Comments for Why I'm Not Surprised by Heritage's "Surprising" Poverty Facts at http://www.cepr.net , comment 1 to 2 out of 2 comments http://www.cepr.net Sat, 25 May 2013 17:35:59 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.3 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/cepr-blog/why-im-not-surprised-by-heritages-qsurprisingq-poverty-facts#comment-11740 I often quote her take about American poverty, a woman no prouder to be an American than she. I had asked her which was worse to her, American or Somalian poverty? She told me to my surprise, that it was American poverty. Margaret came to this country after her entire family was murdered and then lived in refugee camps where she was routinely beaten and raped. Margaret then came to America, not knowing our language or ways and found a job ~ but wound up on the streets of Seattle for 2 years because her job did not pay enough for the rent. Thanks to the rampant incurable TB that rages in shelters, Margaret contracted that with no health care. Margaret told me that the reason American poverty was worse was because: "In Somalia when you have no home, you go into the forest where indigenous peoples have lived for eons and they will teach you how to survive. In America those people no longer live in the forests and if YOU tried to live there, you would be arrested. In America if you have no place to cook or keep warm, you cannot build a fire and cook your meager meal anywhere. You have to have money to PAY for all those things like electricity and pay for a home to do those things. In America, if you have no place to sleep, even though you work hard, you will be put in jail ..." The condemnation to poverty in this country by elitists is becoming the "norm". We watch entire cities criminalize poverty and then we pretend somehow being poor is a "choice". Can it now be put to rest that poverty is not a choice but an institution based on racism, sexism, disabilities, ageism and classism because it benefits the upper classes? Just ask the Waltons of WalMart if they don't profit from off the backs of the poor, not only by their exploitation of the working poor here in America that they lock in and force to work for free, but in other countries where locked in employees toil for 16 hours a day. - Cat Sullivan Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:38:38 +0100 http://www.cepr.net/index.php/blogs/cepr-blog/why-im-not-surprised-by-heritages-qsurprisingq-poverty-facts#comment-11664 Oddly,it seems especially difficult for Americans to put things into context. There is the belief that The Poor is a sort of alien species rather than ordinary people faced with very difficult times. Most had ordinary lives. After falling into poverty, they still have some of the stuff purchased during better times. You aren't going to get any money trying to sell a 10-year-old microwave, so yes, you can be very poor and still have a microwave. You hang on to what you can because you need to believe that things will get better. We also encounter the attitude that if the poor are to be allotted food, it must be restricted to rice and beans, as if people need punishment to make them "choose" to stop being poor. - D.H. Fabian Wed, 21 Sep 2011 05:23:01 +0100