Be Thankful

Thanksgiving is coming, in case you forgot. It has both a positive and a negative aspect for me.

Well, okay, there are two problems if you count staying on my diet.

My wife and I were married the Saturday before Thanksgiving. So, I always think of our anniversary as being on Saturday. Unfortunately, the 19^th (I verified this) doesn’t always fall on a Saturday.

I hope everyone reading this has a plate full of things for which they can be thankful. That is not the case for far too many Americans.

The bulk of this article will be extracts from one by Michael Snyder, who maintains a blog called, The Economic Collapse. It lists several statistics related to the poor and extremely poor in this country.

Michele Bachmann recently shared her Christian spirit with us when she said that a person that didn’t work shouldn’t eat. Her separation from the real world is great enough to be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.

The reason for being unemployed is largely a factor of there not being enough jobs. Also, the majority of the poor are employed. A sizable percentage of the poor are seniors. I realize these facts don’t comport with her fantastical world view but that won’t be a consideration, once she realizes she is a former candidate.

Anyway, here is some food for thought:

The following are 19 statistics about the poor that will absolutely astound you . . .

#1 According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of “very poor” rose in 300 out of the 360 largest metropolitan areas during 2010.

#2 Last year, 2.6 million more Americans descended into poverty. That was the largest increase that we have seen since the U.S. government began keeping statistics on this back in 1959.

#3 It isn’t just the ranks of the “very poor” that are rising. The number of those just considered to be “poor” is rapidly increasing as well. Back in the year 2000, 11.3% of all Americans were living in poverty. Today, 15.1% of all Americans are living in poverty.

#4 The poverty rate for children living in the United States increased to 22% in 2010.

#5 There are 314 counties in the United States where at least 30% of the children are facing food insecurity.

#6 In Washington D.C., the “child food insecurity rate” is 32.3%.

#7 More than 20 million U.S. children rely on school meal programs to keep from going hungry.

#8 One out of every six elderly Americans now lives below the federal poverty line.

#9 Today, there are over 45 million Americans on food stamps.

#10 According to the Wall Street Journal, nearly 15 percent of all Americans are now on food stamps.

#11 In 2010, 42 percent of all single mothers in the United States were on food stamps.

#12 The number of Americans on food stamps has increased 74% since 2007.

#13 We are told that the economy is recovering, but the number of Americans on food stamps has grown by another 8 percent over the past year.

#14 Right now, one out of every four American children is on food stamps.

#15 It is being projected that approximately 50 percent of all U.S. children will be on food stamps at some point in their lives before they reach the age of 18.

#16 More than 50 million Americans are now on Medicaid. Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid. Today, approximately one out of every 6 Americans is on Medicaid.

#17 One out of every six Americans is now enrolled in at least one government anti-poverty program.

#18 The number of Americans that are going to food pantries and soup kitchens has increased by 46% since 2006.

#19 It is estimated that up to half a million children may currently be homeless in the United States.

As Michael notes, you don’t see the media giving this subject a great deal of coverage. He provided a link to the following video.

Regardless of how you feel about the subject of same-sex marriage, that is not the real point of the video. It’s merely a convenient conveyance. Please stay with the video through the 1:15 mark. The remainder makes the real point overwhelmingly.

Try to remember the poor at your holiday dinner but also think of things about the country of which you can be proud.

Best wishes,

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Tagged as: anniversary, bachmann, blog, candidate, census, christian, conan, diet, economic collapse, economy, elderly, food stamps, guinness, hungry, marriage, medicaid, michael snyder, michele, o'brien, poor, poverty, same sex, senior, thanksgiving, unemployed, video, wall street, washington, world record