn't be further from the truth. Thank you for this video, I only hope enough of us can make a difference for the people suffering through this. It is a tragedy that should not be blamed on the people that suffer it.
@@youtubesucks1499are you hiring people? If not you have no right to blame people for not being able to get a job. You guys always shift the blame on people who cannot find a job.
You are right. It all has to end and it will end. The question, I suppose, is how the end will come. Will it be from constructive revolution or collapse and ongoing misery.
How do you get out of bed each day Chris with a reality like you and your guest described in the USA today? The one long emergency that is poverty. The callous greed of this world is suffocating our sisters and brothers.
@@GrandmaCathy No its not. Take a person. They have a 500K mortgage. That's the debt. There are lots of people in that position. Lets be really generous and say they earn 100K What's the difference between their income and their expenses? Is it 500K when they only earn 100K? How are they spending 600K a year? What you have described is deficit. Debt is completely different. Your idea, is to make people poorer. No new services, just tax the hell out of them
@@Nickle314 No. National debt is not household debt. It does not work the same way at all. Look it up. Politicians who tell you it’s just like your household budget are lying to you. First of all it is very difficult for a person to just increase their income. It is not difficult for the government at all. They have options households do not have.
Matthew Desmond is clearly a US citizen that your country can be proud of. He is clearly intelligent both emotionally and academically. I wish the powerful would listen but they have stuffed their ears with the surplus value earned by the poorest and stolen by the rich gangsters. Our absolute downturn for the poor in the UK was perhaps a little later but still the same hopeless trajectory where the rich got very much richer and the poor much poorer fairly quickly. Democracy is in name only, propaganda largely to sell newspapers, it has very little practical meaning in regard to a decent quality of life for all. The surplus value (in the form of gold and property) is In addition to being stuffed into the cold unfeeling ears of the rich to make them deaf, is stuffed into tax havens ready for when the rich believe they can extract it quickly when the dollar or the pound fails. Little do they realise that the anarchy would be so great that their tax havens would be unreachable and to treat citizens fairly would be a far less traumatic experience eventually for the super rich.
Let me take a moment to say that my mother was a young widow in the 1950s with three small children. While other blue collar families moved to the suburbs, we were stuck in our urban inner city neighborhood, because she was paid women's wages. My mother used dad's insurance money for an undergrad degree, and later a graduate degree. When I came of age, I used Johnson's War on Poverty to obtain an education for myself. I moved from Upstate NY to NYC, and enjoyed a successful career in the architectural profession. I just want people to know that LBJ's War on Poverty worked.
And LBJ war in Vietnam thinned out the working youth substantially. If your father was working to support you, you would not have an education. The economy was good in the 60s, not so much in the 80s, .
I am happy to hear the many doors that were opened to you; doors that were closed to people of color. White women are always paid more than women of color,; many people of color are unable to afford life insurance; Black men who fought in wars for this country were denied war benefits which would have afforded them housing and education for their children. Yes my dear you were fortunate to be born with the right skin color opening doors of opportunities. Pray for opportunities for everyone. Most honest people of all colors don't want handouts.
I experienced that kind of poverty back in the early seventies. But there were programs to help people raise themselves out of poverty. I don't know how I would achieve it today and my heart breaks for the children.
Your generation took away those programs when you no longer needed them. Voting for people like Reagan, Thatcher, and neoliberalism destroyed the West.
I am so glad that this topic is so thoroughly covered, and discussed here. Thank you Chris and Mr. Desmond. Eliminating poverty,in the richest nation on Earth, must be our priority. Employing all of our able bodied Americans, and paying them a living wage will go a long way to end this problem, while increasing our nation's tax base to help pay for these services.
Then we have to stop illegal immigration and allowing employers to employ them. Real wages started to lag behind economic growth when Congress started allowing a flood of cheap immigrant labor into the US in the 60s. Just follow the graphs on real wages and you'll see.
@stevenhanson6057 Government jobs to supplement our postal service, and other agencies, until the private sector create better paying jobs,on their end. The added tax revenue will subsidize these positions, in the interim. But having 10's of millions of Americans unemployed or underemployed helps no one.
No truer words ever spoken! Thank u for exposing the greed & hypocrisy in this country. The way u broke it down made perfect sense & showed that not only big change is needed but also that it CAN be done. 👏
Biggest mistake was assuming poor people can’t figure out what they need to live a decent productive life has opened the door for a vulture economy. State governments seem to detest their vulnerable citizens and always divert resources for people who need government help to people who don’t. The poor need a voucher system in which an applicant is allowed some control to prove they can manage their lives with some monetary assistance. If society would invest in people many of the chronically needy would become self sufficient.
Poor people ARE the ones who have figured out poverty. How far can my SNAP go each month if I don’t buy trash food compared to healthy food? Will I be able to pay rent if something like a utility bill goes up, if medication cost is too high, my child gets sick or heaven forbid I get sick? Instead of taking taxes from the poor abolish tax cuts for the rich.
Poor persons are the most ingenuitive in how to make do, how to recycle and how to refit items to last and last because of NO OTHER CHOICE BUT TO "Just Do It".
Some Poor people are "victors at budgeting" but the prime factor always boils down to making the choice to pay a utility or the rent (there's not enough income to outflow) because doing both in the same month is such a gross hardship to think it can happen is absurd. ( a little is put on every bill to show respect and good faith in what's owed but each payout wants it all in full.
Why is only one RUclips Channel covering this extremely important topic?! Chris is right, this topic has vanished from large and "mainstream" media. How the hell can we focus and react to this life issue if we don't talk about it more?!? I'm going to buy the book and share it with others.
Thankyou. Matt articulates the issues and potential solutions concerning poverty better than anyone I have listened too on this subject, particularly politicians.
no i don't think so i think alot of it is them being stupid. why get pregnant at 16? and what design? why would the government want to make so many useless people that harm the state? what do we get out of this?
The affluent middle class and rich depend on keeping 90% of humanity in poverty. It’s also big business for the PMC, or as I like to call them- the Plantation Overseer Class. The plantation owner is vile enough, but without the affluent middle classes supporting them , they wouldn’t exist. The upper middle classes have always been the true enemy of the people.
Are you trying to into this plantation overseer (supervisory or middle management) class ? It pays better and moves you into upper management which pays better still 🤷♂️
Thanks again Mr. Hedges. People shy away from this kind of info, because it is very depressing, but it is the least we can do. To know these facts. To read these kind of bks. Being aware is an obligation of being a citizen at the very least. I don't think this understanding is prevalent today, so in that regard poverty in America is by design, because the powers that be know people are not paying attention.
The illusion is that people think that comfort, and wealth are forever. We live in a natural world subject to change at any time. Compared to 150 years ago everyone today is wealthy including the poor.
Thank you Matthew Desmond and Chris Hedges for this very needed discussion. It is wicked to exploit and abuse the powerless and vulnerable but it is happening in many areas of society. This talk reminded me of something I noticed with my own car insurance company. I started paying my insurance every 6 months instead of every month because there is approximately a $3 additional monthly charge if I make monthly payments. This is another way that poor people are charged for being poor.
That's just the tip of the iceberg in car insurance. They often quote car insurance policies at 200%- 300% more for those with poor or no credit. And since they don't advance you insurance, no credit is given. And if you don't pay on time, they cancel your policy, this is nuts. Since their is no correlation between credit rating and frequency of accidents, this is pure exploitation.
Pay per mile is pretty cheap. They mail you a little device that plugs into your car's code reader port. Allstate and a lot of the insurers offer it. Works good if you don't drive much.
It's ALL about impulse buying versus being thrifty and delaying gratification! Every payment has to be processed, so it costs them less to process 2 payments than 12, ( the debit or credit card company charges them a fee each time) so you save. Paying in advance to save is just smart. Same as paying cash for a used car or furniture versus "low low payments" that eat you up with interest charges! Same as the large food package having a lower price per ounce than buying a bunch of little packages!
I just listened to the interview on substack with Matthew Desmond. I’m a big fan of Chris’ work, but gee he covers the bleakest topics. Listening to his podcast, videos etc. can really get you down a lot of the time. I realise this is a middle class, first world issue, and I have no real cause for complaint, but it’s still true. I think of the great Bob Mould album, "Black Sheets Of Rain." I'm glad he's around, and I always be a fan, but for someone who struggles with mental health, it can be a hard listen sometimes. This really is an incredibly sh1tty world for many.
If we fail to fully eradicate poverty, not only will we fail as a species and extinct out but, we'll miss the elevation that could come to our species through mass stability.
@@risefromyourpain Thank you. I try to imagine it but, as you said, the potential is yet untapped. So, it's a state of affairs heretofore unseen. I may not be able to imagine it but, no doubt it would be amazing!
That's impossible because not everybody will cooperate in such efforts. You would have to eradicate the flaws of human nature first, and that ain't happening. The seven deadly sins will remain no matter what you do for some people, and I said some, certainly not all, but if you say you want to focus on the people who want help first you're reviled and spat upon as a racist and a bigot.
Constant fear, trauma, and humiliation. Yep, that pretty much sums up living in poverty, especially in the USA where everybody tells you you're a bad/lazy person if you're in this situation.
Thank you Chris for voicing one of the few ivy league academician (Mathew Desmond) that is not afraid of speaking the ugly truth about our corrupt system that thrives on the sustained poverty of the American public.
The checks needed to keep coming until the inequality was under control. But the owner donor class wanted to keep the working class desperate and ripe for exploitation so they would come back to work for slave wages to benefit the 1% yet again. It is the workers that bring and create the value not the Entrepeneur's.
I've been trying futility to explain the purpose of an army of unemployed and how it benefits the owning class without much luck for many years. I've had slightly more since I began to ask people what would happen if we were all guaranteed homes and food in our stomachs? Once I get people to imagine such a "ludicrous" thing it is obvious that the owning class would have trouble finding people to work horrible jobs for low wages. From there it does seem easier to get people to recognize that having a large number of unemployed is not an accident or unavoidable, it is intentional and useful for the owners.
That's just wrong. It's the entrepreneurs who create the jobs. The decisions of Congress to allow cheap imported labor is to blame for the loss of America's middle class and access to the American dream.
This is a must-watch. Matthew Desmond is a Princeton professor who's super informed on modern social class reality in the U.S. It's disgraceful that as a society we treat people this way and pretend it's not happening. From a spiritual unity perspective, it's painful. He nails it at the end. Let's get to work on this and stop falling for silly distractions.
He makes a couple good points,(such as calling out states for sitting on cash) but he's kind of a ding-dong. Nobody's going to just integrate homeless junkies into their gated community. It all boils down to impulse buying versus thriftiness and delayed gratification. People who don't have good sense and good morals are going to get taken advantage of.
I'm 79 and have been around the block. I'm a male, white, middle-class, college-educated, disabled Vietnam Veteran, who had a modest career as an architect. I grew up in a family of eleven children. Needless to say, we were poor. I do agree that our present social structure is created to build an elite upper class, destroy the middle class, and intentionally build a majority lower class. The sad part is that most Americans can't see this happening right in front of them. Yes, both major political parties are responsible to varying degrees. However, in my opinion, the Republican Party is way, way more responsible than the Democrats. Enough said.
Please give the source gor the statistic of over a million unhoused school children! This is so important. The often quoted figure of 500 thousand or 600 thousand unhoused people is obviously wrong and it doesn't get challenged. There are millions of us and this fact needs to be highlighted! Thank you for this report!
@@nonino1644 So glad to hear someone else gets it! What do you mean, argued down? Thanks for speaking up, and I hope you will continue to do so. Question: why do you suppose there is this stubborn sticking to a false number, when they know it's not true? What are they gaining?
