Free Republic

On October 31, 2009, the once largest aluminum plant in the world will shut down. With it goes another American industry and more American jobs. The Columbia Falls Aluminum Company in Montana will shut down its aluminum production because it cannot purchase the necessary electrical power to continue its operations. How did this happen in America? America was once the envy of the world in its industrial capability. America’s industrial capacity built America into the most productive nation the world had ever known. Its standard of living rose to levels never before accomplished. Its currency became valuable and powerful, allowing...

Now, I firmly believe that a lot of what Democrats and liberals want, can actually be achieved through conservatism. Crazy idea, I know; but it's true. Liberals and Democrats are always talking about helping the poor. They are strong advocates of social welfare. Because of this, they get the vote of many poor people. But tell me, what dividends have we seen? Has poverty been cured? Even helped, to a noticeable level? Nope. A while back, Glenn Beck talked about this exact thing. But although the problem may unite us, the solutions don't. And perhaps nothing illustrates that better than...

The left avers that many Americans are poverty-stricken, that we need to do more to alleviate their plight, and that the primary role of government is to help them. Let us examine these claims. 'Poverty' may be viewed as harsh deprivation, such as in Biafra or the Congo. Yet nobody in America starves to death. It is true that the standard of living of illegals from Mexico is far below ours, yet even they are far better off than the inhabitants of third-world countries. Nor do the poor in America suffer as did those during the Great Depression. Consider the...

I used to have a job that felt like Divine Grace. Since I was raised secular, it was as close to a religious experience as I had ever had. I was fresh out of graduate school in my late 20s, working with black foster families and relatives in dicey areas of Oakland. Not a day went by that I didn't cry -- and not just because of the sorrowful plight of the kids. I'd never been around people like this before, who loved God, who praised Jesus, who lived to serve him. In retrospect, I think my tears came because...

?Tax the rich, Feed the poor, ‘Til there are no Rich no more." - "I'd Love to Change the World" Ten Years After (1971) Over the Columbus Day weekend, my wife and I traveled to Brooklyn, N.Y. to visit our daughter and her boyfriend. I was strictly admonished by my wife not to talk politics during the visit, since my daughter's boyfriend is a radical leftist. He, being a well-educated social science buff, and I, being who I am (a well-educated "right-wing nut job"), we had created many spectacular fireworks during past political debate sessions.

<p>WASHINGTON – The level of poverty in America is even worse than first believed.</p> <p>A revised formula for calculating medical costs and geographic variations show that approximately 47.4 million Americans last year lived in poverty, 7 million more than the government's official figure.</p>

Aided and abetted by imposters posing as authentic American citizens the United States of America has been taken over by an authentic dictator. How could so many millions of U. S. citizens just gently cede their heritage and birthright so easily; without more than a whimper? Assisted by genuine anti-American leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, actually elected by unknowing and uninformed lemmings, Barack Hussein Obama has surely seized the ultimate power of dictatorship and is making decisions not within the established authority of the office of President, which are opposed only by vocal chants from a gaggle of conservatives...

Welfare Revisited by: Allie Winegar Duzett, September 30, 2009 Senior Research Fellow on Domestic Policy at the Heritage Foundation Robert Rector said at the September 22, 2009 Conservative Bloggers Briefing that while some blame military expenses for bankrupting the United States, 2.5 times more money has been spent on the “war on poverty” than has been spent on the military in all of United States history. Rector went on to explain that Americans spend about $8 billion a year on the war on poverty; if there are 40 million poor in America, this means we spend about $20,000 per person...

Nearly a million poor people continue to be denied representation in the nation’s courts because legal aid clinics lack sufficient financing, a federally supported legal agency reported Tuesday. “There still exists a substantial justice gap in this country,” said Helaine M. Barnett, president of the nonprofit agency, the Legal Services Corporation, which receives appropriations from Congress to support more than 900 legal aid offices for low-income clients in civil cases across the country.

The plight of the poor has been a major bone of contention in the healthcare debate for months now. The morality of various approaches has also been hotly debated from all sides of the political universe – left, right, and middle. A recent statement I made at the National Press Club regarding abortion and what I called “a form of genocide” within the black community has sparked a great deal of controversy among clergy. In fact, I have been labeled by some African Americans as unconcerned about the needs of the poor. Nothing could be further from the truth. I...

In his new movie, Michael Moore calls capitalism evil and argues that it should be replaced by democracy, basically flipping the current arrangement so that the economy serves our political ends. A lot will be said, good and bad, about Capitalism: A Love Story, about Michael Moore and about the lives of the economic victims. Moore's real question is, does it serve us or do we serve it? It's supposed to serve us. It's supposed to have a point. We don't subject ourselves to the brutalities of a competitive economy because it's fun. We do it because we have a...

