Poverty: By America
Exporting pointless misery, one billionaire at a time
American poverty is unique in the world, in that the USA has the most wealth of any nation that has ever existed and one of the worst capital distribution disparities.
Poverty is the constant fear that it will get even worse. A third of Americans live without much economic security, working as bus drivers, farmers, teachers, cashiers, cooks, nurses, security guards, social workers. Many are not officially counted among the “poor,” but what then is the term for trying to raise two kids on $50,000 a year in Miami or Portland? What do you call it when you don’t qualify for a housing voucher but can’t get a mortgage either? When the rent takes half your paycheck, and your student loan debt takes another quarter? When you dip below the poverty line one month then rise a bit above it the next without ever feeling a sense of stability? As a lived reality, there is plenty of poverty above the poverty line.
Desmond, Matthew. Poverty, by America (p. 17). Crown. Kindle Edition.
American culture is…
