#US poverty

[workersolidarity]

"What you find is, so that where police killings are the most racist, is where poverty is most racialized, and where poverty is least racialized you even find sometimes disparities: in both South Carolina and Tennessee white people are killed at a slightly higher rate by police than their overall portion of the state's population and you see that like, and there's a lot of poor white people in both those states. Which means it's, that's what you're saying, that policing is primarily about class."

"Because yes there's racism, yes there's racist attitudes, you know you got the racial segregation all that this stuff places into, but it's like, if you pull out far enough, what you see is it is fundamentally about class. It's not that race doesn't matter, it's not that immigration status doesn't matter, those matter. But if you pull out the larger thing, the deeper animating thing is class rule and the management of a totally unequal, exploited class society."

"And part of this whole thing, is also you get the thing about the difference between exploitation and oppression right? People get very confused on those things and, you know, counterintuitively, frequently, you know I think history shows that the best ways of overcoming oppression and social pressure is by fighting economic exploitation."

- Christian Parenti on Midwestern Marx

#source

[drafty-castle]

Eloquently put.

[dekaydk]

One of the things that people who don't live in (edit: or near) improverished areas in the USA don't understand is just how bad things are there.

California is thought of as a wealthy state where people are prosperous with a high standard of living. If you, thinking that were the case statewide, were to visit the Imperial Valley or the southern Central Valley or some parts of the more remote counties, you would be absolutely shocked at the depth of poverty and how widespread the poverty is.

And this is not even talking about the reservations, many of which lack the water and sewage infrastructure, the healthcare options, the social services, etc., etc., etc., that the counties have.

Every time someone says "things won't get that bad" it can safely be assumed that the person saying it has a, shall we say, limited view of the scope and breadth of people affected by whatever "things" are.

do not forget about reservations.

do not forget about the people on reservations.

when you are making and reading posts about dire predictions for quality of life, do not forget about reservations.

we already have issues accessing clean water. we already experience devastation from climate change. we are already going missing for our race. we are already being murdered for our culture.

it will only get worse.

it’s possible to live through. every single person indigenous to north america has a chance to live through this. i’m not trying to fear monger; i’m trying to remind you.

please do not forget about us when you assure people that “everything will be okay; people are living under far worse circumstances in other countries”.

people are living under far worse circumstances here. and it can get worse. and it will get worse. and we need you to remember that we’re here when it happens.

[nando161mando]

There are now over 15 million empty homes in the US, and 650,000 homeless per the very bias official numbers, or 23 houses per person

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #26

July 5-12 2024

The IRS announced it had managed to collect $1 billion in back taxes from high-wealth tax cheats. The program focused on persons with more than $1 million in yearly income who owned more than $250,000 in unpaid taxes. Thanks to money in Biden's 2022 Inflation Reduction Act the IRS is able to undertake more enforcement against rich tax cheats after years of Republicans cutting the agency's budget, which they hope to do again if they win power again.

The Biden administration announced a $244 million dollar investment in the federal government’s registered apprenticeship program. This marks the largest investment in the program's history with grants going out to 52 programs in 32 states. The President is focused on getting well paying blue collar opportunities to people and more people are taking part in the apprenticeship program than ever before. Republican pledge to cut it, even as employers struggle to find qualified workers.

The Department of Transportation announced the largest single project in the department's history, $11 billion dollars in grants for the The Hudson River Tunnel. Part of the $66 billion the Biden Administration has invested in our rail system the tunnel, the most complex Infrastructure project in the nation would link New York and New Jersey by rail under the Hudson. Once finished it's believed it'll impact 20% of the American economy by improving and speeding connection throughout the Northeast.

The Department of Energy announced $1.7 billion to save auto worker's jobs and convert factories to electronic vehicles. The Biden administration will used the money to save or reopen factories in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, and Virginia and retool them to make electric cars. The project will save 15,000 skilled union worker jobs, and created 2,900 new high-quality jobs.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development reached a settlement with The Appraisal Foundation over racial discrimination. TAF is the organization responsible for setting standards and qualifications for real estate appraisers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics last year found that TAF was 94.7% White and 0.6% Black, making it the least racially diverse of the 800 occupations surveyed. Black and Latino home owners are far more likely to have their houses under valued than whites. Under the settlement with HUD TAF will have to take serious steps to increase diversity and remove structural barriers to diversity.

The Department of Justice disrupted an effort by the Russian government to influence public opinion through AI bots. The DoJ shut down nearly 1,000 twitter accounts that were linked to a Russian Bot farm. The bots used AI technology to not only generate tweets but also AI image faces for profile pictures. The effort seemed focused on boosting support for Russia's war against Ukraine and spread negative stories/impressions about Ukraine.