Most of the mobile homes in the U.S. are located in the south, where land is more plentiful, the weather is warmer, and rural poverty is higher. The region is home to over 56% of the mobile housing units in the U.S., according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2008 American Community Survey data released Monday. Specifically, two cities outside of Jacksonville, Fla., had the country's highest concentration of mobile homes, which are generally about 12-feet wide and include a kitchen, a living and dining area, and one or two smaller bedrooms. While mobile homes make up only 6.17% of the...

"Twenty years after the state began to address the problems faced by colonias — a byword for poor communities that lack basic infrastructure — bad water and sewage issues continue to plague them. Roads are rutted, and some toilets are known to flush into backyards, even if a homeowner is lucky to have a septic tank instead of an outhouse. Quality drinking water can be iffy. Even as colonias along the border have received assistance from state and federal officials, colonias here — near Corpus Christi — and in other parts of the state have historically been left out by...

"We're seeing the natural consequences of unbridled corporate power to reduce wages and benefits. That's why people are working two jobs and still cannot afford food." - Karen Nussbaum, a director with the AFL-CIO, as quoted by CNN in 2004. Source: Dr. Mark J. Perry, Professor of Economics at the University of Michigan, from his web site, Carpe Diem. Hoven's Index for September 23, 2009 Percentage of households classified as "poor" by the Census Bureau who have a color television: 97%. Percent of poor with air conditioning: 76%. Percent of poor who have cable or satellite TV: 62%. Percent of...

[On Sept. 16th Heritage scholar Robert Rector appeared on the Lou Dobbs Show and outlined the shocking results of his latest research about how Obama is rushing us into the complete welfare state.] Welfare or aid to poor and low-income persons is now the third most expensive government function. Its costs rank above spending on national defense. Welfare spending has grown enormously since Lyndon Johnson launched the War on Poverty. In his first two years in office, Obama will increase annual welfare spending by ONE-THIRD from $522 billion to $697 billion. After adjusting for inflation, this increase is two and...

ccording to statistics from the U.S. Census Bureau, the poverty rate is at an 11-year high while household incomes are at a 10-year low, all thanks to the worst recession since the Great Depression. The percentage of people living in poverty in the United States has jumped to 13.2 percent from 12.5 percent in 2007. This is the highest it has been since 1997. While 37.3 million Americans lived in poverty in 2007, the Census Bureau now places the number at 39.8 million. The Bureau considers the poverty level to be an annual income of $22,025 or less for a...

Despite the efforts restaurant chains from fast food to fine dining have made to add more-healthful items to the menu, consumers still aren’t buying. In a poll on chainleader.com, 82 percent of respondents say their better-for-you items are selling “lousy.” Recent research shows that customers cite economic factors as a reason for not purchasing healthful food—or as an excuse. Too Great a Cost Chicago-based foodservice consulting firm Technomic says its research shows the recession is hindering consumers’ healthy-eating behavior. Although more than half of consumers say they are more concerned about their eating habits than they were a year ago,...

Today, the U.S. Census Bureau will release its annual poverty report. The report is expected to show an increase in poverty in 2008 due to the onset of the recession. It is no surprise that poverty goes up in a recession. What is surprising is that every year for nearly three decades, in good economic times and bad, Census has reported more than 30 million Americans living in poverty. What does it mean to be “poor” in America? For the average reader, the word poverty implies significant physical hardship — for example, the lack of a warm, adequate home, nutritious...

The poverty rate among older Americans could be nearly twice as high as the traditional 10 percent level, according to a revision of a half-century-old formula for calculating medical costs and geographic variations in the cost of living. The National Academy of Science's formula, which is gaining credibility with public officials including some in the Obama administration, would put the poverty rate for Americans 65 and over at 18.6 percent, or 6.8 million people, compared with 9.7 percent, or 3.6 million people, under the existing measure. The original government formula, created in 1955, doesn't take account of rising costs of...

Yesterday at monument square in Portland, liberal envirowackos from all over Maine rallied to shrill for lower standards of living for Maine residents in the name of the greenhouse myth, not to mention helping the government grow bigger and take away more of our hard earned money. The rally, which featured city council members, teamsters, America hating communists and others also circulated petitions calling for green energy in Maine, cap and trade and green jobs. The truth is that Maine is already strangled by environmental regulations against the economy. WE told you a year ago about a plan to build...

