So
often in my deployments I see poverty tied to the disaster I am responding to;
this trip has been different I spent my whole time in the nation’s capital
working. And Poverty was everywhere, not
just under employment but people who will probably spend their lives in the
poverty they are in. I wonder what the
world would be like of the first world focused on helping people build wealth,
so they were not trapped in poverty? Okay
so I get our currently administration is focused on USA first. So, let’s do that;
let’s bring our population out of poverty.
Let’s take some pennies from our military budget; the 2015
military budget spent 598.5 Billion Dollars! Supposedly our current president is MAKING
our allies pay a larger share of protecting their country, so we should have a
savings.
A
recent investigation of the US poverty by the UN; yes kind of embarrassing for
us, but no hue & cry?
What
did they find in their investigation?
They found that AMERICANS living in poverty in this country were
infested with hookworms, a parasite that was eradicated in the
US, and thought to be a developing world problem. In the article from NPR, they note that 19 of
55 people tested in Alabama had them. You
might say that’s not too many! But it is for a parasite thought to be wiped out
in the 1980’s. It is passed by walking
in sewage (defecation) of someone infected. What would it cost to make sure
that people had safe bathroom facilities?
Less than 0.5 Billion?
According
to the US census the poverty the is 12%, not too bad, eh? That’s 38 million AMERICANS. Okay so not everyone is going to be a
millionaire, but did everyone start off on an even playing field? Have we focused on early childhood
development, have we done everything we can?
Okay
so I know not everyone wants to be helped, many do not care, but is that due to
decades of not being cared for?
What
about our education system? How do we rank as one of the leaders of the world?
How about 14th? We are
turning out citizens without the knowledge or thinking skills to read and
comprehend some of the most difficult problems facing us today. Yes, we have some top universities in the US,
but we need to look at our national education as a whole, from the poorest kid
in ________ (you pick the US city) all the way to Harvard.
How
about our infrastructure (Roads, Ports, Etc.) The
American Society of Engineers
(I think they would know) rate America a D+? That’s horrible. I’m sorry are we talking
about a developing country? Well maybe
so...
