World Hunger and Poverty

Large organizations cannot end poverty, at least not by themselves. They can’t do it right for the same reasons big public schools cannot correctly raise children. The children each need their own parents who can meet their individual needs, and similarly we need to fight poverty on a local, grassroots level.
We will never find a […]

The Daily Times published an article about recent poverty data from the US Census Bureau. I include an excerpt:
More than one in ten Americans, or 36.5 million people, live in poverty in the United States, with children and blacks the worst hit, an annual report by the US Census Bureau showed Tuesday.
According to the report, […]

Today, I read the most interesting article about poverty that I’ve read in a long time. In the recent article, Steven Pearlstein explains the ideas of Charles Karelis in regards to the seemingly counterintuitive behaviors common to poor people. I include an excerpt:
The reason the poor are poor is that they are more likely to […]

Michael Stetz recently wrote an article about how the housing crisis adds to the poverty picture in the United States. I include an excerpt:
Nationally, more people are losing their homes because of the subprime mortgage meltdown. Wages have been flat. We feel fortunate to pay 3 bucks for a gallon of gas.
A growing number of […]

A recent editorial in the Washington Post explained how the Bush administration has tried to preempt debate about federally sponsored health insurance for children. I include an excerpt:
States were told this month that they will no longer be allowed to enroll children whose families earn above 250 percent of the poverty level unless they can […]

In a recent blog on The Huffington Post, Linda Seger wrote about poverty in the United States.
I don’t like the partisanship of the article. I don’t like seeing this important issue dragged into the hell of bipolar politics.
Nonetheless, I like the way the author of the article personalizes poverty through a second-person narrative, in which […]

Throwing money at the problem won’t work. In fact, it can make matters worse. Some major charities unwittingly undermine local markets by temporarily flooding them with low-priced goods. For example, by flooding a market with free or under-priced food, the local farmers and food sellers can’t compete and go out of business. Thus it goes […]

Laurie Copoans recently wrote an article about how West Bank poverty spawns child beggars. I include an excerpt:
Israel’s massive barrier of walls and fences separating it from the West Bank has made it harder for adult laborers to enter Israel, so families wracked by poverty are increasingly sending their children instead.
Children as young as 3 […]

Shockingly, big companies like Walmart and Home Depot have announced low sales and financial losses. The reason? They say that their customers do not have enough money to spend. Inflation, high interest rates, and a failing housing market have taken away middle class America’s spending money, and may mark an oncoming economic recession; this in […]

An August 8th Boston Globe editorial explored the idea of a future without homelessness. I include an excerpt:
WE DON’T have to study homelessness,” state Representative Byron Rushing says of a new state commission that he proposed to address the issue; good research is already available.
Instead, the commission has to answer two questions. What kind of […]