As an Australian I cannot understand why Americans seem to not want to support the less well off in society. It’s difficult to imagine that not even public hospitals aren’t free. Also people who don’t have a university education are considered less than as people than university graduates. The USA is the only Western country that takes these attitudes. In Australia our health system is mainly a public system which is free, there are private hospitals where one needs to have health insurance however the best treatment is found in the public system. There seem to be only two social levels in the USA, the haves and have nots. The happiest countries are the Scandinavian countries where taxes are high to pay for social supports
I saw this happening when I was young, so I decided that the less money you need, the richer you are; so I jumped out of the rat race years ago. I got on disability as soon as possible, moved to Hawaii where I don't have heating bills, bought a shack on a piece of property and lived on $35 dollars a month until I paid it off, put rain catchments out so I don't have to buy water, solar panels on the roof, and learned about humanure. No pipes or wires come to or from my house and the only two bills I have are for my phone and less than $50 a month for property taxes. I ride a a bycicle and the bus stop is a block from my house, don't own a car or buy insurance, never had a drivers license for a car, and never had a credit card. Now that I'm a senior citizen, I'm in better than average health from traveling all over a few countries with a backpack, bicycle and canoe, and better off financially than a lot of people who worked and saved all of their lives in an economy where they weren't able to get ahead. Blow up your TV, move to the country, try to find Jesus on your own.
@@BB-nn1tu I was a homeless teenager on Venice Beach, and I got put in juvenile hall a few times with LSD, PCP, MDA and other hallucigenic drugs in my system; and I got caught with a quantity of LSD once. That makes me legally insane, so I got my first check when I was 20, without a lawyer; the same year I moved to Hawaii.
@@amyshoemaker5770 It's really sad to live in a country where politicians raise interest rates when everyone has a job and minimum wages are raising US out of poverty, to make sure there's more competition for jobs and people are willing to work 3 jobs and live in their cars just trying to get off of the streets; while our public servants cruise in limos and fly on private jets. In a crap shoot economy, it doesn't matter what you know or how hard you work; you can find yourself eating out of dumpsters. I was homeless while most people were in highschool, and know a medical doctor who was forced to dig ditches. I saw America when the $98 billion dollar Savings and Loan bailout shut down the iron mines, steel mills and our auto industry took a dump; and then it hit the small family farms and corporations started planting crops for ethanol and tied the price of grain to the price of oil, so a 4 ounce bag of popcorn costs $5... I'm not that smart. I just got tired of eating out of dumpsters and couldn't see another way out. I own my own home without a mortgage, but two times a year the county of Hawaii sends me a letter telling me what people are willing to pay for my land, and charging me taxes based on what they're willing to pay, instead of what I already paid. I have a canoe in my yard and a backpack by my door, because I know that someday I'll have covetous neighbors who will be willing to pay more for my home than I can afford. I was the elected co-chairman of a homeless rights group, and met with politicians and bankers at their expense. They got a few million dollars to help the homeless, and they rented the most expensive hotel on the beach to talk about it. They invited a few homeless advocates and a whole bunch of business people to a very expensive gourmet meal. When they said they need to keep homeless people from working because they bother people who have houses, I told them I made jewelery sitting on the beach and never looked up unless someone was interested in my work. The guy with the mic said, Well, we'll have to build a center where you can work. I answered, I can make enough to feed myself; but there's not enough profit margin to feed you too. He said, Oh, your work only helps you? And then he turned off my mic before I could explain the basics of supply and demand to him. There's so much money to be made on poverty and starvation, that I don't believe they will ever try to make things better.
Last May to December (so 2022) i was living paycheck to paycheck and i was food insecure.....even tho i work at a grocery store. We had 3 big wigs come talk to us and we asked of they could make more 'spoilage' available for team members to take home and they said NO because it would encourage stealing. So i told my job at a grocery store that i couldn't afford to eat and please may i have some garbage? And they said NO. I'LL NEVER FORGET. nobody out here cares. Not ur job. Not the government. Nobody. I been working that fuking job 8 years but i can't have some brown bananas.
Thanks, Chris Hedges, and his guest, Matthew Desmond for letting us know about poverty that many of us facing in a way that we have not experienced two decades ago. Please support $ Chris Hedges for his heroism. 🙏❤️🙏
0:19: 😔 Poverty in America is not an accident but by design, with a majority of Americans benefiting from a system that exploits the poor. 4:55: ⚖ The increase in spending on means-tested programs has not effectively reduced poverty due to the failure of the job market and the exploitation of the poor in labor, housing, and financial markets. 8:05: 💰 Money allocated for the poor gets diverted by states and lawyers, leaving little for those in need. 11:18: 😔 The idea that following three steps (graduate from high school, obtain a full-time job, and wait until marriage to have children) can prevent poverty is flawed and ignores the complexities of poverty and systemic issues. 14:41: 📊 Raising the minimum wage has been found to have a negligible effect on employment, and not raising it can cost people their quality of life in the richest country on the planet. 18:03: 💼 Real wages have stagnated since 1979, leading to exploitation in the labor market and a two-tiered system of work. 22:02: 💼 The poor are exploited through low wages, limited housing options, and financial fees. 25:21: 💰 The current financial system benefits the wealthy and exploits the poor, with tax breaks and subsidies favoring the rich. 28:56: 💰 If the top 1% of Americans paid their taxes, an additional $175 billion could be raised to reduce child poverty and pull everyone above the poverty line. Recap by Tammy AI
I am white. I was born in rural Arkansas and I lived in poverty until I join the army. I truly believe that poverty is the worst thing that can be done to a human being. It destroys the body and the soul
Why were your parents poor?
Thanks
The army depends on influx of poor people that join the army because it's the only thing that can get them out of it. It's actually sad to think about, it's all by design.
@@boremir3956 If you have few choices, the military becomes a choice. The military can train you for lucrative careers that you might not obtain otherwise. I would think Annapolis, The Air Force Academy, or West Point are not just for poor kids.
@@katydid2877 Yes but what I am saying is, the army knows that poor people are more likely to enlist. It's in their best interest that not everyone is well off.
As a previous foster kid I can tell u that having a support structure in this life is huge. It's a whole different ball game when there really is nobody to fall back on. It's sink or swim. No inheritance coming. Nobody else. Sometimes it gets to be too much and your all alone. There are no family traditions to pass down. No history. No sense of community. Just me. That's hard to explain to your kids
I wish you and your own family all the best. As far as I'm concerned, the society should be judged by its treatment of kids in foster care.
Depending on the age of your children, it could be interesting for your family to make your own traditions as you'll be able to enjoy them especially when they're older and return home to celebrate. I hope much happiness for you as you make your way.
I have a mother worth $2000000 and two brothers. I still feel everything after "it's sink or swim...." Sometimes family don't provide support, just blackmail. She ain't ever going to leave me anything. Yet she goes to church.
@@theflaca very true. As someone who's dealt with this sort of thing, my heart goes out to you.
I completely relate to that and I wish you all the best
I lived in Japan for many years and one of the things that I'll never forget about that experience is just how easy it was to live while not making much money. With basic budgeting I was able to live a pretty decent life making less than 30k a year. Now I make three times my old Japanese salary, but I don't really feel it. There are real structural problems that make poverty and even middle class life difficult.
America is evil
You would think expensive health care is one of those structural issues
You are lucky, we 2 people live on 15 k social security and still have to make ends meet.
@@edstoffregen3623： yes, I agree with you 😔😔😔😔
I was young and on my own in the mid-60s. I lived in San Francisco for a year and Chicago for a year and in other eastern cities (NYC, Boston, Philly) making about $2000/yr and I lived like a queen independently. You literally needed virtually NO money to live well back in those halcyon days (if you didn't mind an occasional meal of catsup spaghetti...lol). I went to school in Philly, got a working BS and left with a student debt of about $800 and many places wanting to hire me at eye-popping wages. It was heaven! Those days are SO GONE!
Poverty is exhausting and expensive. Now that I’m doing better I help others as much as I can. I donate. I always carry cash. People would be surprised how many people in need are all around you if you have your eyes open. I remember the days when an extra $5 - $10 dollars would have changed my whole week.
For a single person in the continental United States, the 2022 federal poverty level is $13,590. For each additional person in the household, the federal poverty level increased by $4,720. (So for a household of three, for example, the 2022 federal poverty level is $23,030.) No one in the US can live on these amounts anywhere in the US. NO ONE. I couldn't live on what they expect 3 people to live on. It's insane. Politicians who are rich and never knew a day of poverty in their lives make these decisions.
Well said!!!
You nailed it. Our government is corrupt and rich lawyer lobbyists with CEO's not the Agency Secretary's in the Cabinet run our statistics and they never match reality. It is a crime what the data they use to determine everything.
Yes, and they never factor in how decent wages could alleviate the monetary pressure on social aid and help social security in the long run.
Working at McDonald's for 16.00/hr for 40hrs/wk, you will earn 33,000 GROSS/25,000 NET AFTER 25% taxes. 3 People living together in a 3bd/2b house for 3000/mo (rent & utilities) means that each person is paying 1000/mo in rent and utilities. That is 30% of your gross income. 30% of your gross income is EXACTLY what reasonable people suggest you should expect to spend on HOUSING.
McDonald's is ENTRY LEVEL/NO SKILLS NECESSARY/NO EXPERIENCE NECESSARY/FLEXIBLE SCHEDULING/PAID TRAINING/ADVANCEMENT OPPORTUNITIES. I could go on. Losers will always be losers, regardless of the laws or rules.
Politicians need to be removed.
What bothers me most about poverty in America is people's unwillingness to recognize it's causes and finally DO something about it! So many people victim blame the poor and working poor in this country (America). It's sickening, to say the very least!!!!!
Yes!
If the Govt wants all those tax dollar they should help people out.
It's always easiest to blame the individual then to critically question the capitalist system we live under and it's part in all this.
Because to recognise the cause is to admit capitalism is quite shit and that is a thing no American politician will ever do and as for the people they are taught to defend capitalism from birth even as it shafts them and their community and their nation.
Worse yet in the USA it's far more expensive to be poor. Overall the system persecutes the poor via punishing people for being poor. Believing if you punish people in poverty enough they'll eventually no longer be poor. Of course they'll be dead instead then...
The American dream is a nightmare.
And the wealthy think the minimum wage is too high! They really want FREE labor!
Christ taught his disciples not to be caught sleeping and the germs of Germany is bedbugs squatting in the cravivses and panhandling taxpayers with their illegal aliens covenants 🛸🍎🛸🍎of crimes against humanity.
One of the absolute biggest lies outside of us being an actual democracy that the American public has ever been fed!
It is actually fraud.
🤪🤪🤪
I followed the 3 steps of success and put off marriage and having kids to get and work a full-time job. I am now 46 years old, unmarried, unemployed, no children and homeless in Denver Colorado.
u n me both but im in my 30s
But right wingers like Ben Shapiro claim if you everything just right you’ll escape poverty.
If you've got a college degree, you could teach overseas and make decent money
You'll never be rich, but you'll never be homeless.
There are several countries that hire teachers Over the age of forty
You just need to have a good background check
Could have been worse if you had 3 or 5 kids. Right?
Couriers with a van can make a decent income.
Cost of living increases are not taken into account in aid programs. I volunteer at a food bank and the folks that come in are either families with both parents working or seniors. Most seniors only qualify for $26/month in food stamps. In my state school-age children get free breakfast and lunch. Housing is most people's greatest expense, and people go without needed medical care. It's very scary and sad.
