“But Who Gives A Damn.....Right?”

The greatest crime of the current economic debacle in America is that the children are the new face of poverty.

It is estimated that 1 in 5 American children are living in poverty and that 1 in 4 American children are on food stamps. 1 in 5 children are impoverished, here--in America. What’s more striking is that nearly 50% of all children in America will be on food stamps at some point before they reach their 18th birthday. To make matters gloomier, the Tea/Republican Party just “assassinated” the extension of the Welfare-to-Work Program that would’ve assisted families in obtaining employment so that they could provide food and shelter to their children.

And the nightmare continues:

• Almost 500,000 American children are homeless
• In 2010, 21% of American children are living below the poverty line
• America’s poverty rate is 3rd worst among developed nations
• 45 million Americans are living in poverty,
• More than 40 million citizens are receiving food stamps
• The largest rise of poverty in America since 1959
• 1 in 6 Americans are being served by at least one government anti-poverty program
• 9.7 million Americans are receiving unemployment benefits
• 1 in 7 mortgages in the United States are delinquent or in foreclosure
• 46% of those currently unemployed in America have been out of work for more than six months
• 1 in 4 residents are impoverished in Philadelphia ranking as the second-worst in America

Consequently, we are a nation that’s become so obsessed in admiring our greatness that by not addressing poverty when it was in its infancy just like we failed to do with racism, religious intolerance and political corruption, poverty has now morphed into an entity so strong that it stubbornly clings tightly to the Republic and refuses to let go.



Anthony P. Johnson