Americans Fear Poverty Will Worsen

[Kismet]

Americans Fear Poverty Will Worsen, Poll Finds
Poll by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, JAN. 19, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Nearly two-thirds of Americans fear that poverty will increase in the United States in 2006, while seven in 10 believe there are more poor people today than a year ago

So says the latest Poverty Pulse survey by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. The poll found that 63% of those surveyed worry that they could themselves become poor

The poll, whose results were presented today at a news conference in New Orleans, also found that nearly all Americans, 97%, think that it is important to decrease or eliminate poverty in the United States

More than half, 56%, had donated money to organizations that assist the poor

But the Poverty Pulse found Americans divided on assigning "the greatest responsibility" for responding to the needs of poor people and addressing poverty overall: 31% said the responsibility lies with the federal government, while 29% said it is the task of "everyone -- the general public." Another 17% assigned the task to the poor themselves and 2% held churches responsible

However, 90% of the public said that it is important for the federal government to ensure that all poor people have health coverage. And 91% believe that health care should be guaranteed to all children

Conducted among 1,131 members of the general adult population in December, the poll is the sixth yearly Poverty Pulse survey since 2000. Unlike the previous years, however, the December poll involved online questioning rather than telephone calls to gauge public opinion. The survey's possible margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points

CCHD, the domestic anti-poverty program of the U.S. bishops' conference, uses the Poverty Pulses to assess understanding of poverty in America

In other findings, the Poverty Pulse learned that: -- asked to name "the single best way to permanently break the cycle of poverty in the United States," 28% said "pay living wages to low-income workers," 20% responded "better education for children," and 14% said "a better economy." -- most people think that an increase in poverty will detrimentally affect everyone, with 35% predicting it would reduce the quality of life for all Americans, 28% saying it would increase crime, and 20% anticipating more homelessness as a result

-- when respondents were asked (without suggested answers) to name "the single biggest social problem facing the U.S.," poverty ranked third on the list (chosen by 7%), just below health care and racism (each at 8%) which both ranked first, and above war-U.S. involvement in war, named by 4%.

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[Lounge Daddy]

[quote name='Kismet' date='Jan 20 2006, 12:54 AM']Americans Fear Poverty Will Worsen, Poll Finds
Poll by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development

NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana, JAN. 19, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Nearly two-thirds of Americans fear that poverty will increase in the United States in 2006, while seven in 10 believe there are more poor people today than a year ago

So says the latest Poverty Pulse survey by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development. The poll found that 63% of those surveyed worry that they could themselves become poor...

ZE06011923 email this article: [url="http://www.zenit.org/english/send_friend/index.phtml?sid=83084"]http://www.zenit.org/english/send_friend/i...phtml?sid=83084[/url]
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so - all this article shows is that the view will be negative while standing inside New Orleans
things are different in the rest of the country...
(well, except maybe Maryland - but they don't need a natural disaster - they can dig thier own ditch)

Life is great in the USA
our economy is off the hook

[son_of_angels]

Yes, well some of us are from states like Arkansas which have anywhere from 30-40% poverty rate already, and have been thus since the depression...

But poverty does not worry me as much as the state of men's souls...Allowing some poor people to receive money so that they may become fat poor people doesn't seem to be the best situation either.

[PadreSantiago]

Who's Will Worsen?

[WildCatRupe]

in some strange way, Its funny... we have such a high rate of poverty. America, as a nation, has the FATTEST poor people in the world. In other countries (use, russia, ethiopia or thailand as examples) poor people are scrawny, underfed, their children bloated with distended tummies. but not here in america! for some reason, our culture thinks that fast food (calorie rich, laden with saturated fats and sodium) is the best bargain food-wise. and when poor people DO go to the grocery store, what do they tend to buy? chips, pizza, processed dinners. being a chef-to-be, this offends me on so many levels. first off, the flavor of these foods tends to be flat and horrid, depends primarily on dirt cheap salt more than anything else. The nutritional value tends to be very low, with a lot of empty calories. also, the monetary value of these foods is dismal! not only are you paying for a lot of worthless calories, you're also paying for flashy packaging and all the labor and materials used in producing that "microwave for 5 minutes!" meal. I spent three years at Villanova, where there is a tradition of fall and spring break Habitat for Humanity trips. One exercise on those trips is to break the group into smaller "families" of 4 people, given $5 to buy food for one meal. Most people tend to buy cheetos, canned vegetables, and other worthless things. with that $5 (or perhaps a little more, but certainly less than $10), my group was able to purchase materials for chili with ground beef over spaghetti, FRESH zucchini, and bread. sounds like a good meal to me. so why is nutrition so bad in our poverty sector? not because they don't have enough money or food stamps....but because no one has ever taken the time to show these people how to shop or price compare or cook! I think this principal applies across many sectors (food, education, computers).....the problem isn't the money available, but rather the education and personal time taken by the people trying to help. thanks for reading...my first little rant as a chef-to-be!

Timmy

[jezic]

what about those of us that embrace poverty as THE life of Heaven?