Jewish Poverty Rate in the U.S. Higher Than in Israel

I just read a Haaretz.com article about Jewish poverty in the United States. The article points out that the U.S. has a higher Jewish poverty rate than Israel. That means that a higher percentage of the United States’ Jewish population lives in poverty than Israel’s Jewish population.

This news may shock some people because they think of the United States as the richest country in the world. It shocked me because I know Israel has a very high poverty rate.

Reading the article, I found out that, while Israel has a 24% poverty rate, half of the poor people in Israel are not Jewish.

The UJC estimates that 15 to 20 of Jewish people in the United States live in poverty.

Why do you think so many Jewish people face poverty in the United States? What do you think of the fact that the United States has a higher Jewish poverty rate than Israel? Tell us your answers to those questions and more in this thread at the Hunger and Poverty Forums. It’s completely free, and all viewpoints are welcome.

CROP Hunger Walks in the United States

I just found an article that Kathryn McConnell wrote in October about Crop Hunger Walks in 2007.

Church World Service sponsors these walks. Like most charity walks and marathons, walkers get donations from people for walking. Of course, the walks themselves become major local events, which raises awareness about world hunger and poverty. People who hear about the event or attend may also donate. Additionally, raising awareness will spark action.

According to CWS, over 2,000 of these CROP Hunger Walks will have taken place in 2007. I assume that number does not include other types of charity marathons for world hunger or poverty.

I commend both the people who participate in these types of events as well as those who organize them. I hope they raise a lot of funds for the fight against world hunger. I also hope that they enjoy themselves and feel good.

If you know of any upcoming world hunger walks or marathons, or if you want to organize one, come tell us about it in the Hunger and Poverty Forums. It’s completely free, and all viewpoints are welcome.

FoodShare Volunteers

Today while at community service, I worked with a group of volunteers from Bank of America. I know they are Bank of America employees because they all wore red “Bank of America” t-shirts. They also told me so. 🙂

Perhaps only a few local Bank of America employees organized that volunteering. Of course, having employees volunteer in the community can help a business. Most of all, it can improve the reputation of the business. Beyond that, it can help get publicity and it can increase employee morale.

If you own or manage a business, consider helping your employees organize a volunteer day, where they go volunteer at a local nonprofit.

Vocabulary Fights World Hunger

I found out about a neat website today. FreeRice.com lets you improve your vocabulary and fight world hunger at the same time. The service is both fun and free.

On the website, you try to choose the correct definition for a word. For each word you get correctly, they donate 10 grains of rice to the UN’s World Food Program. It supposedly works by using advertising revenue to fund the donations, but I did not see any ads on the site.

I do not know how well FreeRice.com will work out, but I commend them for their originality. We need this type of originality. The old ways of fighting world hunger and poverty have not worked. World hunger and poverty still plague our world. We need to think of new ideas. Help think up new ideas at the Hunger and Poverty Forums. It’s completely free, and all viewpoints are welcome.

Near-Panic Atmosphere As Federal Reserve Chairman Testifies

I just read a disheartening article about Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke’s bleak outlook on the American economy. I include an excerpt:

On Thursday, one day after American stock markets plummeted in the face of mounting bank losses, soaring oil prices and record lows for the US dollar, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke gave a gloomy economic forecast in testimony before Congress’ Joint Economic Committee.

Bernanke admitted that the US housing slump and the credit crisis resulting from soaring defaults of subprime mortgages had worsened since credit markets froze last August, and predicted that US economic growth would fall sharply in the fourth quarter of 2007 and the beginning of 2008.

He said the housing crisis would worsen in the coming months, as millions of homeowners with adjustable rate mortgages faced sharply higher interest payments when new rates kicked in, and hinted that the crisis on Wall Street could spiral into a full-blown recession.

[…]

“I’m very concerned that there may be a bigger storm on the horizon. Quite frankly, I think we are at a moment of economic crisis stemming from four key areas: falling housing prices, lack of confidence in credit-worthiness, the weak dollar and high oil prices. Each of these problems alone would be enough of a threat to our economic well-being. But taken together, they are essentially the four horsemen of economic crisis…”

Even during periods of so-called economic progress in the United States, the working class struggles with poverty. Approximately 40% of U.S. people fall into poverty during any 10 year period. Millions of working people live in poverty in the United States. Millions of college graduates live in poverty in the United States. Not only do millions of U.S. children live in poverty, but millions face hunger.

I do not want to even imagine what would happen during a U.S. economic recession!

Worst yet, the Federal Reserve is privately-owned. It works for the interests of the rich. When the economy goes downhill, they will hang the working-class out to dry to protect the status and assets of the rich.

Without reliable credit, the typical American will lose their car, their home, and most of their other possessions. The typical debt-ridden American can afford little without a credit card.

I urge everyone reading this to make smart financial decisions. Use self-control, and consider the long-term effects of your choices. Let’s try to save our money, and try to avoid succumbing to impulsive desires to purchase needless material goods. Also, remember to diversify your savings and investments. In an economic crisis, even seemingly secure investments can go under. Consider the people who lost all the money they had in the bank during the Great Depression when the banks failed.

Discuss the current economic situation, personal budgeting, and related issues in the Hunger and Poverty Forums. We need you to share your knowledge and opinions. It’s completely free, and all viewpoints are welcome.

World Hunger and Poverty RSS Feed

I want to make sure that you all know that this blog has an RSS feed. Here is the URL of this blog’s RSS feed:

http://millionsofmouths.com/blog/nfblog/wp-rss2.php

If you do not know what an RSS feed is, let me tell you. It is a form of internet syndication. Users can subscribe to RSS feeds, and then they can see the newest posts from these feeds through an RSS feed reader. This allows them to conveniently keep up with new posts from many different websites.

I personally use Google Reader to read RSS subscriptions. For those of you new to RSS, I found a simple service that will allow you to read an RSS feed as an email newsletter. Simply go to Rssfwd.com and enter the RSS URL into the form. (That is the URL from above.) Then, you can put in your email address and choose how often to receive updates.

Please subscribe to this blog’s RSS feed. Thank you!