Extreme Poverty in US Is a Political Choice by Those in Power

Rasa - The United Nations has just released a scathing report condemning President Donald Trump and the GOP for “deliberately” driving up already devastating inequality in the United States.

News ID: 438080

Date: 05 June 2018 - 22:57

RNA - The damning report states that “in a rich country like the United States, the persistence of extreme poverty is a political choice made by those in power.”

This is not something new. For decades, the United States has had among the worst levels of inequality, poverty, and infant mortality of all wealthy nations. What’s new is that this is deliberate; that Trump and the GOP-controlled Congress are "deliberately" working to make these already devastating crises worse by waging war on the poor while lavishing the rich with massive tax cuts.

According to the Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, "About 40 million Americans live in poverty, 18.5 million in extreme poverty, and 5.3 million live in Third World conditions of absolute poverty." If this is not a systematic attack on the poor by deliberately undermining the social safety net for those who can't cope on their own, then what is?!

Under these brutal policies, millions of Americans, specially people of colour, have almost no access to healthcare, forcing the UN to call Trump and Republican policies the "ruination" of millions of American lives. In consequence, many citizens live shorter and sicker lives compared to those living in all other rich countries, eradicable tropical diseases are increasingly prevalent, and it has the world's highest incarceration rate.

This makes no sense at all. The US is home to over 25 percent of the world's 2,208 billionaires. And such wealth stands in shocking contrast with the conditions in which vast numbers of its citizens live. What’s more, inequality in the US has been rising rapidly for around five decades. The Trump administration's policies - particularly its $1.5 trillion in tax cuts to the rich and large corporation seem deliberately designed to remove basic protections from the poorest, punish those who are not in employment, and make even basic healthcare into a privilege to be earned rather than a right of citizenship.

The message from working people and their poor families is loud and clear. America cannot spend billions of dollars on foreign wars while its own people are starving. One of the wealthiest and most powerful countries in the world cannot simply shower its Military-Industrial Complex and allies with billions of dollars in tax cuts, free weapons and regime-change military campaigns while poor American workers continue with poverty and poverty wages that make it nearly impossible to make ends meet.

We are talking about a country that has just allocated over $700 billion to the Pentagon regime to wage new wars and given huge tax breaks to the powerful gun lobbies, pro-Israel and pro-Saudi lobbies, and the Wall Street rich kids from the poor tax payers. We are talking about an economy that works for the War Party and a handful of Zionist groups and billionaires.

It’s time for the people of America to shame the Trump White House for policies that actively increase poverty and inequality in the US. There is no moral justification for some making billions of dollars while millions of workers are going hungry.

The consequences of neglecting poverty and promoting inequality are clear for the rest of the world as well. Trump’s “America First” policies and trade wars against enemies and friends alike have destabilized the entire planet. From Asia to Europe to North America, Trump’s so-called allies are desperate to understand why they have to go through all this chaos.

According to Fars News Agancy, this is emblematic of the whole American system. Trump’s policies pursued over the past few weeks seem deliberately designed to make America’s rich richer while removing basic protections from even Canada and NATO allies, punish those who are not in line with America’s expansionist policies in the Middle East, and make even basic health care into a privilege to be earned rather than a right of citizenship in the US.

If you watch closely and spare a thought, such policies, which the Trumpsters claim are bereft of prejudice and menace, are poison to any living goal. The good news is that the world is fighting back. The people of good conscience in the United States should fight back too. The Trumpsters are openly challenging their basic human rights and they need to fight back to change the rules.

US citizens should relish this opportunity Trump’s indiscriminate policies open to force their government to change course or face consequences. If not, they should make political statements and figure out how to achieve the objectives of a democratic system that’s based upon the principles of human rights, justice and equality.

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