@endtimesareuponus8930 most Americans hurt other Americans to help the elites and het nothing out of it classic sheep mindset.
What bothers me is that so many blame the poor for their own inability to get out of poverty. They just don't understand the realities of starting from a negative position. It's like climbing out of a hole with no rope.
It's best not to have children while you're in that hole... Matter of fact, your parents shouldn't allow you to be in that hole in the first place
@kookoo78 hmm.. perhaps you should replay and actually listen this time.
It's called just-world fallacy
Workers are the victims; the SYSTEM that creates the victims is the perpetrator. That's what we must change. Socialism NOW!
@@KnowledgeSeeker78491 and how will the USA recruit its soldiers if there no poor kids? You think the kids of the rich white households are lining up to join the military?
"telling kids that they can't have seconds." That really hits me because I always remember when I was child my grandmother always, always asking the question before we left the table, "Did you get enough." It wasn't because food was scarce, but it was just a priority that we always had enough and were satisfied. We didn't have much but always plenty to eat.
You really have to let children eat as much as they have to or else they won't grow right. Food should be priority number two after shelter.
@@Babu-kr3cr that is absolutely correct.
As a senior, if I did not have the place and ability to grow a huge garden, in America, I would have the choice of starving or being homeless. I still frequently have to go hungry. Meanwhile, I have politicians telling me how lazy I am.
Raising 2 boys neither ever wanted seconds
Luckily, I’ve never had to go hungry in my entire life, even when I was homeless.
I was a gig worker: An adjunct professor. I taught on 3 different campuses at a time, and had no time to devote to my students as I was so busy just doing the work administration required of me. I had no health insurance. I taught the equivalent of 1 and 1/2 full time jobs and made about half the money of a full-time instructor. I had to retire in a foreign country because my pension was too small for me to even rent a small 1 BD apartment in the US. That's what 8 years of higher education got me in the US.
I suspect you weren't a ball player. I feel your pain bro. This system is VAMPIRICALLY NUTS!
You are probably better off not living in the US. It's going down fast. I'm taking steps to move my family out of the country
Adjunct professor of what? If you wanted to make more money, you should have done something that people are willing to pay more for, not just something you think is interesting.
@@Mark-rw3kw Many of us dedicate our lives to higher causes for the sake of others and humanity in general.
@@minoozolala What you consider to be in the best interest of society and humanity may not be what everyone thinks. Besides, it is often the case that if we do the things we like to do for a living, that might not pay as much as doing some jobs that are less interesting and harder to do. It should be up to the "market" to decide (based on supply vs demand) how much each job pays. If you don't like that, start your own business and pay yourself hat ever you want (that's what most billionaires did).
Thank you, Matthew Desmond and Chris Hedges for this discussion! 😊
Poor, uneducated people are easy prey for predatorial extractivist capitalist system😢
A lot of rich Democrats like the Obamas, the Clintons, the Pelosis ...live in the US. Why do they not share their tremendous wealth with the poor and the homeless
I agree. Poor people are more likely to use tobacco and alcohol.
Most people don't want to know anything. This is easy living for them.
I'd disagree the people have 100 percent literacy rate in America, it's miseducated, the ppl that own the world don't want a truly educated pop.
YES, MEN LIKE, HOPE BRYANT, TALKS UP, JACKS UP, A STORY OF HOW HE WILL EDUCATE THE POOR, ESPECIALLY, BLACK POOR, TO CURE CAPITALISM, WHEN ALL ALONG HE REVEALS IN ONE OF HIS BOOKS (WITH THE WORD, "LOVING" IN THE TITLE) THAT HE IS ALL COZY WITH THE DAVOS CROWD, WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM (WEF). WARNING: DO NOT WANT ANY OF THAT.
There is saying that a presenter shared at a conference in 2006 that is most appropriate for this video, "Every society is perfectly engineered to get the results that it is getting." American-style poverty is an industry that fuels the economic engine that maintains (with an oppressive system of criminalizing laws) and sustains (by deceiving people into voting against their best interests) the wealthy and the powerful.
“Did you really think we want those laws observed?" said Dr. Ferris. "We want them to be broken. You'd better get it straight that it's not a bunch of boy scouts you're up against... We're after power and we mean it... There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. Who wants a nation of law-abiding citizens? What's there in that for anyone? But just pass the kind of laws that can neither be observed nor enforced or objectively interpreted - and you create a nation of law-breakers - and then you cash in on guilt. Now that's the system, Mr. Reardon, that's the game, and once you understand it, you'll be much easier to deal with.”
Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
“The question isn’t who is going to let me; it’s who is going to stop me.” - Ayn Rand
Australia being led down the same track,by corrupt politicians and their masters.
Exactly
We in Tea Party Patriots agree. Join us in fighting to change Congress into becoming fiscally responsible.
@@tj92834 I understand it and wish we could get people to vote out the big spenders and corporate shills and military industrial complex ass kissers.
Abuse is rampant for those in poverty and shaming is constant. You can't get disability without a lawyer, I've seen this with family and friends several times. It's a miserable life of difficult hurdles and endless hardship.
world War 3, could solve it, the suffering will never end and get worse if decisions are left to evil leaders and indifferant citizens living comfortable lives
Getting an attorney for disability claims isn't difficult as there are attorneys who specialize in it, but after it's approved, they take a cut of your money.
Really it's a bigger nightmare than horror movies...
The wealthy always seem to find a way to clip the ticket and skip the bill.
Spot on. One of my coworkers husband had terminal cancer and applied. He was denied disability. He knew they were going to lose the house soon and leave his children and wife without a place to live. He went on a nutrition strike and died in three days. It was in time. I helped her file with social security and in five days she had gotten the mortgage current. She also got back pay for the denied disability.
For the first time in my life as a young man when I had to move far away from the Security of my Parents Home, I was on my own living in a new city in an apartment on the university campus, I had met many people who were struggling to make ends meet. Now after 40+ years later those people are still my friends and keep in touch with me. Sadly most of them are still stuck in the same old poverty. What is wrong with this country??
the author says mean net worth of whites is $188,000. Does anyone actually believe that? How many whites do you know that have $188,000.
What's wrong with your friends if after 40 years they haven't bettered their lives?
When I was young I was poor. Now, after years of hard work, I am no longer young.
Generational Wealth to pass down to the next generation and so on so forth. No assets? forget having kids, You can be happily married without kids not unless you have income generating assets you could lose your job or business but if you have assets it's fine.
Did they finish college without huge debt and get a good job? Did they have kids before they were financially stable?
I read Matthew Desmonds book in 2018. It was such an eye opener. I'm glad to have caught this interview with him.
The 70s was absolutely the American apex of worker rights, housing affordability, and a sense of civil rights. The music and cars were great as well. So glad I grew up in that era.
I too grew up during those halcyon days. The way things have changed is a dismal reality that we just couldn't imagine happening. But here we are.
Les FUTUR TRISTE vont les payer TRES CHER si ce n est DÉJÀ PAS LE CAS
The music was good and the cars were downright AWFUL (after 1972). The 60s had good cars, and then starting in 71-72 automobiles entered a very dark age. Think the Pinto and The Pacer, as well as the Mustang II. Also the land yachts with v8s that produced a whopping 150 horsepower. Good times. The 70s was also the apex of inflation.
What about my generation house are 450000 plus interest and we make 15 dollars that fall in value daily
I remember the gas wars during that time…
25 cents a gallon on one corner, and 24 cents a gallon on the other corner. The next day they’d both be lower!
Ahh. The good old days, when a family could afford to spend a Sunday driving a hundred miles to the beach or sightseeing in other counties.
My son's girlfriends is a Navajo Nation tribe member and the poverty she described to us is heartbreaking. The Native Americans are and have been suffering with such extreme poverty, and no one cares.
those of us who care are in no shape to help. all we have is a vote and it's always for rich people who don't care.
@@margaretjohnson6259 Your words are wise and true, we will keep faith and thank you!
It’s shameful. They’re poor because they’re dependent upon the government. Reservations should be completely eliminated and those people should be helped to assimilate into the country so they can get out of poverty .
sanchezhandymen34444' In a historic settlement, the federal government will pay the Navajo Nation more than half a billion dollars to settle claims that it mismanaged reservation funds for more than 60 years, the tribe and the government announced Wednesday.
At $554 million, the settlement is the largest obtained by a single American Indian tribe against the U.S. It caps a drawn-out dispute filed in 2006 with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. On August 16, 2021, the U.S. Treasury allocated additional $217,907,006.50 to the Navajo Nation. With this second allocation, the Navajo Nation received a total of $2,079,461,464.93 Fiscal Recovery Funds. Tourism, mineral production, and lumbering are the main sources of cash income on the Navajo Reservation. Budget provides $4.7 billion for DOI's Tribal programs, more than $690 million above the 2023 enacted level, including investments that would support public safety and justice, social services, and educational needs to uphold Federal trust responsibilities ...Mar 9, 2023 health care>The Navajo Area Indian Health Service operates hospitals and clinics at population centers on the reservation. Treatment is free to tribal members.
@@Shadow-7773 So.. a lawsuit was filled by the Navajo Nation, heard in court and was brought to an agreed settlement? Thank you for the information, I had not heard of this, I will look into it.
As a caucasian woman,at 86.5 yrs, I have lived under the poverty level many years. Single mothers struggle to support their families, and now I clearly see how poverty hurts all. Greed and selfish "representatives" pocket funds which are needed to balance the economy WE PAY FOR. These Criminal acts must be stopped
Thats why you marry before you carry. So you don't become a single mom.
stop. it's the "greedy and selfish" moms. you shouldn't be a single mom because you should not be laying down with broke bum men. no ring and no job means no access and you'll be fine.
Single women called themselves "independent women" so they don't need a man
@@darkstarmatter5678riiiiight-- because things like the death of your husband, domesfic violence, addiction and even accidental pregnancies are never in play.
Yours is the extremely simplistic solution to a very complex problem. Take away a woman's right to abortion and you make these problems exponentially worse.
@@darkstarmatter5678 Er, you don't know that husbands leave and fail to support their kids? This is a new, shocking development for you??
everything they're discussing defines class war. our problem is too many of us are asleep, or distracted by tv, sports, or conditioned to believe the rich aren't greedy bastards, bleeding us to death.
You're right you're sucking his dry
You're so right. That's how the Romans stayed in power almost 1,000 years. America has a long way to go to hit that mark and I don't believe it will. The number of guns in private hands is just one aspect of how people are changing for the worse. Their values, their treatment and views of others are despicable. Trump took advantage of that concept, which further increased racism and divided the country. Distractions like sports, etc., only help the rich and those in power. Corny to say, but it's a very sad state of affairs.
I agree 💯
They aren't greedy bastards,they are smart men who know how to use the systems. Remember you can also be rich if you work hard
@@georgepresley5120 whoa,,, george, if you really believe the system isn't rigged you have a long way to go. class war started here before the united states was the united states, and hasn't stopped. we have people living on the streets, men, women, children, families. all the while ceos are getting hundreds of millions a year, over 570 billionaires made during the pandemic, here in the usofa.
wages stagnate while the number of rich increases. other countries have public health care and free college and university education. while we have staggering numbers of bankruptcies from medical expenses and huge debt for college students. time to wake up and learn where you live. this is an oligarchy.
We have become so desensitized that we have no empathy until we find ourselves in the position to have sympathy. Why do we have to fall from the fifth floor to understand that an injured person feels pain? If the dollar actually loses its global worth, so many of us who are smug now will understand poverty on a level never know.
