Poverty went through the roof during the Obama administration (i.e. Baltimore)

Here is an amazing and depressing video from the BBC.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39122283

25% of the people of Baltimore are living in poverty and there is more violence there than in Chicago (a city known for gun violence).

For 8 years President Obama was highly respected by the newspapers and TV networks in the USA. He was considered a saint in Hollywood. Over his 8 years, however, the situation for poor and black folks became worse and worse. These were the folks who voted for Obama, and these were the folks who suffered the most under him.

Here is another incredible video about poverty in Baltimore:

Homelessness in New York City is getting ridiculous - 50,000 +

{{{Scott Stringer is a politician who wants to be mayor - leader of NY City - and he wrote to a NY newspaper about homelessness in NY City}}}

America never had a homeless problem until President Ronald Reagan decided to support businesses in America and cut services to the poor (in the 1980s).

Now we have over 50,000 homeless people living in city shelters in NY City - the 'greatest' city in the world and one of the 'wealthiest' cities in the world.

Scott Stringer is a politician in New York City who wants to become mayor (the leader of the city). He wrote this letter to the Daily News to attack the current mayor and to try to show that he can help end the homeless problem in NY City.

Here's an article about this (Stringer's letter to the newspaper - Stringer is currently the NY City Comptroller...it is his job to make sure money is spent properly in NY City):

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/scott-stringer-hands-deck-homelessness-article-1.2349456

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

all hands on deck - this is a term from the Navy meaning - we have a crisis, everyone needs to get involved!

sustained economic recovery - a recovery which is lasting; yet, how can you have a recovery and 50,000 homeless people at the same time? Whom is the 'recovery' benefiting?

a shelter - a building owned by the government where homeless people can sleep safely (although it's not always safe in government shelters)

head to their school - go to their schools

with one hand tied behind their backs - meaning they will have some difficulties learning because they are experiencing trouble in regard to housing

to blame someone - to say that someone has done something wrong

catastrophe - a horrible situation

slashed funding - cut funding, reduced funding

balked - showed hesitation 

a rental assistance program - giving money to people to pay their rent

a unforeseeable emergency - the people who run the city are acting as if they had no idea this problem was happening

the blame game - I didn't do this - you did this!  What? Me? No way - you did this!

soared - increased

ample - enough

eviction - to be thrown out of your home because you can't pay rent

root causes - what is really causing homelessness

ad hoc - temporary

piecemeal - not thorough, an approach that just does a little here and a little there

lax oversight and quality control - nobody is making sure people are safe and nobody seems to be in charge or in control of the quality

rat-infested hovels - really dirty places that have rats (they are like mice but bigger - dirty little animals with long tails)

to be off the table - to be out of consideration

facilitating - making easier

foreclosure - when a bank takes away a house because a person couldn't pay a monthly fee for it

leverage assets - use assets

boosting - increasing

an audit - an investigation

a spectrum - a range of things

vacant - empty

1/3 of US children live in poverty

Poverty is the condition of not having enough money to live up to decent or acceptable standards. It's hard to define exactly how much money a person needs in order not to be in poverty, but UNICEF has created a standard by which to judge whether people in a country are living in poverty or not.

According to the UNICEF standard, 1/3 of US children live in poverty. The US is 36th out of 41 'developed' countries that were tested.

I think this is because the US government is good at providing free services, free food, free housing, free medical care etc., but it is not good at helping people to help themselves. The Democrats get people to vote for them by giving out free things and the Republicans just want to take free things away from people. There is no middle ground of useful answers in the USA - it's all politics.

This article is from last year, but it is worth reading:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2014/10/29/child-poverty-in-the-u-s-is-among-the-worst-in-the-developed-world/

Vocabulary from the article:

the developed world - I am not sure how they determine 'developed' versus 'undeveloped' countries, but developed countries would be countries with a strong business sector, I am guessing.

The US ranks near the bottom - to rank a series of things is to place them from first to last

the pack - the group, in this case

Let that sink in - basically the writer is saying this is so shocking you should think about it and absorb this or understand this deeply

pegs - establishes

more alarmingly - an alarm goes off when something is wrong, so more alarmingly means the writer is pointing out something even worse than he pointed out before

benchmarking - establishing; so the writer points out its really difficult to establish an amount of money under which a person can be considered to live in poverty.

former, latter - the latter is the last thing mentioned, the former is the thing mentioned before the latter thing

vulnerable - those who can be hurt easily

Poverty in the USA

Here is an article that discusses how many people in the USA are suffering because of the bad economy. There are many good vocabulary words in this article.

The article:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/exclusive-4-5-us-face-175906005.html

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

gloomy - pessimistic, depressed, not looking forward to any positive change (not optimistic)

4 in 5 or 4 out of 5 - this is 80%. ---> 4/5

poverty - a term for being poor, or for not having much money

a shift - a change

reliance - if you rely on something, you need this thing for your survival. 

welfare - money from the government

deteriorating - if something is deteriorating, it is getting worse.

elusive - hard to find, hard to catch.  An elusive American dream means it is hard for people in the USA, at this time, to be able to reach their goals.

survey data - a survey is when a number of people are questioned about a topic.

exclusive to - that means only The Associated Press was able to get this data.

a trend - the way things are going or developing.

renew - start again

a ladder -

to reverse - to make something the opposite of what it is

affirmative action - this is a policy the government uses to make sure that people of color (blacks and Latinos) receive extra help.  For instance, if the government has a contract with a company, the government may say: "You will lose this contract if you do not hire x number of blacks and Latinos." Affirmative means 'positive.'

a barrier - something that divides one area from another, or in this case one group of people from another.

an impediment - an obstacle, something that stops a person from moving forward.

hardship - difficulty, adversity

declining coal region - work and profits are dropping in this coal region.

a stand - this is a little structure from which people can sell things.

disability checks - if the government feels that a person has a physical or psychological problem that stops him/her from working, the government will give this person 'disability' payments. A check is a piece of paper that can be exchanged for money.

poverty - being extremely poor.

disparities - differences

pervasive - all over the place.  If something is pervasive, you can find it easily.

economic insecurity - fear due to the economy

engulfing - this is a poor/bad word choice for this article. To engulf something is to, basically, eat something.

a gauge - a measurement tool.

periodic - occasional

in decline - dropping, decreasing

life expectancy - how long a person expects to live.

alienation - the feeling that you are all alone and that nobody will help you

lingering - continuing...if something lingers, it won't disappear.

the recession - the slowed-down economy

predominant - the most occurring.  Basically he is saying that because there are more white people than Latino or black people, there are more poor whites than blacks or Latinos.

destitute - extremely poor

plentiful - a lot

to speculate on - to think about

a produce stand - a place where fruits and vegetables can be sold (produce = fruits and vegetables)

$10 to our name - this is slang. To have $10 to your name means that you just have $10.  That's all the money you have.

insecure - the feeling that you are not safe

mainstream /fringe - if something is mainstream, it is happening to average people. If something is fringe, it is happening to a few people who are not part of the majority.

surpassed - went beyond

biannual - every two years

working class - when sociologists talk about social class in America, they usually refer to the upper class, middle class, lower class, working class and under class.  Working class people are very poor.  They are working but not making much.

plight - problems

to urge - to encourage

infrastructure - everything a society needs to survive: roads, highways, electricity, water systems, bridges etc.