Sunday, January 01, 2006

The Dems Missed Opportunity

I was reading how Congress voted to “save” 40 billion by hacking programs for the poor and hacking into student loans programs, when I saw a reference to a UN press release titled, "INDEPENDENT EXPERT ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND EXTREME POVERTY CONCLUDES VISIT TO UNITED STATES"

The investigator found that America, the wealthiest country on earth, with higher per capita income levels than any other country, also had one of the highest incidences of poverty among the rich industrialized nations. The official statistics show that 12.7 per cent (or 37 million) of the population lived in poverty in 2004, while 15.7 per cent (45.8 million) were without health insurance coverage and 11.9 per cent of households (38.2 million people, including 13.9 million children) experienced food insecurity. The statistics also showed a significant disparity in poverty between African Americans (24.7 per cent), Hispanics (21.9 per cent) and non-Hispanic Whites (8.6 per cent). Moreover, despite the overall economic recovery in the United States, the incidence of poverty, including food insecurity and homelessness had been on the rise over the past years.

I don't know why the U.S. democrats haven't jumped all over this indictment of the Bush administration. Perhaps it speaks to the ongoing leadership confusion within the DNC, or perhaps they're just too consumed with the Iraq war to pay attention to domestic issues. That's a mistake Bush made, and the Dems should not hasten to repeat it.

2 comments:

Daro said...

Browsing some German sites I noticed a blog ad (oh.. that Id've saved it) soliciting donations for American poor. However ironically acidic that foundations intentions were, it reflects the deeper opinion Europeans have of America. Write them off if you will, but the view that America is a carniverous capitalist machine (however misplaced) is also popular sentiment in Japan, Australia, China and (of course) South America. And this is starting to have an effect in how companies there award contracts and pursue overseas higher education. Bush's legacy will take decades to unroll.

MataHarley said...

You said

"I don't know why the U.S. democrats haven't jumped all over this indictment of the Bush administration. Perhaps it speaks to the ongoing leadership confusion within the DNC, or perhaps they're just too consumed with the Iraq war to pay attention to domestic issues."

... or just perhaps it's because Dems are smart enough to realize insurance, poverty stats, "rising" homelessness (amidst rising populations of illegal immigrants) have history much further back than five years, Scott.

Tho you'd like it so, not everything is the fault of a sitting President. You forget that Congress dodges all bullets of blame by pointing fingers at whomever is in the WH. Presidents are a swinging door of power... possibly six effective years out of a double term. Not so for career politicians who've held office for decades, and never seem to go away. These are the same politicians who have known about the rising threat of terrorism for decades - pre Bush 1, Clinton and Bush 2 - yet cut back and tied the hands of our intel community anyway.

As for your anquish about the poor in the US, remember it is Congress who formulates welfare programs, Congress who administers and appropriates the cash for the same. Don't like our spending? Guess who holds the wallet and purse strings... Congress.

Presidents can not introduce bills personally, but must do so thru a member of Congress. It is then morphed by committees and on the floors. Rather like the old game of Gossip, what comes out at the end bears little resemblence to what went in.

All a President ultimately can do is veto or sign legislation created by Congress. Even that's a game... give a little to get something else. They are all master game players.

You may want to point some of your venom towards the actual source and get the life-term Congressmen and women out of the halls and back into the unemployment lines you feel are too long.