You might not want to read this article if you have a weak stomach. Most Americans have absolutely no idea what is going on in the dark corners of America, and when people find out the truth it can come as quite a shock. Many of you will not believe some of the things Americans are doing just to survive. Some families are living in sewers and drain tunnels, some families are living in tents, some families are living in their cars, some families will make ketchup soup for dinner tonight and some families are even eating rats. Some homeless shelters in America are so overloaded that they are actually sending people out to live in the woods. As you read this, there are close to 50 million Americans that are living below the poverty line, and that number rises a little bit more every single day. America was once known as the greatest nation on earth, but now there is decay and economic despair almost everywhere you look. Yes, money certainly cannot buy happiness, but the lack of it sure can bring a lot of pain. As the economy continues to decline, the suffering that we see all around us is going to get a lot worse, and that is a very frightening thing to think about.

The following is a half hour documentary produced by the BBC entitled "Poor America". Trust me, this is a must watch. Your heart will break as you hear some American children talk about what they have to do for food....

Those of us that still live comfortably are often completely unaware of what life is like out on the streets of America at this point.

There are millions upon millions of Americans that have lost all hope and that are living on the very edge of life and death.

And more join the ranks of the hopeless with each passing day. This upcoming weekend approximately 80,000 people in the state of Michigan will lose their unemployment benefits.

So what are those people going to do after that?

They have already been unable to find work month after month. Their savings are most certainly gone. Now the only money they had coming in is going to be eliminated.

Yes, I have written many times about how the U.S. government is absolutely drowning in debt and cannot afford to be giving out so much money. My point here is to show the other side of the equation. There are millions upon millions of Americans that are barely hanging on and there are no jobs for them. The suffering that those families are going through is very real.

Millions of other families are trying to get by on the incomes they pull in from part-time jobs. According to Gallup, the percentage of Americans that are working part-time jobs but that would like full-time jobs is now higher than it has been at any other time in the last two years. The number of the "working poor" just continues to increase, but most Americans don't have much sympathy for them because they "have jobs".

Well, when you are making 8 bucks an hour it can be incredibly tough to make it from month to month.

Just look at how much it costs to buy the basic things that we need.

Without gasoline, most of us would not even be able to get to our jobs. The price of gasoline has increased 83 percent since Barack Obama first took office, and it is poised to soar even higher. Right now, the average price of a gallon of gasoline in the United States is $3.51. Never before has the average price of gas gone above $3.50 so early in the year. Many believe that we could set a new all-time record this summer.

But last year was bad enough. In 2011, the average American family spent over $4,000 on gasoline.

So when you are making just a few hundred dollars per week, it can be a massive struggle just to put gas in your car and food on the table.

The article that I wrote the other day about the decline of Detroit really struck a nerve. All over America, people can see similar things happening to their own neighborhoods. People are scared and they want some answers.

Well, the truth is that we should have never allowed tens of thousands of businesses, millions of jobs and trillions of dollars of our national wealth to be shipped out of the country.

Just check out this stunning photo which compares the decline of Detroit to the rise of Shanghai, China.

Do you think that it is just a coincidence that Detroit is falling apart and that cities in China look sparkly and new?

No, the truth is that it is a natural consequence of our foolish economic policies.

There are hundreds of communities all over the country where third world conditions are setting in. For example, the following is how one blogger describes what life is like in a decaying suburb of Phoenix called Maryvale....

Crime and gangs are widespread. Most houses have either fallen into disrepair, or been remade with outside walls sporting spikes and ironwork. Many of the front lawns are now just dirt (or worse, gravel), the pools green and lethal.

Now we stand on the precipice of another major global financial crisis. Economic conditions in America are going to become significantly worse. The politicians in Washington D.C. may make sure that the boys and girls on Wall Street are always taken care of, but there will be no bailouts for the large numbers of Americans that are about to lose their jobs and their homes.

If you want an idea of what is coming, just look at what is happening in Greece. 25 percent of the businesses have shut down, one-third of all money has been pulled out of Greek bank accounts and unemployment and poverty are absolutely rampant.

For years, a lot of prominent voices out there were screaming and yelling about the dangers posed by our soaring trade deficits and our soaring budget deficits.

But the American people did not listen. They just kept sending the same politicians back to Washington D.C. over and over.

As a result, soon millions of those same Americans will find themselves doing things that they never dreamed that they would do just to survive.

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/arch ... to-survive

Any comments?

Excellent post. Interesting its through the BBC.

Personal Input: My father often speaks out against poverty. His father was in the Nationalist air force and fled mainland China when the Communists took over (hopefully no one will seek reprisals against me here... ), and took to Taiwan. There he was met with poverty. My dad has told stories of the dusty village he grew up in and of being hungry and without adequate transportation. Violence is also rampent. One of my grandfathers was killed in his sleep by a fellow soldier.

Poverty, though, will always be a problem. We can do our little to alleviate pockets of it, but poverty can be so taking, it can even be an idea, and ideas are not something to eradicate, only to channel. Hopefully legislation will be enacted to help these people, but, in the meantime, not only can we help them from time to time, but they should help themselves (I risk being extremely general here rather than tackle a nationwide topic).