I hope the dollar loses its global worth. China will beat US economy by 2037, which is a good thing because they’re doing a lot of things better than USA. Better public transit, less crime, overall more equality. China makes America look like a third world country
💯
Thank the Democrats and the Biden administration.
In their defense, most of them were born with empathy, but their news sources keep telling them the poor are just lazy, and really, they're fine, and oh the poor are the reason the middle class have less!! And they just don't want to work!! It's lies after lies after lies until a person starts to believe it all.
I've watched it happen around me. I've watched those lies take hold. I've watched people On food stamps start to hate everyone else on food stamps. Because of course they need them & they deserve them but their tv keeps telling them that most people don't, so obviously they're just the exception & other people are the problem.
It's insane.
You captured our predicament perfectly
I did all the right things career/business but was still shafted in my old age basically sleepwalked into the scam of relieving us of our lifetime wealth and savings via “mandates and unscrupulous laws”
I will find this book and dive in. I too lived in Milw and learned about generational poverty. Made it my personal mission to empower moms to learn,do more in the inner city. I worked in nursing 39 yrs in 3 states, never had a union job, never got more than 3% raise even with walks on water reviews. Had hospital systems mismanaging things so massively on daily basis my life and my patients were in danger but execs always had their 6 wks vacation each year though I had to fight to get 5 days in a row off...except once in 39 yrs. Now after the covid mess in healthcare, with fewer working, more is expected and I am sure they are using all the same tricks to avoid paying staff. I actually got used to living on 25k/yr... no vacations, only buy on sale and not much. Poverty became my way of life . When became disabled took 3 times applying to get it through with help of charity lawyer, judge in case was disgusted saying was clear 3 yrs before. Would rather work than be disabled. Just discovered is a company that administers health care from feds, takes their $5 bn cut a year but doesn't improve healthcare, just profits off all medicaid, medicare, imprisoned healthcare. Feel this needs to be stopped. Accountability is severely lacking lately.
Therein is the source of the problem. Shrewd people, leeching off the systems. I am alright Jack, to hell with you. A totally different mindset of my Parents and Grandparents generation. It was not about pulling a fast one over your peers and neighbor and community. The consequences are and the reaping.
I'm so sorry for your financial struggles after giving so many years of providing health care services to those in need... Please try to stay strong and I pray that your health improves!!
@@dannettejackson202 Thank you.
This man is absolutely right. I taught history for years. The Industrial Revolution is one of the best examples of this designed poverty. Wealthy industrialists were able to keep wages very low due to having a large class of poor people. The workforce was virtually endless because if a worker quit, died or got sick, someone else would take their place immediately. Poor families had all members working including small children. Poor women did not have access to birth control, so they were constantly having children they struggled to feed.
The very same thing now occurring in the so-called gig economy. Where anything below a five-star rating is pretty much treated as zero.
The anti ab0rti0n crowd are making this problem worse
Fiat money makes this worse. Wages have stagnated since the early 70s after Nixon took America off the gold standard. You end up with more debt which leads to inflation which leads to more poverty.
@@brianbeecher3084yeah, definitely a great example now of how they can get new gig workers everyday and don't care if the ones being exploited quit. Revolving door of modern day slaves. Sad.
@tracyjacksonjackson4221
I don't believe it was the industrial revolution, but our staunch stance on unregulated capitalism & union busting labor exploitation. Much of EU has also experienced the industrial revolution & despite WWII economic devastation, insisted on instituting policies & regulations that balanced labor rights & capital to the benefit of the greater society!
In the US, despite our claims of "government by & for the people", our laws & politicians prioritize corporate profits over citizens' wellbeing & that is simply wrong! I hate that the world's strongest economy has such rampant poverty! But it's all political & sadly, until this system changes (which is rather unlikely in the next 3-5 decades), the only solution for those in poverty today is to simply stop having children so as to at least not subject yet another generation to the cruel fate of poverty.
Raising some good points. I will never forget seeing my vulnerable elderly neighbors die of strokes while they were being evicted from a home they were promised they could stay in
Who said that quote..."..because we can't satisfy the rich."
The elderly should be guaranteed some kind of housing. It’s not like they can go out and get a job.
@@diannerobinson7858MLK= Martin Luther King?
@@henryrollins9177Yes
@@uninsurable9028 The government has raised the age of full retirement from 65 to 67.
As an accounting professional, it sickens me how common it is to hear from partners, managers, and supervisors that taxes are theft. Exactly! So why does Amazon not pay a dime in taxes?!
Because of the tax structure.
@@rosemarieroth1984 The tax law allows such structuring of entities along with “tax planning”
Yet we pay taxes on amazon purchases.
Everyone knows the way to alleviate poverty in the United States is to allow millions of impoverished low wage workers to flood across the southern border.
That’s by design too!
In 1980 I was a well-paid educational textbook writer in NYC. Within 3 years of Reagan's arrival and transformation of the tax code, that career was gone---and so were the next two professional avenues for which I worked my ass off. Then somehow I got into an Ivy League PhD program, taught 6 years for pennies while the school got richer and richer, and my graduation present was bankruptcy. Then 22 years of permanent part-time university teaching on LESS than minimum wage. I'd had it---and sold my family home and left the US for good in 2015. Doesn't matter how hard you work or what you contribute. The American "ideal" is to pay people nothing, and it's getting closer every day.
This is now so obvious the strike occurred as I saw this as I didn't become a teacher because college was only 2,000 per year for tuition and books a Pell Grant was able to attend college in '81-84 then I was required to care for my mother dying of cancer the trauma emotionally I had to stop college. Medical care in California is the worst since Reagan became governor who was bought by General Electric. The surgeon was allowed to kill people during surgery and same surgeon forgot type of surgery he discussed with me with also received my confirmation of precise details of surgery that he changed then wrote totally false hospital record violated law by refusing to provide my medical record to repair the harm with his defective implant that he was to notify the FDA that was not written. Electronic Healthcare Records created for profit not for better health care as the GAO report gave to Congress .
I was born in 1981 and at 41 i was working overseas and divorced my wife of 5 years cause I was working my ass off and she refused to help out so I lost half of my life savings 200k came home and was left homeless and now I am like fuck the us I am moving to another country as well I am also a 16year veteran
@@Ellfyn Our betrayal and our compassion for each other must be the two main drives of opposition if there's to be anything left of us in 10 years.
@@37Dionysos I could not agree more but it is hard I feel like just giving up I been fighting for far to long
@@kp6215 KIlling Americans is a cottage industry as the 666,000 FICA recipients that died because they thought Covid was a hoax and refused the vaccines as the media told them to. The same media monopoly of 90% in 8 corp hands all facing a FICA payroll tax hike. Mortuary Services Index was up 27.5% in Aug of '21. Funerals spiked church attendance.
I have been talking about this for 30 years. I'm glad that others are joining the conversation.
Poverty in America is not the goal, but the outcome of a system whereby slavery was transformed from an illegal, politically incorrect system to one where labor is "outsourced" to "independent contractors" where individuals house and feed themselves independent of the master and are no longer whipped in the traditional sense, but whipped in other ways.
Exactly! They figured out a way to have their cake and eat it!! It's not just us black folks anymore. They've enslaved the vast majority of Americans, and to my great astonishment, they support and defend the very ones who are enslaving them!!!!! 😱🤷🤦
A lot of rich Democrats like the Obamas, the Clintons, the Pelosis ...live in the US. Why do they not share their tremendous wealth with the poor and the homeless
This is not unique to the US, it exists in every developed nation that had a neo liberal revolution.
The Keynesian model was about full employment and a functional balance of power between labour and capital.
The inflation and chaos from the oil crisis in the 1970s was blamed on the economic model and neoliberalism was championed as the solution.
Controlling inflation became an obsession and was used as a sledgehammer on workers rights and level of employment.
An unemployment rate of about 4-5% was set out as the ideal to control inflation.
As working class wages have gradually fallen in real terms, the unemployment number can come down because the working poor don’t drive inflation.
It is truly sick.
@@tonedowneexcellently put
I recall in/around 2016 when the UN rapportuer on poverty was about to present his findings to the Human Rights Council the Trump administration pulled out of the UN Human Rights Council. The rapporteur reported about 5M Americans live in THIRD WORLD CONDITIONS. It's horrible.
No problem to find money for war,this must stop.
Facts
True but the rapportuer did his investigation before Trump was in office. My point is deep poverty is created by capitalism and policies implemented by both capitalist parties (Dems & GOP).
A lot of rich Democrats like the Obamas, the Clintons, the Pelosis ...live in the US. Why do they not share their tremendous wealth with the poor and the homeless
Trump didn't officially become president until January 2017.
Reagan started the trend towards extreme inequality that is still ongoing today; when the corporations gained unlimited political power at the expense of working class. The top 1% gained more wealth out of the bottom 80%. A growing portion of America struggle just to survive, not contributing to country's development--America is in decline.
Yes he did
True & whether a Republican or Democrat gets elected, we the people will get more of the same failed Republican trickle down economics we’ve been getting since Reagan. Why?
Because both parties are funded by the same big money donors to get elected & represent their donor’s interests at OUR expense.
So maybe voting for leftist 3rd party/Ind candidates isn’t the wasted vote. Maybe the truly wasted vote is voting for the Democrats & Republicans. Right? 🤔 🤨
And people still want to say that Regan was a great president. He was the one that started this country's downfall and it has just been sliding faster ever since he was in office. Just goes to show you how propagandized the American public actually is.
@@feralLove and then Nancy with her Just Say No campaign then
Nah. It started in 1972. (See the Powell Memorandum) And besides, Reagan was a puppet of the CFR.
... " The Greatest Nation in the History of the World " ... we are told ...
Not true!
@@edenhundsdoerfer7971... No. It isn't.
? The USA is doing great, did you not see the SOTU from Biden? Lowest unemployment in 50+ years, highest average wage, most amount in savings and investments EVER. We are so rich as a nation. At Fidelity Investments they see 1 in 6 of every dollar pass through their company in some form of fashion.
It's not the greatest but the most powerful.
@@diegoyanesholtz212 Right now ...
Knowing states sit on money and doesn’t help anyone is disgusting and those in charge should be held accountable! The entire system needs to change, from top to bottom!
And that’s a very serious problem in USA!!! This country is biased sorry to say…
In 1990 I was making $250k/yr as a graphic artist. A judge's daughter rear-ended my car, totaling it, and me. She never got a ticket, I got nothing. Couldn't work, lost my home, savings, everything. Then a cousin who was "caring" for me, took all my inheritance when my parents died. The poor generally have been taken advantage of, and that is how we got here. Don't tell me I'm lazy, I AM DISABLED.
A long time ago, I knew a lady whose 21 year old daughter was killed in an auto accident by the son of a political figure who was DUI, the driver was never charged or fined the lady never got over it. The Lord Jesus is the only one who is true, He is your only true friend, trust in the Lord alone. He does not change, He does not lie and He will always be there for you. He is our surety and our strength. You can find in Him.
I worked 34 years for the same company. I was severely injured at work and when the found out I needed multiple surgeries, I was summarily fired and workman’s comp denied my claim. I am now disabled and trying to live on $800 a month Social Security. And I have politicians and rich businessmen telling me I am lazy.
@@jayleeper1512
For CENTURIES
Yes our heavenly father is the only one that is complete truth and love you got that right....Amen@@melchezi8818
Unbelievable. Things just get worse for ordinary people. Sad news but, as always, thanks for keeping us informed.
Why dont you guys rebel or revolt, you have the weapons?
@@The.world.has.gone.crazy... Right, peaceful protest against police armed to the teeth with military grade weapons. No one is willing to face the reality of the western fascism.
