Mitt Romney claimed two days ago that we have a “safety net” for the very poor, and that, therefore, we don’t have to worry about them.
What a distortion of the truth, as we have the absolutely WORST “safety net” for the very poor in the developed world. It is not enough to say how fortunate our poor are as compared to Africa and parts of Asia and Latin America, as this is America!
Here are the facts:
The official US poverty rate is 15.1 percent, and it does not include the millions of the middle class who have been impoverished by the Great Recession and its aftermath.
One out of five children lives in dire poverty in America, and if one is born into that background, the odds of escaping it are far less likely than for other children.
Our Food Stamp program provides $1.44 per meal to each of its recipients.
Medicaid only covers the poorest children, of parents working at 63 percent of the poverty line, and 37 percent of non working parents. The new health care law would cover the gaps, but Romney endorses repealing it.
Only one in four poor renters get housing vouchers as assistance to pay the rent.
Supplemental Security Income helps the impoverished elderly and disabled, but only 27 percent of this group receives such welfare assistance, while in 1996, 68 percent received such aid. And SSI at its best only lifts those families to 75 percent of the poverty level.
Any person who wishes to be President should have the decency and the compassion to recognize that the “very poor” are not well treated in a society which believes in mobility, and that we MUST do better, and stop having conservatives and so called “religious” people continue to condemn and deplore the poor, and not give a damn about their ability to survive and advance in society, with a sense of dignity! This is a MORAL cause above all!