Interesting bit on the "America had the least social mobility".

I see daily what the "poor" go through in Fresno. I also saw the poor in India. America still having the "least" social mobility? As compared to what? Or where? By what metrics?

Why then are roughly 1.5 million people (or more) fighting to get into this country a year for a "better life"? Something must be here.

Welfare, thats what. And lots of these immigrants blatantly ignore our laws, not just our customs, while cranking out more mouths to feed...using tax dollars, of course.

They are milking the system they never paid into, while former workers and taxpayers are out of work, while these people can live three or four families to a house and make ends meet by hiding their assets from the IRS, so they pay no taxes.

The shit is going to hit the fan sooner or later, there is no doubt in my mind at all, else why would the government be preparing for urban warfare with these practice drills all over the US?

Nothing is not going to hit any fan, relax. People have been calling for the complete collapse of the U.S. since the 90s, not realizing that economic and political cycles are much more complex and longer than one would guess they are. People have been calling for the rise of Japan (didn't happen), China (not happening for a while), BRIC (a moderate current at best) but the system has just too much inertia, at least from our human lifespans' point of view.

By the way, blaming immigrants is the lazy way of people unwilling to understand (see Italy's Berlusconi.) The U.S. welfare system represents a minimal burden compared to European countries, compared to the tax breaks for corporations who then outsource capital, compared to military contractors' money. Immigrants come and reproduce (helping with the falling birth rate common of declining economies), consume, pay taxes (at least sales taxes, we can all agree), etc.

Blaming the "other", yes, always the cheap political point, the easiest bogeyman.

I call pure bullshit on this utter nonsense!

My grandparents PAID for their own way here on ocean-going vessels, went through customs at Ellis Island _LEGALLY_, and became naturalized US citizens after seven years, like most immigrants did back then. No American taxpayer had to pay a dime to them for anything.

They did not allow my parents to speak the tongue of the old country, when outside the home. They worked their asses off, and to become Americans, and purchase their own property, unlike many foreigners today, who leech off the system.

I call bullshit on your argument, actually.


Coming into the us "_LEGALLY_" was different then. Ask them, ask around. Don't you think many, MANY immigrants "PAID for their own way here on ocean-going vessels" in order to go to Western Europe, or the U.S. now, just to be labeled illegals? Visa issuing processes were not what they are now. Being "legal" meant different things then, the laws were different, the needs of the country were different.

Edit: did you know that there was an official policy in place in the early 1900s to facilitate the entry of white caucasians and nordics? See how "legal" is such a relative, meaningless word when it comes to ethics?


So?

Many immigrants labeled "illegals" work their asses of, more than your parents, I'm more than sure.

The process to become Americans was different then. Don't idealize what your grandparents did, and don't demonize what current immigrants are doing. That's just stupid.

Again, I call bullshit. Don't believe everything they tell you.

The conditions will soon be in place for a third World War. It will go nuclear and that will be the end of of our civilisation.

sorry? aren't you from poland?

Detroit is not the capital of america. It's a cold town in michigan that's always been poor. Remember "8 mile"? That happened long before obama had anything to do with the world. Why would you compare shaghai to detroit? Try comparing it to new york if anything.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, it takes a lot to fuck up in this country. You have to really work at it to wind up in the gutter. And the fall to the bottom is not a straight drop.

This "housing crisis" is not the economies fault. It's the people who bought the damn houses fault. You don't live in a 350,000 dollar home on one income no matter how good a mortgage the bank "promises" you. Blame the banks? That's like blaming the tiger for eating you. Your stupid ass shouldn't have gone into the jungle slathered in bacon grease.

Credit card debt, all under your control. Car payments, you again. Your job? Sure you can get fired. Then you've got unemployment. Then you've got welfare. Then you're living in the worlds only hyper power looking for a job. Pretty good odds if you ask me. You take the shittiest job you can find and work your way up from there. But you know how much you make on unemployment, you're not gonna take a job that pays less than that are you?

I've seen how families on the brink of poverty operate. They don't make smart decisions. They can't afford gas but they have a smart phone. They can't afford their car payment, but they have 4 different cars. They can't afford the gas bill, but they have digital cable, HBO, and xbox live. "Gotta save money, but I'm going to vegas!"

I grew up in a family working it's way up. We didn't have cable tv, we didn't have 2 cars. We had 1 POS car, we lived in a small house in a bad neighborhood. We didn't go out to eat, we didn't waste money on stupid shit. I remember when this crazy new thing called the "internet" came out and we went to the library to look at photos of the eagle nebula on the nasa site. The amount of stupid shit people spend money on could repay the national debt.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient


[/quote]

america has the best PR in the world thats all...

A war between Iran and Israel is inevitable at this point, hell Madonna fans in Israel are calling for a delay to war for after her world tour.

"Israeli Madonna Fans: No Iran War Before Concert"
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2 ... e-concert/

What welfare?



What if you can't get any job at all?

Go right ahead. I love a good debate.





Being legal meant you got sent back home if you had some communicable disease or were a wanted criminal, unlike
the immigrants today who skip across the border with all manner of illnesses and criminal records back home.