@@The.world.has.gone.crazy...because they keep us divided and mad at our neighbors. The propaganda machine is doing its job.
Because the media has manipulated the middle and lower class to blame each other for their problems. Basically divide and conquer 101. People are slowly catching on, but it is a slow process. Even some of Wall Street is catching on because the woes of wealth inequality are coming to their doorstep. Overall though, there's still work to do.
Tell that to the Boomers.
According to certain economists, there are projections indicating the possibility of the United States and certain parts of Europe experiencing a recession during a portion of 2023. While a global recession, which refers to a decline in annual global per capita income, is relatively uncommon due to the faster growth rates of China and emerging markets compared to developed economies, it is important to note that if economic growth lags behind population growth, the world economy is generally regarded as being in a recession.
My primary concern at the moment is finding ways to generate additional revenue during challenging economic times. I cannot afford to witness my savings diminish to nothing.
Given the current delicate economic season, it may be difficult or ineffective to take significant action on your own. Therefore, I would strongly recommend seeking the expertise of a financial professional who can offer valuable financial guidance and assistance.
That’s why I always make it a point to speak with a financial advisor before choosing any investments. Apparently, I’ve been using one since the pandemic, using profits oriented tactics and minimizing risks as a buffer against inevitable downtrends.
In addition they have valuable access to insider knowledge and analysis, making failure virtually impossible for them. I’ve made over $1.5million passively investing with John Desmond Heppolette, my advisor for over three years now.
Your financial advisor really seem to know this stuff. I found his online-page when I made a google search of his full names online, read through his resume, educational background and qualifications, it was really impressive. I left him a note and booked a call session with him..
Absolutely! A financial advisor can help you create a tailored investment plan that aligns with your unique financial situation and goals.
What a screwed up system, what a screwed up country.
Do you live in America? Do work to change it, or just whine and cry?
The most stupid greedy nation on earth..AMERICA..most corrupt slave nation ..
It has all the earmarks of a diabolical creation.
What’s the hallmark of a good country? I am just wondering so asking honestly, do you think a more socialist system is better?
@@underated17 Healthy, smiling people - not the evil scum you see in USA.
Thank you Chris for continuing to bring the issue of poverty in america out of the media shadows. This system needs the poor to occupy these poverty wage jobs. A job should lift a person out of poverty not keep them in it.
I strongly agree with this statement!
@@dannettejackson202 Thank you Dannette. I'm tired of the non response by our politicians. They are the real problem.
Not True. they just need to learn to live with what they earn ; not beyond their mean
Stop making bad choices
Sounds good, let me know when McDonald's pays a basic living and I can afford a house and the basics on a basic wage, since that's not happening, have fun having kids that will be homeless and on only fans lol
i've only been saying this for over 30 years. the ruling elite can end poverty at ANY TIME if they wanted to. but they choose not to because poverty exists because its designed to exist.
poverty serves at least 4 purposes. 1) it acts as a punishment to anyone who resists or rejects the system. 2) it acts as a deterent to political action. if you continue your complaining we'll make you poor. 3) and it acts as a means of social control. a people divided are much easier to manipulate and pit against each other. comptetion becomes cut-throat as masses do whatever necassary to avoid the horrible fate. if you get out of line poverty is the horror you face. 4) lastly, the poor are a scapegoat on which to blame all society's ills.
of course poverty's existance is intentional. its all a part of the "equalism" philosophy. i even posted videos about on youtube that no one watches. JUST THINK, if i'd been listened to by the elitist left we'd be 30 years ahead of where we are now. odd how the left REFUSES to give the poor a voice while rich "leftists" make millions off of their insincere ant-poverty rhetoric.
This was an excellent interview! I’m from DC and my dad worked for the fed govt for almost 50 years. He has the same retirement plan as the senators on Capitol Hill. Good health insurance and 80% of his salary for the rest of his life. My generation and younger no longer has the benefits and investments of large entities that our parents had. Teachers and sanitation workers which are honorable and necessary jobs can’t afford housing. As a nurse I have significant student loan debt to repay. I think a livable wage, decent education and affordable housing are a good start but in a country where profit is valued more than people, it will be harder and harder for poor and working class families to survive.
Exactly the same in the UK and Europe.
❤️
Tell that to the Boomers
Because of people are valued more-
What happens?
They reproduce nonstop.
And then what happens?
Scarcity of resources, supply and demand, prices, space, etc.
You can divide or do as much math is possible and it'll always end up that resources are limited.
The people who run the world and have models from beginning of intellectual time, all the way up to now; always point to resources being scarce when populations reproduce non stop.
Even basic stuff like global warming:
If I put 1 person in a room, the room is normal temperature. If I fill every space in the room with people, the room will get super hot.
The earth has been receiving new people since beginning of time not to mention everything else, cars, machines, etc.
When it comes to population control- it's either a few here and there.
Or like almost everyone together a flood or unlivable conditions.
I feel for people. But at the end of the day. It is what it is.
It's absolutely disgusting that Senators get all that benefit off tax payers , yet work hard with corps to take these same benefits from tax payers it's a big scam .
I moved from Ohio to Alabama to homestead eight years ago. I'm shocked at the poverty here in the south and just accepted! Governor Kay ivey took millions in what was suppose to be money for struggling Alabama citizens from the financial devastation due to covid and instead built two massive prisons ...they claim the prisons cost $900 million dollars!!! Almost a BILLION DOLLARS!!! I watch the jail rosters for my county here , and nearby counties...the jails here are absolutely stuffed with the poor!!! People that couldn't pay their auto insurance, failure to pay fines from tickets, marijuana charges ( its still a serious offense here !), etc!! Families are torn apart because of this...children put into foster care, etc. This is ludicrous!!! Trying to bring awareness to this to locals is pointless I found ...all they care about in this state is football and beer. Unbelievable!!!!
What did you expect? It's a worst state in the union. Get out of there it's not worth it.
Laughs. The South. They never learn.
But Southerners don't call it 'poverty'. They think those people are just 'broke' and it is their own fault
They cut has build a mega indoor farm and employed a whole ñot of people ,teach them a trade and have a ñot of tax payer people happily employ,againt an ugly money pit call jail.
Look for the video ,its friday and im broke an im broke!!!!
I've lived in poverty all my life an never had time to worry about how to do it we just did with the help of our family, friends and community. I never realized how poor we actually were, twelve thousand a year and 3 children we survived only. Many times I've wondered why does it have to be so hard and we just live without a lot most take for granted. I know I've overpaid and have been cheated by employers and trades people because I've had no choice. I still choose to help others when they need an give my time an attention to those less fortunate.
God bless, man. I've been the same.
Despite having had the privilege of my single mother now earning nearly $150,000 a year, I've watched her literally cry about having called the electric company to schedule a late payment because she just wanted to buy some Christmas decorations.
My mom is a woman who went back to school at 43 with two teenagers under her roof and no financial assistance. And regardless of how bad she's treated me as a result of past experiences with her father, brother, and my dad, it has truly upended my sense of hope to watch her efforts get drowned in debt.
Again, my mom is a woman who makes well into six-figures. But she is still so trapped in the cycle of poverty that something as basic as buying $100 of Christmas lights means having to make payment arrangements on the light bill.
This country is DESTROYING the people who've worked the hardest to overcome their circumstances. And worse, the guilt that gets shoved onto white men like myself makes this even harder for everyone to face. I often feel like a total POS because I can barely pay my own rent, let alone give my own sister money to pay for gas so she can drive to and from school to pick up my her 7-year-old daughter.
I don't want my niece growing up in a world where she can't trust the men she knows to look out for her.
I may be gay, but that kid deserves to trust me as a protector and provider as much as any man she ever looks up to.
Yep, those who are poor, have been poor or who just make enough to barely be above poor, give the largest percent of their incomes to others. Those middle class and upper class, give a few bucks at church on Sunday and congratulate themselves for being "generous. "
What is needed is education and clarity such as this book.... Thank you.
Bless you
I have a question: I didn’t grow up poor I was blessed in that regard, so that’s why I’m asking this: Do you think that it would help to have maybe lived with another family that was also poor and pooled resources, until your family was able to climb out of poverty. Or do you think that it’s just too hard to have two families with 2 wives and 2 husbands (& children if they have them) share a space for 2-4 years? And then perhaps purchased a double house, so one family lives upstairs and one lives downstairs? I always think that that would be a good idea, but I’m unsure if other people namely black people or white people would be willing to do this.
Not just in America, but thanks to the lack of healthcare and it being tied to a job at the mercy of an employer, it is certainly much worse than anywhere else in the west.
Yep
Of course, here in Brazil is certainly worse..Don't give up !!!
And the law says that slavery was abolished in the USA! I call bs!
Thank you, Chis Hedges, for having Matthew Desmond on today. Thorough conversation from the both of you..
I will buy his book today.
I would love for Matthew Desmond to meet the man who has been filming our homelessness on American streets. He is on RUclips for years now and his name is Mark.
Futhernore, I don't know if Professor Cornel West has seen thses videos but I think this would help his campaign to have these people shown and speak as he is putting his campaign together.
Again, I must apologize because of my not being computer savey and cellphone savey or I would connect all of you together.
Mr. Hedges have you read about what Google has done now? I am sure you have.
Today is Sunday and I hope you and your family are having a wonderful day.
What did Google do ? Pls advise. Tku
In the USA, individuals living in cars due to partial homelessness result from a complex interplay of factors. High housing costs relative to income, stagnant wages, and income inequality drive this issue. Job loss, weak social support, medical expenses, evictions, and lack of affordable housing also contribute, while systemic problems and inadequate policies further perpetuate the phenomenon.
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Sending billions of Dollars to Ukraine is by far more important that the thousands of homeless and poor people that roam the streets of the United States, so thinks the senile at the head of the country!
I’d encourage you to expand your understanding of inequality to more of what Hedges and Desmond are talking about. It’s not just Ukraine or Israel or Saudi Arabia. It’s extraction by billionaires 24/7/365
But think about the last part of your statement. The 'senile' at the 'top' part of the country. They are at the 'top' for a reason, what they are doing is deliberate not 'senile'.
@@jayx.6813 I guess that the more than 140 billion dollars that were sent to Ukraine could have contributed in large part to treat homelessness and poverty in the US. In large part...
Not a bright comment. Try again.
@@richardkhalife well then, welcome to the Left! It seems you want to defund the war machine and feed the homeless 👍
I believe that austerity in America is a form of sanctions against the American people.
It’s literally class war. It is a redistribution of wealth away from the majority, towards a minority.
Truth
I'll take it one step further, I believe that they hate us. Not just the republican party, but the rich as well. But they need us. And thus do we find ourselves here, in a hell of their design.
Which country?
austerity just means making cuts when you run out of money....its not a plot, its life.
Matthew Desmond is worth more than all the gold on the planet.
Indeed ❤
. . . an excellent presentation . . . the kind of book I will definitely read.
It so great to hear Mr. Desmond sincere caring for people that need it the most. I wish there was a herd like him.
shhhh...don't prise them too much, the CIA will notice!
@@TimotheeLeeWell said, the herd should be big enough to lead by know: 108 million just getting by🫨
I just came across this randomly and it actually makes me very sad to see what’s going innen the U.S. I’ve always known it’s hard to make a living over there being not rich but to listen to this was heartbreaking. It is unbelievable and actually makes me value my country even more. So many people in Germany are complaining how badly we are off but compared to the U.S. we live in paradise. I really feel for all those people trying to survive while the richest are living of them. Even with a good education you can’t make ends meet over there. Which is an absolutely shame. 😢
Heartbreaking indeed, here in Spain we dont have big salaries but enough to live decently and health care is great and free, load off your shoulders, l am astonished at the level of callousness and exploitation in the so called riches country in the west
It isn't that bad here. Homeless are drug addicts. Poor are on welfare and refuse to work or stay at a high school kid type of job.