The Department of Transportation announces $1.5 billion to help local authorities buy made in America buses. 80% of the funding will go toward zero or low-emission technology, a part of the President's goal of reaching zero emissions by 2050. This is part of the $5 billion the DOT has spent over the last 3 years replacing aging buses with new cleaner technology.

President Biden with Canadian Prime Minster Justin Trudeau and Finnish President Alexander Stubb signed a new agreement on the arctic. The new trilateral agreement between the 3 NATO partners, known as the ICE Pact, will boost production of ice breaking ships, the 3 plan to build as many as 90 between them in the coming years. The alliance hopes to be a counter weight to China's current dominance in the ice breaker market and help western allies respond to Russia's aggressive push into the arctic waters.

The Department of Transportation announced $1.1 billion for greater rail safety. The program seeks to, where ever possible, eliminate rail crossings, thus removing the dangers and inconvenience to communities divided by rail lines. It will also help update and improve safety measures at rail crossings.

The Department of the Interior announced $120 million to help tribal communities prepare for climate disasters. This funding is part of half a billion dollars the Biden administration has spent to help tribes build climate resilience, which itself is part of a $50 billion dollar effort to build climate resilience across the nation. This funding will help support drought measures, wildland fire mitigation, community-driven relocation, managed retreat, protect-in-place efforts, and ocean and coastal management.

The USDA announced $100 million in additional funds to help feed low income kids over the summer. Known as "SUN Bucks" or "Summer EBT" the new Biden program grants the families of kids who qualify for free meals at school $120 dollars pre-child for groceries. This comes on top of the traditional SUN Meals program which offers school meals to qualifying children over the summer, as well as the new under President Biden SUN Meals To-Go program which is now offering delivery of meals to low-income children in rural areas. This grant is meant to help local governments build up the Infrastructure to support and distribute SUN Bucks. If fully implemented SUN Bucks could help 30 million kids, but many Republican governors have refused the funding.

USAID announced its giving $100 million to the UN World Food Program to deliver urgently needed food assistance in Gaza. This will bring the total humanitarian aid given by the US to the Palestinian people since the war started in October 2023 to $774 million, the single largest donor nation. President Biden at his press conference last night said that Israel and Hamas have agreed in principle to a ceasefire deal that will end the war and release the hostages. US negotiators are working to close the final gaps between the two sides and end the war.

The Senate confirmed Nancy Maldonado to serve as a Judge on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Maldonado is the 202nd federal Judge appointed by President Biden to be confirmed. She will the first Latino judge to ever serve on the 7th Circuit which covers Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.

Bonus: At the NATO summit in Washington DC President Biden joined 32 allies in the Ukraine compact. Allies from Japan to Iceland confirmed their support for Ukraine and deepening their commitments to building Ukraine's forces and keeping a free and Democratic Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression. World leaders such as British Prime Minster Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, praised President Biden's experience and leadership during the NATO summit

[politijohn]

Source

[telumendils]

also just realized this absolute plum read the words "cooked chicken" and jumped to "fried chicken" specifically so they could characterize buying said cooked chicken as "unhealthy" and therefore "bad."

which like...even if it was universally unhealthy, how is that anyone else's business but that of the person buying said food in order to feed themselves and/or their families?

i'm so tired of others policing poor people to the point of telling them what they can and cannot choose to buy or eat. be quiet and let them live their lives however they decide.

Solidarity

[progressivemillennial]

[psychotrenny]

I don't know if such a word already exists or not, but there needs to be a term to describe how inhabitants of the imperial core will treat about those outside of it as sub-human. Like even those who consider themselves "progressive" will frequently talk about people in the third world in terms that disregard their agency, emotional complexity or the very value of their lives

[lifewithchronicpain]

The idea that all people are equal should never assume that all people are physically equal.

In other words my membership in this society should never be conditional on my ability to work. I understand many people want to just express that if you work hard you deserve an equal share of the pie. On the face of it, I get it. But you will always be leaving out disabled people who are still humans that exist and deserve dignity whether we can work 8 hours a day or not. Our work doesn’t make us equal, our humanity does.

[workersolidarity]

🇺🇲 🚨 FOOD INSECURITY ON THE RISE IN THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

The U.S. State of California's Association of Food Banks released a report Friday detailing a worrying rise in food insecurity in the State.

California produces almost half of the country's fruit and vegetables. However, more than 3.1 million households, including 1.1 million children, currently experience food insecurity, according to a report released by the California Association of Food Banks.

