Poor Children in Rich Nations

Congratulations: Children in the United States do not have the worst quality of life in the developed world. That honor is held by Britain — with the United States a close second.

— editorial in The Nation

Because the focus of alleviating child poverty is usually the developing world, it is easy to forget there are poor kids in rich nations, too. In fact, according to the UN’s 2007 overview of child well-being in rich countries, “there is no obvious relationship between levels of child
well-being and GDP per capita.”

It may be of a surprise that despite America’s vast wealth, the country has one of the highest child poverty rates in the developed world. In fact, the total number of children in the country in poverty has increased by one million from 2000 to 2006. According to Kids Count, a national and state-by-state effort to track the status of children in the United States, between 2000 and 2006 child poverty increased in 32 states and the District of Columbia.

The numbers are no better in the United Kingdom – recent figures showed that 2.9 million children in the U.K. are officially living below the poverty line – up 100,000 since 2005-06.

Although these children bear no responsibility for living in poverty, they are penalized by their governments’ neglect and disinvestment in poverty-reduction policies. As The Nation observes:

One can talk about military as opposed to social spending; about pro-business, oil-driven economies; about the distractions of patriotism and the culture of aggression; about valuing the imperatives of power above the duty of care. But however one chooses to name it, the deep, intractable connection between military adventurism abroad and the neglect of needs at home has never been more starkly evident. The pity is that it's so difficult to fight the problem, so hard to focus on a pregnant teenager too scared to ask for help or a child hungry at school when the casualty figures from Baghdad demand our attention. The fog of war may be most blinding for the folks back home.

Comments

in Syria

Poverty

The Gap between Poor and rich is growing up dramatically, since the rising Oil Prices have been profucing a greater Harm to the poor
http://ahmadannan.webs.com/glblznlpoliticalmethods.htm

in kirkuk

studies in poverity

دراسة تفيدك في البحث
(Study useful in the search.)

in Washington State

Studies in Poverty

For some reason too many people believe that in the United States those that are poor just dont care and are not willing to find a job or home for their families. They are just allowing their families to suffer.

I see comments in regards to what people are willing to talk about, the adds about all the other places that need to be focused on, the donation containers in stores or people being asked to give for those who may need the funds. I have to ask, even though there are people providing money, those funds do not all go to the people in the United States who truely need help.

There are a millions who are fighting to find work, to find homes, to find food. But there is nothing. Food banks provide two loafs of bread to a family of seven. A single mother who makes just enough money to pay just the rent makes too much money
to get state assistence for income or food stamps to buy food for the home.

I have to ask, when will the people in the United States finally open their eyes and stand up for what is to be fought for? Equality. I know some want to have more but to have more it does not mean a child has to starve. When will the people stop this kaos? Do we have to pay so much for gas? If people stop buying, prices have to come down or an invention of a new product will come about, that will cost less.

WAKE UP PEOPLE OF AMERICA!!! FIGHT AGAIN FOR FOOD, HOME, AND THE ABILITY TO BE SAFE AGAIN. YatRac Organization needs the people in order to make change. Numbers can take action.

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