I have a friend whose niece has two kids but never been married. She doesn't work but took a nice vacation this year. But on paper, she is living in poverty to increase her handouts.
@@cal9112 it's fearful, especially the bit about the algorithms ect.
@@anniealexander9616 She is probably not working because if she did the monthly rent and child care would override her salary ect.
@@Supr_KILLA God bless you darling 🙏
Me being born in Chicago and living in those conditions i can attest to everything his book speaks of..... Absolute truth about how this country is designed and operates, completely ridiculous
Chicago voted overwhelming for guess who. So i really have zero sympathy thats a problem of ignorance not disenfranchised competence
@@dragorn3212bet you don't have this same energy for the Appalachian, West Virginia, Kentucky etc etc white people.
@@flossyravenA lot of Appalachian people don't have access to a Dr or Dentist. Once a year thousands of Drs and dentists from all over the US go up and treat all those people. People from all over drive and camp out overnight to get their tickets to see the Drs and dentists, both done on the same day all done in a large auditorium. Everything gets done the same day, denture casts and fittings, x-rays, bloods, everything. All of the Drs and dentists volunteer their time free of charge. The only time I've ever seen the main stream media address the issue, was when Diane Sawyer did a quick show on it, the show never even showed the worst of it.
In Chicago, the city council spent $55 million on migrants for the month of July, used buildings for the migrants that the African American community wanted to use for neighborhood kids but never got. The council did this even with opposition from the African American community. However the city did give $3 million for kids living in dangerous areas so they could have summer camp and feel safe.
It seems to me that Chicago is more concerned with gaining future voters, than they are about the people already living there.
Comparing the poor people of Chicago to the poor people of Appalachia is like comparing apples to oranges.
@dragorn3212 Dude red states are even worse. Look at Louisiana, Florida, West Virginia, even Texas. You don't see it as profoundly because being poor in those states is more akin to a serious crime where you will be chased away, kidnapped, beaten, robbed, or killed. At least in Chicago we're trying to do something. It might be far from enough but we try
@@burningsnow9870 Technically every state is majority red, its only in the blue parts which are cities that you see these disfunctions. Yes florida is a red state but places like miami and orlando because of the high number of blues they screw it up.
Thank you so much for having compassion for the impoverished-many people don’t. Also, thank you for the research you did to find solutions.
@@chadabercrombie6860 that’s so very true. Following a mental collapse in 2010 I have been unable to work full time and I live with family. I’ve had to buy and resell things to make enough money to live on. I’ve been denied disability benefits. I do receive food stamps but that’s it. I don’t feel like a human being who matters to the world. My son was 18 when I got sick and is a good man so I was at least successful as a parent. It’s as though every step forward I take is twice as hard because I’m so far behind I can’t see the forest for the trees. I often wonder why I’m even here because I feel I have no purpose. I lost my parents in 2020 and 2021 to Covid so I lost the opportunity to care for them very long. Poverty has so many aspects and the worst is the mental toll. That’s why addiction is so prevalent. Often the poverty comes before the drugs which compounds the problem. I would be very interested in the number of impoverished people are mentally ill or suffering from PTSD. You hear of how much money Bezos and Musk donates but I can promise you I’ve never benefitted from them and I wonder who could say they have. No, they don’t owe me anything but in my opinion when you are blessed you have the responsibility to pay it forward.
Wow! Thank you for this!! So TRUE !!!
The main reason for poverty in America is that wealthy people make money off of the poor. Housing in slums, Prison industrial System, NGOs and food programs to name a few. Food programs: Example, walmart can donate the rotten food to the food bank and claim full price for it on taxes.
wealthy people CREATE more money for the poor
@fd-to7ex you can always tell the children by the emoji and unsophisticated answers, if children are on your side you're probably wrong.
there is no fixed amount of money in the world, the more goods you produce the more wealth there is
@@007kingifrit You are in a Fantasy, or you believe the propaganda spewed out by politicians and the news stations.
@fd-to7ex "Ok Boomer" = an unoriginal phrase by people who are unable to think for themselves. A phrase indoctrinated into the inexperienced youth, by the communist professors who control their minds.
The initial premise here is completely insane. Poor people cost an economy (including the wealthy who pay the lion's share of taxes) due to food stamps, housing subsidies, health services (Medicaid, etc.) and other welfare costs. Prisons are very costly and don't generate a profit. And you are wrong about donated food, if it is rotten it isn't donated and it can't be deducted in fully.
It's a complete lie that the main reason for poverty is that wealthy people make money off of them. The main reason for "poverty in America" (which is a completely different standard than poverty in Africa, Asia, and much of Latin America) is that people lack the education and skills to provide for themselves. Don't fall for the lies of communist propaganda.
I recently came across Matthew Desmond's recent book Poverty By America and I was shocked at what I read. This conversation is a really good recap of the book - I'm so glad more people will hear his important message.
I appreciate ALLIES like Matthew Desmond and Chris Hedges! When I think of poverty, I think of the hard working Black men in my family who were relentless in their pursuit to "work and provide for their family." Rarely taking days off, working double shifts, 2-3 jobs to give us "a better life." Waiting, hoping, planning, praying for the day to be able to retire and be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor, only to be DEAD WITHIN A YEAR of their retirement. Cancer, stroke, heart attack, claimed them ALL! This is the burden of living between need and barely having enough to survive. It needs to change! REPARATIONS is the only way to reverse this reality of premature death precipitated by a lifelong goal of trying to escape poverty.
The saddest part is that the people who need to hear this the most never will. They are willing participants being used as pawns in the bootstrapping narrative perpetuated by the “powers that be.” Great video production!
Very true!!! 👍
if America has enough poor people, why are we allowing millions of poor people in from other countries? something isn't adding up.
@genkiferal7178
IDK, because years, and decades of American foreign and domestic policy created the migration of so many poor "brothers and sisters" to this Country in search for better lives!
The slightest bit of research clearly shows this to be the case. But that cognitive dissonance thing is a bit*h!!!
@@genkiferal7178 my guess is because American altruism to foreign entities citizens is to save face and atone for crimes against humanity done to their nations years ago. America does not feel it owes its citizens anything past their inalienable rights of being American. In the black culture, we call it sweeping other's front porches but neglecting our own. Just my take.
@@lynnerene i am sure that is part of it.
I hope the black communities start setting up black markets so that they can by-pass the digital currency (CBDC) coming to the USA. You'll need to have more people able and willing to work off of the books. I've been asking myself how I, too, can work off of the books and I haven't found the answer yet.
We'll all still be forced to pay for electricity, utilities, gas for our cars, etc. with our "digital wallets" (CBDC and digital IDs), so it will be safer for 5+ people to live in a house owned by a family member and that one family member can be the one using her "digital wallet" so that the rest of us don't have to.
I have found so far that the black community is least likely to call me a conspiracy nut than white folk and black coworkers sometimes discuss the subject before I so. That is an encouraging sign.
Capitalism cannot exist without the poor and the soon to be poor aka the serf class aka the working class.
You're absolutely right poverty and capitalism go together but it is a bouncing act and the government knows that and the rich know that so we have come to the crossroads where there's more poverty and they don't know what to do so there's a runaway effect the Greeks knew it the Romans knew it Napoleon knew it cannot be sustained so here we are at the crossroads making a deal with the Devil on the verge of war and nuclear annihilation Chris was right the narcissist and a psychopath have taken over 😢
@@latexsalesman you understand that stats exist in each nation to show the wealth gap and the rate of poverty, right?
@@latexsalesman i am sorry you're in that situation and i hope things get better for you. I understand where you're coming from as an individual with your own personal philosophy and outlook about economic systems, but i think we, as Americans, should strive to improve our system to provide the best outcomes, overall, for as many of us as possible. We can and should do better. To just shrug and say "every system has some poverty" will not do us any good at all. Sure, every system contents with povert, but there are varying degrees, and the fish should be to reduce poverty
This!
😂this video is funny I just sit and listen to these fools of course he is going to say the government programs doesn’t create poverty because it’s funding it helped out so many families funny that he say that almost everyone in the United States that is homeless right now we’re staying in subsidized and affordable housing and was getting some kind of government benefits government funding programs do create poverty because people rely and depend on that shit and in order for u to get any government benefits u have to have a limited amount of income coming in and even then u still don’t know wen they going to cut u off of the benefits and wen they do unexpectedly people are left with nothing because they didn’t have much of no income coming in for themselves because they had to get qualified for the government funding programs now those jobs he talking about aren’t much better than what’s in our workforce now they still were unskilled industries and weather they are with the union or not unskilled industries don’t last long we cannot improve our economy with everyone working as security guards cashiers chefs line cooks fast food stadiums ushers warehouse distribution manufacturing that’s all bull crap where are the skilled industries the engineering pharmaceutical science technology math architecture infrastructure industries they all outsourced and went over sees to countries like China even though they trying to down play China right now talking about nothing going to be manufactured in China anymore yea so what because China is becoming more advanced and innovated they have more software engineering and tech industries real skilled sectors not bottom line general labor crap like what we have here in the United States and our economy cannot become prosperous with government funding programs just look at the most prosperous counties on earth Denmark don’t even have any minimum wage there citizens make over minimum wage countries like Singapore Dubai Switzerland Sweden never had no dam government funding programs they don’t have any food stamps social security financial aid welfare section 8 subsidize housing yall want to know why those countries dont because it creates nothing but poverty topped off with over regulation and heavy restrictions that’s why we have such a bad poverty problem in the United States because they don’t do anything to really solve the problem they just give out stimulus checks house people under shelters give them baggy lunches 🤣😂like what the hell they don’t create training in this country so we can develop new skills needed in high demand industries so we can actually compete and be competitive in the new world of innovation the United States the u.k South America Canada are going in the wrong direction entirely they either want u working hard under w2 paying high taxes in return for poor services and a decline in standard of living or living off of government benefits and government funding programs enough is enough I’ve had it with this crooked government I order for the entire u.s government and all politicians in the United States to step down
This was both fascinating and heartbreaking at the same time. I worked for 20 years in healthcare with the last ten in a long term care facility and an assisted living facility, ending right before Covid. Wages were low and they made sure that they did not have enough staff so that you could count on doing the jobs of 1 1/2 employees. I always had to have two "side gigs" to barely get by. Seeing how they took advantage of staff was shameful, especially when it came to caring for sick and disabled elderly. At one point I had a 7 hour heart ablation surgery. Asked my boss to fill out FMLA paperwork-turns out she never did. And one week after i came back to work she told me to extract carpet (big machine!) in one of the apartments. I refused.
The fear is always there when you have jobs like this.
During my round the world trip I saw the most extreme poverty in the US
Homelessness is as extreme as it gets. More and more people are one paycheck or emergency away from going down that road themselves, or are already there.
Then you didn’t go to India or Nepal or Pakistan or much of Africa or China or many many other countries in which a good number of citizens live in abject poverty.
An interview that needs to be watched across America. To see the realities of poverty. What is so scary about America is the selfish Dog eat Dog attitude. 💚☘️🇮🇪
It’s only selfish in a material sense, because as human beings, it’s truly impossible for any of us to thrive spiritually when our fellow humans are suffering.