IMAGINE GETTING A bee sting; then imagine getting six more. You are now in a position to think about what it means to be poor, according to Charles Karelis, a philosopher and former president of Colgate University. In the community of people dedicated to analyzing poverty, one of the sharpest debates is over why some poor people act in ways that ensure their continued indigence. Compared with the middle class or the wealthy, the poor are disproportionately likely to drop out of school, to have children while in their teens, to abuse drugs, to commit crimes, to not save when...

Ask a liberal how to help the less fortunate, and they will surely respond with government assistance, welfare, social programs like WIC, medicare, etc. Ask a conservative, and you will likely get a different answer. What is that answer? Enable that person to earn for themselves, and pull themselves out of their financial troubles. How? I'll tell you. Lower taxes. I know the poorest people in this country don't pay taxes, so it seems as if that won't help them directly, but think bigger. If you lower taxes across the board, you give more money back to small businesses, and...

Charles Davenport: Too many fatherless children Sunday, August 23, 2009 By Charles Davenport Jr.Freelance When a young man was shot to death three weeks ago at Hickory Trails in Greensboro, this newspaper's editorial board declared the broad-daylight killing "unacceptable." Rightly so. "Also inexcusable," the editors continued, "is the neglect by the institutions responsible for the safety and welfare of the residents of this public housing complex."Those who dig deeper into this and other senseless killings, said the editors, will find that "the stories get darker: gangs, drugs, guns and fear."Nudged and nearly trampled by an unacknowledged elephant in the room,...

Evil political wizard Karl Rove seems to be tasting blood. His analyzes the president's stuff for Obamacare in the Wall Street Journal and concludes that the pitcher is in a jam. There are no polling data or focus groups on earth that can help Mr. Obama out of this jam. He has set in motion events he appears unable to control and commitments he cannot keep. It can't be that bad. With his stratospheric intelligence (especially compared to the notoriously deficient President Bush) the president's supporters can still be confident that he'll pull a rabbit out of a hat. The...

For the next several days, I will publish letters and Essays by Vladamir Lenin On the United States. Examine Bolshevik views on the US way of life and free market. I hope you all find it very interesting Marxism and the American General Redistribution In Issue 15 of Vperyod April 20th 1905, Vladimir Lenin discusses Marx's views of America's founding and on land distribution....The year was not 1848 as erroneously stated in the article by Comrade-, but 1846. Herman Krige, a Co-worker of Marx and at the time a very young man, had gone to America in 1845 and there...

AMES, Iowa -- As a new mother herself, Brenda Lohman admits to being shocked by the results of a new study she co-authored. It found that among nearly 1,000 low-income families in three major cities, one in four children between the ages of 11 and 16 reported having sex, with their first sexual intercourse experience occurring at the average age of 12.77. "So if 12 years was the average age here, that meant that some kids were starting at 10 or younger," said Lohman, an Iowa State University associate professor of human development and family studies (HDFS). "A handful of...

Federal funding hinges on definition of poor households Members of the U.S. Congress are seeking to update the federal “poverty threshold” and measure figures that determine at what income level a household is considered poor. Backers say the change will more accurately define poverty in America and show that the current measure underestimates the problem. Opponents say the change is an attempt to raise support for wasteful spending on social services. The “poverty threshold” — the line by which people’s incomes are measured to determine their economic status — is what the federal government uses to determine who receives how...

Hands Out by: Evan Sumortin, August 10, 2009 The welfare state has perpetuated its own disaster: more people than ever are voluntarily poor, young men increasingly reach adulthood unprepared for work even when there are jobs available, poor young women are having more babies without husbands, and poor children are growing up with incompetent parents. The welfare state has created a society that is filled with social as well as economic problems that can’t be solved under the current system. In his 2006 book, In Our Hands, Charles Murray proposed overarching changes in the governmental system, which he conveniently titled...

Poverty in Our Cities. City, State, % of People Below the Poverty Level 1. Detroit , MI 32.5% 2. Buffalo , NY 29.9% 3. Cincinnati , OH 27.8% 4. Cleveland , OH 27.0% 5. Miami , FL 26.9% 6. St. Louis , MO 26.8% 7. El Paso , TX 26.4% 8. Milwaukee , WI 26.2% 9. Philadelphia , PA 25.1% 10. Newark , NJ 24.2% U.S. Census Bureau, 2006 American Community Survey, August 2007 What do the top ten cities (over 250,000) with the highest poverty rate all have in common? Detroit , MI (1st on the poverty rate list)...

If there is a poor man among your brothers in any of the towns of the land that the LORD your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs.... Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the LORD your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward...

