Entitlements for the Rich!
Here is an excerpt from President Lyndon Johnson’s Inaugural.
“In a land of great wealth, families must not live in hopeless poverty. In a land rich in harvest, children just must not go hungry… neighbors must not suffer and die unattended. In a great land of learning and scholars, young people must be taught to read and write.
No longer need capitalist and worker, farmer and clerk, city and countryside, struggle to divide our bounty. By working… together we can increase the bounty of all.… every child who learns, every man who finds work, every sick body that is made whole ”like a candle added to an altar” brightens the hope of all the faithful….”
We are no longer working together in support of the goals of our country.
I am getting signatures, in support of the ballot initiative to increase the minimum wage to $10.50 by 1/1/2015, because too many Massachusetts (MA) families are becoming homeless, even though two parent(s) or caretaker(s) are working. And MA is one of the wealthier states giving more than average support to people living in poverty.
Jobs in our country for unskilled people are usually part-time, with irregular scheduling from week to week. If two people work for an average of 60 hours per week at an hourly wage of $8.50, they earn $510 per week or $26,520 annually. For two people with two children, these wages are about equal to 112% of poverty threshold, and qualify them for many subsidies. But funding for those subsidies is decided annually and can be cut all to easily by federal or state legislators.
Subsidies include (some federal & some state)
Federal section 8 housing program and other low rent housing,
Statewide rent subsidy programs,
The SNAP program (food stamps) and other school nutrition programs, The Federal Earned Income Tax Credit Program,
Child care subsidies or Head Start,
Medicaid, Medicare & Affordable Health Care Act health insurance.
At present, cuts are threatened to food stamps, Medicaid and Head Start, and school nutrition programs. There is not nearly enough affordable housing to care for the increasing numbers of people living below or a little above the poverty threshold.
You can take action against these the cuts that support the stability of low-income American families.
