AMERICA'S OLYMPIC FAILURE

PAUL HARRIS, OBSERVER, UK - A shocking 37 million Americans live in
poverty. That is 12.7 per cent of the population - the highest
percentage in the developed world. They are found from the hills of
Kentucky to Detroit's streets, from the Deep South of Louisiana to the
heartland of Oklahoma. Each year since 2001 their number has grown.

Under President George W Bush an extra 5.4 million have slipped below
the poverty line. Yet they are not a story of the unemployed or the
destitute. Most have jobs. Many have two. Amos Lumpkins has work and his
children go to school. But the economy, stripped of worker benefits like
healthcare, is having trouble providing good wages.

Even families with two working parents are often one slice of bad luck -
a medical bill or factory closure - away from disaster. The minimum wage
of $5.15 an hour has not risen since 1997 and, adjusted for inflation,
is at its lowest since 1956. The gap between the haves and the have-nots
looms wider than ever. Faced with rising poverty rates, Bush's
trillion-dollar federal budget recently raised massive amounts of
defense spending for the war in Iraq and slashed billions from welfare
programs. . .

- The United States has 269 billionaires, the highest number in the
world.

- Almost a quarter of all black Americans live below the poverty line;
22 per cent of Hispanics fall below it. But for whites the figure is
just 8.6 per cent.

- There are 46 million Americans without health insurance.

- There are 82,000 homeless people in Los Angeles alone.

- In 2004 the poorest community in America was Pine Ridge Indian
reservation. Unemployment is over 80 per cent, 69 per cent of people
live in poverty and male life expectancy is 57 years. In the Western
hemisphere only Haiti has a lower number.

http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1712965,00.html?gusrc=rss