Poverty in America is a trap, once you’re in it’s increasingly difficult to get out. You pay more for almost everything, and have limited access to wealth building tools. Someone in the US has to generate a substantial income consistently in order to cope with life; which is not the case in order parts of the world .
Its the same in most of Europe work hard and stay poor or eventually you will own nothing and be happy.
Exactly, and when the stakes are so high & people are in constant fear of falling back down the ladder (no matter how high up they’ve gotten) it creates a vicious cycle & leads to all sorts of bad things, such as the ones discussed in this video.
We're a family of 3 and live on less than $30,000 a year but Washington State says that we make too much for SNAP benefits assistance. 🤬
Also prison labor for 50 cents a hour
That’s why you gotta say you don’t live there and it’s just the wife and the kids. Work the system if they want to be stingy
What they have created is a way for people to be in poverty and then, criticize them for having a cell phone? Horrific thinking!
If I had 55 thousand per year, I would be celebrating. I'm super smart and don't even come close to that much money.
I fervently await the coming rebellion.
I don't know what you mean by "super smart". It could be scientific prowess, a way with words as academics, possessing deep background knowledge in history or economics, having a great memory and logic functions or financial savvy, mechanical genius, spatial awareness and design capability, etc.
There are many essential, useful jobs, life-enhancing work, at which people labor for about half that 55,000, gross, working full time.
Your intelligence might make you a more efficient, better worker. But anyone who "does the job" deserves a decent wage.
Most working class people, unless employed in say, a weapons components factory, aren't paid well.
And to be fair, many employers could not afford much better wages. They aren't subsidized by government contracts.
I am in the under 55 thousand category too, but I don't think my costs-squeezed employer could afford a big raise. Everyone has to eat, I've noticed. I work in the dairy and frozen department of a small family-corporation store. I like the job and setting. But I will never be "well off" from it, other than physically from all the exercise.
Agree! 61 yes of age. I have worked since the age of 14 - even through college years. Couldn't finish because of lack of funding. I've worked in the same industry for nearly 20 yrs (health insurance examiner) and don't make $18.00 an hour. Every day is a struggle, and I know I have it great in comparison to others! My heart goes out to them. Now, to find a way to organize...
55k isn't much in alotta cities and that is not take home still have to minus taxes benefits and retirement . I make over that but I live in high property tax Texas and a single woman so mortgage isnt cheap and I make it but never really able to save much if any money monthly and that's with no car note .
There won't be a rebellion. They'll do just like they did with the New Deal, give only poor Whites a hand up and they forget about the others.
Be a part of leading it. At least call your legislators and let them know you are aware and watching their action or lack thereof.
Higher education does not guarantee a middle-class lifestyle. I have both Bachelor's and a Master's degree and still have not reached a middle-class income. Most of the jobs today are low-income jobs and there are very few that offer middle-class salaries.
Same here.
That is why I attended 2 colleges, got my student's loans discharged and never worked a " job" that supposedly " pays" wages. Didn't see any point of getting out of the house to " work" for nothing in return
Wow! This is a fantastic video and we can now explain why we see so much poverty around us. Many people want to believe that these people can do better if they just get out and get a job. This couldn't be further from the truth. Thank you for this video, I only hope enough of us can make a difference for the people suffering through this. It is a tragedy that should not be blamed on the people that suffer it.
So, why not better your skills?
@@youtubesucks1499are you hiring people? If not you have no right to blame people for not being able to get a job. You guys always shift the blame on people who cannot find a job.
@@youtubesucks1499that takes TIME and MONEY, and you still need to eat and sleep in between that time.
It all has to change! End of debt slavery,end of generationial wealth off resources that belong to everyone! And most of all Equality!!!!
Eliminate Commercial banking and Hedge funds.
You are right. It all has to end and it will end. The question, I suppose, is how the end will come.
Will it be from constructive revolution or collapse and ongoing misery.
@@bloodybonescomic and will we live to see it ..
To do this, it is necessary to eliminate the capitalist system. We need a revolution
If you've lived in poverty and thought about it, a lot of this is very intuitive.
How do you get out of bed each day Chris with a reality like you and your guest described in the USA today? The one long emergency that is poverty. The callous greed of this world is suffocating our sisters and brothers.
Brilliant compassionate man, plus Hedges knocked it out of the park
Thirty some trillions in debt but we're called the richest country in the world... LMAO
You have left off Social Security debts,
In EU the same
Debt is the difference between revenues and expenses. We could raise the revenue with one bill and be done with it.
@@GrandmaCathy No its not.
Take a person. They have a 500K mortgage. That's the debt. There are lots of people in that position. Lets be really generous and say they earn 100K
What's the difference between their income and their expenses? Is it 500K when they only earn 100K?
How are they spending 600K a year?
What you have described is deficit.
Debt is completely different.
Your idea, is to make people poorer. No new services, just tax the hell out of them
@@Nickle314 No. National debt is not household debt. It does not work the same way at all. Look it up. Politicians who tell you it’s just like your household budget are lying to you. First of all it is very difficult for a person to just increase their income. It is not difficult for the government at all. They have options households do not have.
Matthew Desmond is clearly a US citizen that your country can be proud of. He is clearly intelligent both emotionally and academically. I wish the powerful would listen but they have stuffed their ears with the surplus value earned by the poorest and stolen by the rich gangsters. Our absolute downturn for the poor in the UK was perhaps a little later but still the same hopeless trajectory where the rich got very much richer and the poor much poorer fairly quickly. Democracy is in name only, propaganda largely to sell newspapers, it has very little practical meaning in regard to a decent quality of life for all. The surplus value (in the form of gold and property) is In addition to being stuffed into the cold unfeeling ears of the rich to make them deaf, is stuffed into tax havens ready for when the rich believe they can extract it quickly when the dollar or the pound fails. Little do they realise that the anarchy would be so great that their tax havens would be unreachable and to treat citizens fairly would be a far less traumatic experience eventually for the super rich.
Well..eventually the " rich" will crush also because of the self distraction of the society as a whole which is unevitable
Let me take a moment to say that my mother was a young widow in the 1950s with three small children. While other blue collar families moved to the suburbs, we were stuck in our urban inner city neighborhood, because she was paid women's wages.
My mother used dad's insurance money for an undergrad degree, and later a graduate degree. When I came of age, I used Johnson's War on Poverty to obtain an education for myself. I moved from Upstate NY to NYC, and enjoyed a successful career in the architectural profession. I just want people to know that LBJ's War on Poverty worked.
Good education is a ladder to success.
Not to be rude, ny, but, what ethnicity are you?
And LBJ war in Vietnam thinned out the working youth substantially. If your father was working to support you, you would not have an education. The economy was good in the 60s, not so much in the 80s, .
I am happy to hear the many doors that were opened to you; doors that were closed to people of color. White women are always paid more than women of color,; many people of color are unable to afford life insurance; Black men who fought in wars for this country were denied war benefits which would have afforded them housing and education for their children. Yes my dear you were fortunate to be born with the right skin color opening doors of opportunities. Pray for opportunities for everyone. Most honest people of all colors don't want handouts.
War on poverty, war on drugs=more poverty & more drug abuse.
Thank You Very Much for this Important & Informative Episode 💐🦋🍃
I experienced that kind of poverty back in the early seventies. But there were programs to help people raise themselves out of poverty. I don't know how I would achieve it today and my heart breaks for the children.
Your generation took away those programs when you no longer needed them. Voting for people like Reagan, Thatcher, and neoliberalism destroyed the West.
The point is to perpetuate poverty, not eliminate it.
I am so glad that this topic is so thoroughly covered, and discussed here. Thank you Chris and Mr. Desmond. Eliminating poverty,in the richest nation on Earth, must be our priority. Employing all of our able bodied Americans, and paying them a living wage will go a long way to end this problem, while increasing our nation's tax base to help pay for these services.
OK but tax or eat the rich 1st
Then we have to stop illegal immigration and allowing employers to employ them. Real wages started to lag behind economic growth when Congress started allowing a flood of cheap immigrant labor into the US in the 60s. Just follow the graphs on real wages and you'll see.
And what jobs would you suggest?
@stevenhanson6057 Government jobs to supplement our postal service, and other agencies, until the private sector create better paying jobs,on their end. The added tax revenue will subsidize these positions, in the interim. But having 10's of millions of Americans unemployed or underemployed helps no one.
@@petestanton1945 I like how you think. I'll have 2nds, please.
No truer words ever spoken! Thank u for exposing the greed & hypocrisy in this country. The way u broke it down made perfect sense & showed that not only big change is needed but also that it CAN be done. 👏
Thank you Matthew for your indepth work, study and books to educate the uneducated and give the educated poor more wisdom.
Biggest mistake was assuming poor people can’t figure out what they need to live a decent productive life has opened the door for a vulture economy. State governments seem to detest their vulnerable citizens and always divert resources for people who need government help to people who don’t. The poor need a voucher system in which an applicant is allowed some control to prove they can manage their lives with some monetary assistance. If society would invest in people many of the chronically needy would become self sufficient.
Poor people ARE the ones who have figured out poverty. How far can my SNAP go each month if I don’t buy trash food compared to healthy food? Will I be able to pay rent if something like a utility bill goes up, if medication cost is too high, my child gets sick or heaven forbid I get sick? Instead of taking taxes from the poor abolish tax cuts for the rich.
Poor persons are the most ingenuitive in how to make do, how to recycle and how to refit items to last and last because of NO OTHER CHOICE BUT TO "Just Do It".
Some Poor people are "victors at budgeting" but the prime factor always boils down to making the choice to pay a utility or the rent (there's not enough income to outflow) because doing both in the same month is such a gross hardship to think it can happen is absurd. ( a little is put on every bill to show respect and good faith in what's owed but each payout wants it all in full.
Why is only one RUclips Channel covering this extremely important topic?! Chris is right, this topic has vanished from large and "mainstream" media. How the hell can we focus and react to this life issue if we don't talk about it more?!? I'm going to buy the book and share it with others.
It pisses me off to high heaven how anyone can question or even try to debate this.
Thankyou. Matt articulates the issues and potential solutions concerning poverty better than anyone I have listened too on this subject, particularly politicians.
a lot of people just call the poor lazy but they don't know or understand its by design not by choice
no i don't think so i think alot of it is them being stupid. why get pregnant at 16? and what design? why would the government want to make so many useless people that harm the state? what do we get out of this?
The affluent middle class and rich depend on keeping 90% of humanity in poverty. It’s also big business for the PMC, or as I like to call them- the Plantation Overseer Class. The plantation owner is vile enough, but without the affluent middle classes supporting them , they wouldn’t exist.
The upper middle classes have always been the true enemy of the people.
Then they need to be purged
Nonsense. If you're working for someone, they'll always keep the lion's share for themselves. Work for yourself and keep the lion's share of that.
Are you trying to into this plantation overseer (supervisory or middle management) class ? It pays better and moves you into upper management which pays better still 🤷♂️
Thanks again Mr. Hedges. People shy away from this kind of info, because it is very depressing, but it is the least we can do. To know these facts. To read these kind of bks. Being aware is an obligation of being a citizen at the very least. I don't think this understanding is prevalent today, so in that regard poverty in America is by design, because the powers that be know people are not paying attention.
The illusion is that people think that comfort, and wealth are forever. We live in a natural world subject to change at any time. Compared to 150 years ago everyone today is wealthy including the poor.
Thank you Matthew Desmond and Chris Hedges for this very needed discussion. It is wicked to exploit and abuse the powerless and vulnerable but it is happening in many areas of society. This talk reminded me of something I noticed with my own car insurance company. I started paying my insurance every 6 months instead of every month because there is approximately a $3 additional monthly charge if I make monthly payments. This is another way that poor people are charged for being poor.
