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Supposedly the ‘wealthiest’ nation in the world, the USA certainly has a wealth of problems that it does not seem very effective at fixing. No problem is as glaring or offensive for a country that boasts of its greatness than its lack of concern for the underprivileged. From drug and disease epidemics, to gun violence and inadequate government support, the poor in the USA disproportionately suffer more from these characteristically American scourges, but are dismissed by more affluent people as being contributing causes or at least significant parts of the problems, rather than being treated as the undeserving victims of a callous, materialistic and inherently unequal society that they really are. The article from the Guardian catalogues the visit to the USA from the UN’s special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights two years ago, and the New York Times piece is an interactive tour documenting one of the slums of California this year. The pictures presented are both grim and shameful, and yet the situation is made even more reprehensible when juxtaposed with the US$2 trillion tax cuts for wealthy businesses and individuals that Donald Trump’s administration has passed. Famous for his derogatory comments about “$#!%hole countries”, the president of the USA would benefit from taking a closer look at his own failed state. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/12/17/us/oakland-california-homeless-camp.html https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/dec/15/america-extreme-poverty-un-special-rapporteur |
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