Whites Sinking Into Poverty Along With African-Americans
By Sherwood Ross
It
used to be that when the National Urban League(NUL) spoke up it was to
spotlight the plight of second-class African-Americans suffering from
segregation and discrimination.
Now
when its President Marc Morial speaks, the phrase "most Americans"
creeps into his rhetoric because the sub-basements of America where the
country has dumped so much of its black population are becoming jammed
with an influx of poor whites as well.
And
it's great that Morial speaks out. When was the last time you heard a
public figure talk about helping the "poor"? Politicians, for example,
are always out to help the "middle class," as if poor folks don't
exist.
Conservatives
have demonized the poor as "lazy" spongers when, in fact, they are doing
the hardest, dirtiest work, yet cannot make ends meet, toiling in
virtual slavery, often lucky to have two or three part-time jobs.
Reporting on
the NUL's latest State of Black America document, Associated Press said,
"African-Americans and Latinos are losing economic ground when compared
with whites in the areas of employment and income…" But whites are
losing ground, too. As CBS News has found, more than 19 million whites
fall below the poverty line of $23,021 for a family of four, accounting
for more than 41 percent of the nation's destitute, nearly double the
number of poor blacks. At least 46 million Americans today can be said
to be poor. If not for food stamps, the count would be millions higher.
As Morial put
it: “While ‘too big to fail’ corporations went into the bail-out
emergency room and recovered to break earnings and stock market records,
most Americans have been left in ICU with multiple diagnoses of
unemployment, underemployment, home losses and foreclosures, low or no
savings and retirement accounts, credit denials, cuts in education and
school funding—and the list of maladies continues.”
"There is the
real possibility that white alienation will increase if steps are not
taken to highlight and address inequality on a broad front," says
William Julius Wilson, a Harvard professor who is an authority on race
and poverty.
According
to the U.S. Census, the percentage of Americans in poverty climbed from
12.2% in 2000 to 15.9% in 2012. And of this 15.9%, the Kaiser Family
Foundation of Washington, D.C. tells us, blacks make up the largest
number, at 35%, followed by Hispanics, 33%, whites 13%, and others 22%.
As CBS News
reported last July: "Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with
joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of
their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive
American dream." That's a story about all Americans, whites included,
not just the black minority.
CBS said
further, "Hardship is particularly growing among whites, based on
several measures. Pessimism among that racial group about their
families' economic futures has climbed to the highest point since at
least 1987. In the most recent AP-GfK poll, 63 percent of whites called
the economy 'poor.'
Marriage
rates are in decline across all races, and the number of white
mother-headed households living in poverty has risen to the level of
black ones, CBS found.
So
where is the money going? If the poor, white and black alike, are
suffering, maybe it's because so-called "defense" contractors are eating
their lunch.
According
to the National Priorities Project, "fiscal year 2015 military spending
is projected to account for 55 percent of all federal discretionary
spending…greater than military spending of the next 10 largest countries
combined." Add it up and you'll find Washington is spending as much, or
more, on war as all 50 states collect in taxes to spend for peace.
Thus,
Federal domestic spending is neglected as the the Bush and Obama
regimes waged war around the world. Countries attacked by America
include Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, and Syria.
In just the Obama years, he spent $250-billion on HUD but $4 trillion
on "defense" (aka "aggression")---money that could remake America into a
garden spot.
That's
16 times as much for war as housing and at a time when no foreign
nation is threatening America. By the way, study after study shows that
spending for military purposes does not begin to stimulate the economy
as does spending at home for peace.
Americans need to ask themselves, "Is this where I want my tax dollars to go?"
Here
is a list of some of the big winners while more Americans of all races
sink deeper into poverty. Note that their profit margins are usually
around a whopping 10%. Following are arms sales, profits, and products,
according to Business Insider: #1 Lockheed Martin, $35.7-b (billion),
2.9-b; F-35 fighter; #2, Boeing, $31.4-b; 2.9-b; fighter planes; #3
Northrop Grumman, $28-b, $2-b, drones and nukes; #4 General Dynamics,
$24-b; 2.6-b, tanks and ships; #5 Raytheon, $23-b; $1.9-b, missiles; #6,
L-3 Communications, $13-b; 96-million, intelligence gathering; #7
United Technologies, $11.4-b; $4.7-b, helicopters; #8, SAIC, $8.2-b;
$618-million; engineering; #9 OshKosh, $7-b; $790-million, trucks; #10,
Computer Sciences, $6-b; $96-million, intelligence gathering.
Some
things never change: As Sen. George McGovern said during his 1972
presidential run: "For every bomb dropped in Viet Nam a house somewhere
in America collapses from neglect."
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(Sherwood Ross is a Miami-based public relations consultant. Reach him at sherwoodross10@gmail.com.)