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Heifer International has opened a $7.5 million museum at its Little Rock headquarters to illustrate the work it does around the world to help impoverished people feed themselves. The museum, called Heifer Village, opened in June and will add an important element to Heifer educational programs, which demonstrate the charity's mission to provide animals and training so the world's poor can have sustainable nutrition. Narrative elements run through the museum's exhibits, showing the effects that fair trade, clean water or mosquito netting can have. Under a ceiling of rich, amber-stained wood, natural light falls on the...

People from Mississippi are fat. With an adult obesity rate of 33%, Mississippi gobbled its way to the "chubbiest state" crown for the fifth year in a row, according to a new joint report by Trust For America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Alabama, West Virginia, and Tennessee aren't far behind, with obesity rates over 30%. In fact, eight out of the 10 fattest states are in the South. The region famous for its biscuits, barbecue and pecan pies has been struggling with its weight for years — but then again, so has the rest of the country....

... In view of the gloomy employment report last week, economists are debating whether to increase stimulus funds over all. But in a side argument, poverty experts are also asking whether elements of the package aimed at the most vulnerable Americans should be extended beyond their scheduled expiration in two years or even made permanent. The new safety-net study found that federal aid programs had helped tens of millions of Americans stay afloat in recent years, especially those with low-end jobs who benefited from rising tax credits. Going into the recession that began in late 2007, however, “the safety net...

One of the baffling issues to me has been the argument by Democrats against making English the official language of the United States. President Obama displayed his commitment to Hispanic Americans by appointing Justice Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. If he really cares about immigrants and the poor, he would make English our official language and assure that all people learn to speak it in the United States. I have had the good fortune of travelling to a vast part of the world. The people we encounter almost everywhere we have traveled speak English. I’m not referring only to hotel...

To many on the outside, Germany looks like a big, rich country enjoying the benefits of being Europe's largest economy. Inside, Germans know that looks can be deceiving. As in any nation, parts of Germany suffer from poverty, and Germans have always assumed they knew which parts: the west is rich and the east is poor. But a new report reveals the truth isn't that simple. The wealth imbalance in Germany isn't just between east and west; there are also large regional differences between the country's north and south. And across the country there are pockets of poverty more crushing...

You have to be rich to be poor. That's what some people who have never lived below the poverty line don't understand. Put it another way: The poorer you are, the more things cost. More in money, time, hassle, exhaustion, menace. This is a fact of life that reality television and magazines don't often explain. So we'll explain it here. Consider this a primer on the economics of poverty. "The poor pay more for a gallon of milk; they pay more on a capital basis for inferior housing," says Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.). "The poor and 100 million who are...

The $787-billion economic-stimulus plan signed by Pres. Barack Obama contained an often-overlooked section — $150 million for food banks and other organizations that provide food to people in need. Responding to reports that food banks were running out of provisions because of rising unemployment and higher food costs, Congress intervened to help stock the shelves. But taxpayers — the people paying for Congress’s charitable endeavors — should know that not all of these organizations are suffering. Some are even able to throw food away. Last month, Michelle Obama visited Miriam’s Kitchen, which serves the homeless in Washington, D.C. She ladled...

Christian Children's Fund is changing its name to ChildFund International. The board of directors of the worldwide relief organization voted this week on the change as part of a new strategy. The new name aims to reflect the charity's worldwide reach and its affiliation with the ChildFund Alliance, a coalition that includes 11 other international organizations that help children living in poverty. Chief executive Anne Lyman Goddard said Friday that the name change, which takes effect July 1, will standardize the ChildFund name globally among groups that work to connect donors to programs that help children. "Now working under different...

LONDON – Joblessness and poverty are a more potent source of tension between Muslims and wider European and U.S. society than religious differences, one of the first major studies of Muslim integration since the Sept. 11 terror attacks claimed on Thursday. Attacks by Islamic extremists on the United States, and European capitals like Madrid and London, have sparked debate about whether a failure of Muslims to integrate into Western society has fueled extremism and created divisions between communities. But a study of around 10,000 people in 27 countries by the Gallup polling company claims non-Muslims — including the public and...

It has been nine months since former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) put his megaphone down, stopped talking about the "moral shame" of 37 million Americans who live in poverty every day, and started addressing his own "moral shame." Since John confessed on ABC's "Nightline" to his affair with campaign videographer Rielle Hunter, there has been a slow drip of stories: from timeline inconsistencies to Rielle's move from Santa Barbara back to New Jersey. And now a federal grand jury is looking into whether or not the campaign used money to cover up his affair. Most of America had forgotten about...