Well in my grandparents case, they were not from northern Europe, nor would they be considered to be anything but "Hispanic" here in the US had they been born in Spain, not Portugal, both on the Iberian peninsula. Funny how the US treats Brazilians that come here to the US as Hispanics, but not the Portuguese, even though Brazil was colonized by Portugal and their native tongue is Portuguese.





So they came here to work and blend in as Americans, not try and bring the old country here like Aztlan, La Raza, and MEChA do. They didn't wave a flag of the home nation on their homes either. Most new immigrants don't want to blend in,
nowadays, unlike in the past.





What would you know about my parents, or grandparents that would allow you to make that very false statement?





Really? So you dont have a problem with new immigrants coming here, taking jobs away during an economic collapse, not paying taxes and leeching off the system with your tax-dollars. And previous immigrants like my grandparents didn't enjoy the paved roads, (they were gravel, if you were lucky, mud if not) electricity, telephones and other infrastructures that we have today.

It was mostly hard manual labor from dawn till dusk for them, since modern agricultural machinery was still in it's infancy.



What, I should listen to your nonsense? I know what my parents and grandparents did. You on the other hand know absolutely nothing at all, about what they did. Immigrants these days have a really sweet deal going, unlike they did.

Let me start off by saying that in a sense I do agree with the gist of your argument. You do make a good point about the housing crisis. Going back about 5 years ago when everyone and his nephew was getting into home ownership including a coworker of mine. When I heard what is monthly mortgage was to be I thought to myself I have an idea what this guy makes how can he afford it? You're also right that people in poverty make poor decisions that keep them in poverty. Obesity is common in poor communities because they make poor food choices. And don't anyone give me this bullshit about how it's cheaper to buy meals at McDonald's. If one knows how to shop smart they should be able to find bargains in the supermarket enabling them to feed their families nutritious meals. They make poor decisions about child bearing. They seem to have way more kids than they can afford to raise. But why should they worry? We saps taxpayers will foot the bill. They can't afford the essentials such as utilities, rent, etc but can afford cigarettes, lottery tickets, alcohol, designer clothes. Go through any poor urban neighborhoods and you'll see three-decker houses adorned with 3-5 satellite dishes.

Ok, having said all that, One thing that you can't deny Mrping is that there is an unfair distribution of wealth in this country. There is too much concentration of wealth in the hand of too few. (note: notice I didn't mention equal distribution of wealth. I don't think wealth should be equally distributed. I not a supporter of socialism. I do believe those who are productive members of society should be rewarded accordingly.)
Regarding unemployment, yes there will always be that subculture of guys who are just too lazy to work for a living. You know the type, hanging on the street corner outside the liquor store with their just as lazy friends collecting "disability" checks. However, you seem to forget that we currently have a 8-9% unemployment rate (some will argue much higher). You currently read and hear stories about people who have been job searching for over a year or more to no avail. There is just too much competition for jobs out there.(Just like there's too much competition for relationships for us loveshys/incels) Your made the comment about "taking the shittiest job you can find." So the 40 something college educated guy formerly working at a big financial company is going to get hired at a job where they can hire teenagers or immigrants?

indeed I'll give you that occasionally someone does get royally boned. But here comes an analogy I thought up. It's a lot like incel...

Here me out. Now, despite the realatively "large" population of incel members on this site, almost all that I am aware of have had some sort of opportunity. (not accounting for LS because that screws up the math) The same is true for low income families. They have opportunities and directions they can go in. The stumbling block, much like with incel, is education. With incel, we don't know what to do or how to handle situations because we've never been in them, so we tend to make poor decisions. The same can be said for low income families. They lack the education/general knowledge to escape their current situations. When it comes to incel, most guys still have standards they'd rather not dip under. I imagine the same is true of jobs. But the difference between sex and employment is that one you really cannot live without.

Most homeless people I meet are 1 of 2 things. 1, they have some sort of mental disability/instability. Or 2, they're a few strings short of a guitar. Most poor families I know function in 1 of 2 ways. The ways I mentioned above, or the way my family operated. I came from educated parents, my mother put herself through school without any help from anyone else. The "college is expensive" excuse doesn't fly with me. The "can't work and go to school" excuse doesn't fly with me. The real solution to ending poverty is education.

But you can throw all the money you want at the wall that is education and it won't fix it. The kids that get out of the inner cities alive and well don't get out because of their teachers. It's the parents. The parents who recognize how important education is. The same parents who are willing to work 2 jobs to be able to afford putting their kids into charter schools. The schools help immensely, but a kid with parents like that already has a huge advantage over the other kids who don't. If we can educate parents about these issues the problem will evolve out of society.

I mean shit they can't even pick out the right cereal at the grocery store for their WIC checks, how can we expect them to finance a home correctly? We can't help them with one hand and hurt them with the other. Cut their taxes, slap some rules on the banks (like explaining things in plain english), and outlaw the industry specifically designed to fuck people over, payday loans. 500% interest on a cash advance is criminal. They wouldn't do it if they didn't need it, i'm not saying ban the industry but ban exorbitant interest rates.