That's just the tip of the iceberg in car insurance. They often quote car insurance policies at 200%- 300% more for those with poor or no credit. And since they don't advance you insurance, no credit is given. And if you don't pay on time, they cancel your policy, this is nuts. Since their is no correlation between credit rating and frequency of accidents, this is pure exploitation.
Our power? We are still alive! We need to March on DC! All of us!
Pay per mile is pretty cheap. They mail you a little device that plugs into your car's code reader port. Allstate and a lot of the insurers offer it. Works good if you don't drive much.
It's ALL about impulse buying versus being thrifty and delaying gratification! Every payment has to be processed, so it costs them less to process 2 payments than 12, ( the debit or credit card company charges them a fee each time) so you save. Paying in advance to save is just smart. Same as paying cash for a used car or furniture versus "low low payments" that eat you up with interest charges! Same as the large food package having a lower price per ounce than buying a bunch of little packages!
The problem is no one cares or gives a damn till it is there problem.😂
I just listened to the interview on substack with Matthew Desmond. I’m a big fan of Chris’ work, but gee he covers the bleakest topics. Listening to his podcast, videos etc. can really get you down a lot of the time. I realise this is a middle class, first world issue, and I have no real cause for complaint, but it’s still true. I think of the great Bob Mould album, "Black Sheets Of Rain." I'm glad he's around, and I always be a fan, but for someone who struggles with mental health, it can be a hard listen sometimes. This really is an incredibly sh1tty world for many.
It will get better...we only have hope...
@@loribabich4839
We stand with Cornel West for president ❤
If we fail to fully eradicate poverty, not only will we fail as a species and extinct out but, we'll miss the elevation that could come to our species through mass stability.
Excellent comment. Just think of all the untapped potential in people that could be realised if we were all stable
@@risefromyourpain Thank you. I try to imagine it but, as you said, the potential is yet untapped. So, it's a state of affairs heretofore unseen. I may not be able to imagine it but, no doubt it would be amazing!
We have 97% too many people on the planet. Let the human race die off. We're not doing these kids any favors by bringing them into the world.
That's impossible because not everybody will cooperate in such efforts. You would have to eradicate the flaws of human nature first, and that ain't happening. The seven deadly sins will remain no matter what you do for some people, and I said some, certainly not all, but if you say you want to focus on the people who want help first you're reviled and spat upon as a racist and a bigot.
@@bamaraiderablenothing u aid is true helping out ur fellow human being is human nature the wealth don’t want u to know that
Constant fear, trauma, and humiliation. Yep, that pretty much sums up living in poverty, especially in the USA where everybody tells you you're a bad/lazy person if you're in this situation.
Thank you Chris for voicing one of the few ivy league academician (Mathew Desmond) that is not afraid of speaking the ugly truth about our corrupt system that thrives on the sustained poverty of the American public.
The checks needed to keep coming until the inequality was under control. But the owner donor class wanted to keep the working class desperate and ripe for exploitation so they would come back to work for slave wages to benefit the 1% yet again. It is the workers that bring and create the value not the Entrepeneur's.
I've been trying futility to explain the purpose of an army of unemployed and how it benefits the owning class without much luck for many years. I've had slightly more since I began to ask people what would happen if we were all guaranteed homes and food in our stomachs?
Once I get people to imagine such a "ludicrous" thing it is obvious that the owning class would have trouble finding people to work horrible jobs for low wages. From there it does seem easier to get people to recognize that having a large number of unemployed is not an accident or unavoidable, it is intentional and useful for the owners.
That's just wrong. It's the entrepreneurs who create the jobs. The decisions of Congress to allow cheap imported labor is to blame for the loss of America's middle class and access to the American dream.
@@bamaraiderable Creating job opportunities creates potential value. The way that value is realised is by someone actually doing the work.
@@dinnerwithfranklin2451put it in terms of inflation. Rich people need poverty as economic ballast, like sandbags in a hot air balloon.
@@bamaraiderable Its capitalism bro.
This is a must-watch. Matthew Desmond is a Princeton professor who's super informed on modern social class reality in the U.S.
It's disgraceful that as a society we treat people this way and pretend it's not happening. From a spiritual unity perspective, it's painful. He nails it at the end. Let's get to work on this and stop falling for silly distractions.
Right, but most people don’t even know that it’s happening.
He makes a couple good points,(such as calling out states for sitting on cash) but he's kind of a ding-dong. Nobody's going to just integrate homeless junkies into their gated community. It all boils down to impulse buying versus thriftiness and delayed gratification. People who don't have good sense and good morals are going to get taken advantage of.
I'm 79 and have been around the block. I'm a male, white, middle-class, college-educated, disabled Vietnam Veteran, who had a modest career as an architect. I grew up in a family of eleven children. Needless to say, we were poor. I do agree that our present social structure is created to build an elite upper class, destroy the middle class, and intentionally build a majority lower class. The sad part is that most Americans can't see this happening right in front of them. Yes, both major political parties are responsible to varying degrees. However, in my opinion, the Republican Party is way, way more responsible than the Democrats. Enough said.
Please give the source gor the statistic of over a million unhoused school children! This is so important. The often quoted figure of 500 thousand or 600 thousand unhoused people is obviously wrong and it doesn't get challenged. There are millions of us and this fact needs to be highlighted!
Thank you for this report!
The housing is so bad now.
So true. I got argued down that only approximately 600,000 people are homeless. It's in the millions to keen readers.
@@nonino1644 So glad to hear someone else gets it! What do you mean, argued down? Thanks for speaking up, and I hope you will continue to do so.
Question: why do you suppose there is this stubborn sticking to a false number, when they know it's not true? What are they gaining?
As an Australian I cannot understand why Americans seem to not want to support the less well off in society. It’s difficult to imagine that not even public hospitals aren’t free. Also people who don’t have a university education are considered less than as people than university graduates. The USA is the only Western country that takes these attitudes. In Australia our health system is mainly a public system which is free, there are private hospitals where one needs to have health insurance however the best treatment is found in the public system. There seem to be only two social levels in the USA, the haves and have nots. The happiest countries are the Scandinavian countries where taxes are high to pay for social supports
Most of us blame the poor for being poor and praise the rich for being rich the thinking is if you work hard enough you can be rich.
I saw this happening when I was young, so I decided that the less money you need, the richer you are; so I jumped out of the rat race years ago.
I got on disability as soon as possible, moved to Hawaii where I don't have heating bills, bought a shack on a piece of property and lived on $35 dollars a month until I paid it off, put rain catchments out so I don't have to buy water, solar panels on the roof, and learned about humanure.
No pipes or wires come to or from my house and the only two bills I have are for my phone and less than $50 a month for property taxes.
I ride a a bycicle and the bus stop is a block from my house, don't own a car or buy insurance, never had a drivers license for a car, and never had a credit card.
Now that I'm a senior citizen, I'm in better than average health from traveling all over a few countries with a backpack, bicycle and canoe, and better off financially than a lot of people who worked and saved all of their lives in an economy where they weren't able to get ahead.
Blow up your TV, move to the country, try to find Jesus on your own.
Wise man
How did you "get on disability as soon as possible"? Sounds as if it was planned.
@@BB-nn1tu I was a homeless teenager on Venice Beach, and I got put in juvenile hall a few times with LSD, PCP, MDA and other hallucigenic drugs in my system; and I got caught with a quantity of LSD once.
That makes me legally insane, so I got my first check when I was 20, without a lawyer; the same year I moved to Hawaii.
@@jondoealoewell...you may be a legally " insane" but sure as heck you are quite smart
@@amyshoemaker5770 It's really sad to live in a country where politicians raise interest rates when everyone has a job and minimum wages are raising US out of poverty, to make sure there's more competition for jobs and people are willing to work 3 jobs and live in their cars just trying to get off of the streets; while our public servants cruise in limos and fly on private jets.
In a crap shoot economy, it doesn't matter what you know or how hard you work; you can find yourself eating out of dumpsters.
I was homeless while most people were in highschool, and know a medical doctor who was forced to dig ditches. I saw America when the $98 billion dollar Savings and Loan bailout shut down the iron mines, steel mills and our auto industry took a dump; and then it hit the small family farms and corporations started planting crops for ethanol and tied the price of grain to the price of oil, so a 4 ounce bag of popcorn costs $5...
I'm not that smart. I just got tired of eating out of dumpsters and couldn't see another way out.
I own my own home without a mortgage, but two times a year the county of Hawaii sends me a letter telling me what people are willing to pay for my land, and charging me taxes based on what they're willing to pay, instead of what I already paid.
I have a canoe in my yard and a backpack by my door, because I know that someday I'll have covetous neighbors who will be willing to pay more for my home than I can afford.
I was the elected co-chairman of a homeless rights group, and met with politicians and bankers at their expense.
They got a few million dollars to help the homeless, and they rented the most expensive hotel on the beach to talk about it. They invited a few homeless advocates and a whole bunch of business people to a very expensive gourmet meal. When they said they need to keep homeless people from working because they bother people who have houses, I told them I made jewelery sitting on the beach and never looked up unless someone was interested in my work.
The guy with the mic said, Well, we'll have to build a center where you can work.
I answered, I can make enough to feed myself; but there's not enough profit margin to feed you too.
He said, Oh, your work only helps you? And then he turned off my mic before I could explain the basics of supply and demand to him.
There's so much money to be made on poverty and starvation, that I don't believe they will ever try to make things better.
Keep doing this. Keep doing this. Keep doing this.. I'm typing to glasses with the book. Hedges you're always great. Thank you.
Last May to December (so 2022) i was living paycheck to paycheck and i was food insecure.....even tho i work at a grocery store. We had 3 big wigs come talk to us and we asked of they could make more 'spoilage' available for team members to take home and they said NO because it would encourage stealing.
So i told my job at a grocery store that i couldn't afford to eat and please may i have some garbage? And they said NO. I'LL NEVER FORGET. nobody out here cares. Not ur job. Not the government. Nobody. I been working that fuking job 8 years but i can't have some brown bananas.
So you should quit your so called " job" at the most inconvenient time for this so called " company"
Thanks, Chris Hedges, and his guest, Matthew Desmond for letting us know about poverty that many of us facing in a way that we have not experienced two decades ago.
Please support $ Chris Hedges for his heroism.
🙏❤️🙏
Matthew Desmond for president
0:19: 😔 Poverty in America is not an accident but by design, with a majority of Americans benefiting from a system that exploits the poor.
4:55: ⚖ The increase in spending on means-tested programs has not effectively reduced poverty due to the failure of the job market and the exploitation of the poor in labor, housing, and financial markets.
8:05: 💰 Money allocated for the poor gets diverted by states and lawyers, leaving little for those in need.
11:18: 😔 The idea that following three steps (graduate from high school, obtain a full-time job, and wait until marriage to have children) can prevent poverty is flawed and ignores the complexities of poverty and systemic issues.
14:41: 📊 Raising the minimum wage has been found to have a negligible effect on employment, and not raising it can cost people their quality of life in the richest country on the planet.
18:03: 💼 Real wages have stagnated since 1979, leading to exploitation in the labor market and a two-tiered system of work.
22:02: 💼 The poor are exploited through low wages, limited housing options, and financial fees.
25:21: 💰 The current financial system benefits the wealthy and exploits the poor, with tax breaks and subsidies favoring the rich.
28:56: 💰 If the top 1% of Americans paid their taxes, an additional $175 billion could be raised to reduce child poverty and pull everyone above the poverty line.
Recap by Tammy AI