America, the most
developed capitalist country in the world, land of the free,
opportunity and plenty?? Well the figures on the ground don't paint
that picture.
Land of the free-- According to a recent study America
has more than 2.3 million people behind bars, and leads the world in
both the number and percentage of residents it incarcerates, leaving
far-more-populous China
a distant second. This is costing state governments $50
billion a year plus a further cost to the federal government of $5
billion each year. These figures are on the rise year by year.
Land of
Opportunity---Unemployment in America is running at 13.9 million,
approximately 9% of the population. According to recent figures, 49.1
million, approximately 16%, are classified as poor. The figure for 2010 for those who have
accessed emergency food programs more than twice was 5.6
million, 4.8% of all households. Approximately 50% of American
workers have an annual income of less than $25,000.
Land of Plenty---The
figures for 2010, classified the number of households in food
insecurity as 48.8 million, approximately 17.2% of the population. In
household with children the figure was higher, 20.2%. According to
government figures more than 16 million low income families paid more
for rent and utilities than the federal government said was
affordable. Another very disturbing figure for a so called civilised
country, more than 46 million Americans have no form of health
insurance.
From a report by “World
Hunger Education Service” "There are, we believe, three main causes
of poverty in the United States: poverty in the world; the operation
of the political and economic system in the United States which has
tended to keep people from poor families poor, and actual physical
mental and behavioural issues among some people who are poor."
America is
also seen as the consumer capital of the world, but even that doesn't
hold water. Recent figures show that 40% of all consumer spending in
America is done by the 5% richest section of the population.
America, the richest
country in the world, has a a government debt of $10.5 trillion,
spends 4.7% of its GDP on defence, twice that of China, and in spite
of that massive debt managed to pour over $1 trillion of borrowed
money on its adventures in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"Three years after the onset of the financial and
economic crisis, hunger remains high in the United States. The
financial and economic crisis that erupted in 2008 caused a dramatic
increase in hunger in the United States. This high level of hunger
continues in 2010, according to the latest government report (with
the most recent statistics) released in September 2011
(Coleman-Jensen 2011)."