That equates to roughly one in four families that are experiencing food insecurity, and the data shows that Californians are buying and eating fewer meals than they need and relying more on processed foods.

The Food Bank Association says the new data shows a significant increase in food insecurity from pre-pandemic levels, reversing the gains made through pandemic-era federal aid.

Minority communities are especially hard hit, with black and Latino communities suffering disproportionate impacts, according to the report.

U.S. Census data from September showed record high jumps in poverty between 2021 and 2022 across all age groups and household types.

Experts attribute the rise in poverty to the expiration of pandemic-era assistance.

California activists and Food assistance advocates are increasing efforts to expand spending on safety net programs. However, with California's State deficit expected to reach an unprecedented high of $68 billion for fiscal 2024-2025, it will be an uphill battle to expand food assistance.

#source1

#source2

@WorkerSolidarityNews

[sopranoentravesti]

Gonna make a controversial statement—people on this webbed site had more compassion for the poor white rural Trump supporters than they do for Jews

[mapsontheweb]

Three years (2020-2022) average poverty rate in the United States.

[lastcatghost]

[batboyblog]

Things Biden and the Democrats did, this week #19

May 17-24 2024

President Biden wiped out the student loan debt of 160,000 more Americans. This debt cancellation of 7.7 billion dollars brings the total student loan debt relieved by the Biden Administration to $167 billion. The Administration has canceled student loan debt for 4.75 million Americans so far. The 160,000 borrowers forgiven this week owned an average of $35,000 each and are now debt free. The Administration announced plans last month to bring debt forgiveness to 30 million Americans with student loans coming this fall.

The Department of Justice announced it is suing Ticketmaster for being a monopoly. DoJ is suing Ticketmaster and its parent company Live Nation for monopolistic practices. Ticketmaster controls 70% of the live show ticket market leading to skyrocketing prices, hidden fees and last minute cancellation. The Justice Department is seeking to break up Live Nation and help bring competition back into the market. This is one of a number of monopoly law suits brought by the Biden administration against Apple in March and Amazon in September 2023.

The EPA announced $225 million in new funding to improve drinking and wastewater for tribal communities. The money will go to tribes in the mainland US as well as Alaska Native Villages. It'll help with testing for forever chemicals, and replacing of lead pipes as well as sustainability projects.

The EPA announced $300 million in grants to clean up former industrial sites. Known as "Brownfield" sites these former industrial sites are to be cleaned and redeveloped into community assets. The money will fund 200 projects across 178 communities. One such project will transform a former oil station in Philadelphia’s Kingsessing neighborhood, currently polluted with lead and other toxins into a waterfront bike trail.

The Department of Agriculture announced a historic expansion of its program to feed low income kids over the summer holidays. Since the 1960s the SUN Meals have served in person meals at schools and community centers during the summer holidays to low income children. This Year the Biden administration is rolling out SUN Bucks, a $120 per child grocery benefit. This benefit has been rejected by many Republican governors but in the states that will take part 21 million kids will benefit. Last year the Biden administration introduced SUN Meals To-Go, offering pick-up and delivery options expanding SUN's reach into rural communities. These expansions are part of the Biden administration's plan to end hunger and reduce diet-related disease by 2030.

Vice-President Harris builds on her work in Africa to announce a plan to give 80% of Africa internet access by 2030, up from just 40% today. This push builds off efforts Harris has spearheaded since her trip to Africa in 2023, including $7 billion in climate adaptation, resilience, and mitigation, and $1 billion to empower women. The public-private partnership between the African Development Bank Group and Mastercard plans to bring internet access to 3 million farmers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Nigeria, before expanding to Uganda, Ethiopia, and Ghana, and then the rest of the continent, bring internet to 100 million people and businesses over the next 10 years. This is together with the work of Partnership for Digital Access in Africa which is hoping to bring internet access to 80% of Africans by 2030, up from 40% now, and just 30% of women on the continent. The Vice-President also announced $1 billion for the Women in the Digital Economy Fund to assure women in Africa have meaningful access to the internet and its economic opportunities.

The Senate approved Seth Aframe to be a Judge on the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, it also approved Krissa Lanham, and Angela Martinez to district Judgeships in Arizona, as well as Dena Coggins to a district court seat in California. Bring the total number of judges appointed by President Biden to 201. Biden's Judges have been historically diverse. 64% of them are women and 62% of them are people of color. President Biden has appointed more black women to federal judgeships, more Hispanic judges and more Asian American judges and more LGBT judges than any other President, including Obama's full 8 years in office. President Biden has also focused on backgrounds appointing a record breaking number of former public defenders to judgeships, as well as labor and civil rights lawyers.