Thursday, October 20, 2011

The New Face of Poverty

I just read this super depressing article --here-- on the effect of the rising poverty rates on everyday Americans. Some of you have probably seen it because it was featured on the Yahoo page (I hate to admit it, but that's how I get most of my information). It's very long and sad but the gist of of it is that more and more middle class Americans are falling into poverty and can't get out.

And frankly, it pisses me off. I know there's a lot of factors contributing to the rising rate of the unemployment, but it baffles me that a father has to make a decision on whether or not to pay the phone bill or buy groceries just because some government officials thought it was a good idea bail out banks in 2008. So here are some random thoughts that came to me while I was reading this:

1.) So far, my family has been fortunate enough not to be really affected by the recession. But, I'm not naive enough to think that it couldn't. Looking at those normal families in this article showed me that no one is immune. It makes me worried, but it mostly makes me angry. My family were immigrants to the US. We came here for the reason many immigrants do; to have the life our native country couldn't give us. But now, it seems the US is failing us in that. That may seem unpatriotic, but I'm not one to blindly follow my country. I completely believe in duty to one's country but only if a country fulfills its duty to its citizens first. 

2.) A lot of people seem to blame Obama for not getting out out of the recession and making it worse by increasing spending. I think people need to realize there is no miracle solution for getting us out of what Bush got us into. To put it bluntly, unnecessary war+ bailout of 2008=monstrous disaster for the masses. The last time I checked, Obama didn't claim to be a magic fairy who could save us from the mess we've gotten into by a wave of his wand. It takes time and effort, and I believe he's doing the best he can to help the people, even if that means more spending. In fact, we NEED to spend in order to help those affected by the recession anyway.

3.) In the 2012 election, I will finally be able to vote for president and you can definitely count on me voting Democrat. I've had enough of Republican's "less spending" strategy. If we spend less, we're not going to be able to help those who were devastated by the failing economy and those people deserve to be helped. Hopefully I'll be a doctor someday and I don't want to turn people away because they can't pay. I don't want to live in a country where the top 1% can do whatever they like and the rest of us pay the consequences. I don't want to live in a country where we punish people for being poor. Being from a capitalistic society, I realize its our instinct to do so, but that needs to change. We're all human beings and we have a duty to each other.

4.) In the meantime, I will be doing my part to earn a degree in order to arm myself against the recession. The article was saying how some of these newly impoverished people have multiple college degrees. Well, I hate to break it to you, but a masters in cheese making isn't going to get you anywhere these days. It's important to do what you love, but also do what is useful. No one cares that you can design them their dream kitchen if they don't have the money to buy food. So big lesson: if you're going to spend the time and money to go to school, do something useful and marketable.

I apologize for the long rant. Also, I'm not a political expert.

Keep it classy folks,
Naz

5 comments:

  1. Good article, although I disagree with ya a little on the spending. Sometimes spending on things like education and welfare programs becomes so bloated and inefficient that it seems the only thing we can do is to cut the spending so that the programs can be fixed to be more efficient and better work for the people. That gives the gov more money to pay of its debt and help us out too.

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  2. i suppose.... i think it's a big cycle. there's definitely not an easy solution

    thanks for the input!

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  3. I couldn't have said it better myself, Naz!

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We're Hera and Naz. Both of us are full time biology majors at the lovely University of Southern Indiana. When we're not out doing nerdy school stuff, we enjoy shopping, drinking slushies, and of course, writing on this awesome blog.

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