One of the more radical solutions to the country's housing market woes is the "homesteading" -- or, if you prefer, squatting -- that housing advocacy groups have proposed as a high-profile answer to bank foreclosures. Housing group ACORN has launched a campaign of civil disobedience in which people forced out by foreclosure break in and move back into their homes. Home break-ins are a limited, symbolic and probably ill-advised answer to the nation's housing troubles, but the homesteaders have a point: It is bizarre that houses should stand empty in places where poverty and unemployment are rising. It's not just...

The jailers of the 19th century — even in the pre-Civil War South — largely abandoned the practice of imprisoning people for falling into debt as counterproductive and ultimately barbaric. In the 1970s and ’80s, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed that incarcerating people who can’t pay fines because of poverty violates the U.S. Constitution. Apparently, though, some states and county jails never got the memo. Welcome to the debtors’ prisons of the 21st century. “Edwina Nowlin, a poor Michigan resident, was ordered to reimburse a juvenile detention center $104 a month for holding her 16-year-old son,” the New York Times...

Anyone looking at my blueprint for a happy life composed at 27 would think I was the wisest young woman in England. Indeed, when I was an executive with Anglia Television Drama at that relatively youthful age, colleagues would come to me for advice on long-term investment. I knew that behind my back they were making cracks about “Jews are always the best with money” but it did not faze me. I seemed to have planned for a prosperous future. Just before she died, when I was 35, my mother said, “I’m not worried about you. One day you are...

WASHINGTON – The global economic crisis threatens to reverse gains in fighting poverty, so banks that provide aid to poor nations must embrace changes in their operations, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Sunday. Those development banks are at the forefront of efforts to eradicate poverty and promote sustainable growth, he said the World Bank's policy-setting board. "We cannot afford to lose time or lose ground," Geithner said. At the same time, he said it was important for the banks to conduct their aid business in the open. They must face reviews to ensure they have enough money and are promoting...

The following came from a blog called sperlings best places concerning a person who moved from Boston Taxachewsets to the communist dictatorship of Maine. Well... Get a load of what he had to say...The cost of living in Maine is very high. I moved to Biddeford from Boston so we could afford to buy our first home. We had just had a baby and felt it was important to ground the baby in a more permanent home environment and to build a life for her. We had a time constraint of finding and moving into home within a 2 month...

BBC correspondent Matthew Price continues his journey across America, and reports from Chicago, Barack Obama's home town, where African American community leaders fear the recession is dragging down their communities more than most. On the south side of Chicago, in the back room of a house, on an old hospital bed, an elderly woman lies sound asleep. Her head is to one side on the pillow. Her mouth is slightly open as she breaths. BBC correspondent Matthew Price is travelling across the US, reporting from a new city every day, to assess the state of the economy as President Obama...

Top 10……Poverty in Our Major Cities City, State, % of People Below the Poverty Level 1. Detroit , MI 32.5% 2. Buffalo , NY 29.9% 3. Cincinnati , OH 27.8% 4. Cleveland , OH 27.0% 5. Miami , FL 26.9% 5. St. Louis , MO 26.8% 7. El Paso , TX 26.4% 8. Milwaukee , WI 26.2% 9. Philadelphia , PA 25.1% 10. Newark , NJ 24.2% U.S. Census Bureau, 2006 American Community Survey, August 2007 What do the top ten cities (over 250,000) with the highest poverty rate all have in common? Detroit, MI (1st on the poverty rate...

Growing numbers of children of illegal immigrants are being born in this country, and they are nearly twice as likely to live in poverty than those with American-born parents... Overall, illegal immigrants' children account for one of every 15 students in kindergarten through 12th grade. In 2008, California had the most illegal immigrants at 2.7 million, double its 1990 number, followed by Texas, Florida, New York and New Jersey.

Growing numbers of children of illegal immigrants are being born in this country, and they are nearly twice as likely to live in poverty than those with American-born parents, a report says. The study released Tuesday by the Pew Hispanic Center highlights a growing dilemma in the immigration debate: Illegal immigrants' children born in the United States are American citizens, yet they struggle in poverty and uncertainty along with parents who fear deportation, toil largely in low-wage jobs and face layoffs in an ailing economy. The analysis by Pew, a nonpartisan research organization, found that the nation's estimated 11.9 million...

It�s tough to get a job when you can�t prove who you are. Colorado Springs resident Kevin Dobkins knows. He said his identification documents were lost more than a year ago, and he has been homeless since. �You can�t do anything without an ID,� Dobkins said. �You�re out of luck, you�re nobody, you don�t exist.� The 36-year-old is among a growing number of legal residents feeling the effects of an effort to stop illegal immigrants from receiving government benefits. Homeless people are especially hard hit, advocates say.