Living in America

It's a common theme among republicans, from the rank and file right on up to its leadership, that if you're poor it's because you're careless with your money.

No, it isn't.  As Barbara Ehrenreich has so famously stated, it's because you don't have enough money.

A couple of recent studies confirm this.  While republicans often claim that the poor spend their money foolishly, a Bureau of Labor Statistics report shows that the poor (the lower 20% income wise, making $22,000 a year or less) actually spend more of their income (60%) on necessities--home, food, heating--than do the wealthy (45%).  The wealthy also spend more, as a percentage of income, on eating out, liquor, and entertainment.

It's also often noted in republican circles that those who carry credit card debt are living beyond their means. A report from think tank Demos shows this isn't the case either--all too often it's brought on by unemployment, healthcare costs, and underemployment.  And a lot of the debt is from just trying to purchase necessities for families.

What these two reports show is that it's more about bad luck than bad people.  There's something inherently wrong when people do what they're supposed to, work hard their whole lives, and end up fianancially ruined through no fault of their own--like the very real people depicted here.  We don't need lies about a people's character--what we need are leaders committed to the 99% and not the 1%.

Peace,
emaycee