America, the land of opportunity, is where people have come from all over the world for a chance at tapping into its gold mines. For most there is disappointment, for others it's a better life.
When we stop to look at how class plays into American society, the results are frightening. Many would like to assume that classism never really existed in America and that racism and sexism have been eradicated. This is far from the truth if you look close enough.
Poverty-stricken America is well hidden in our society, at least from the ruling class. The top fifth of the population received half of all household income last year and the poorest fifth got 3.5 percent. Every day, Americans die due to poverty. This is hardly irreversible, especially when $31 billion of food goes to waste each year with 130 pounds per person ending up in landfills. This is ridiculous.
New Haven, Conn., home of Yale University, is a city with the same infant mortality rate as Malaysia and serious problems with AIDS. New Haven's \tent city"" was established recently when a homeless overflow shelter was closed down by authorities. It is the fourth poorest city in America, even though it is the home of a university worth $11 billion. New Haven is also the birthplace of President Bush.
Connecticut is also well known as the richest state, with more millionaires than any other. Ask someone living in the ""tent city"" and see how they feel about that statement. The situation of New Haven is a typical example of what we are beginning to find throughout America and can be considered a microcosm of a much larger problem.
In recent years, we've seen record increases in poverty. The middle class is gradually disappearing and there are now 33 million people below the official poverty line of $18,104 a year for a family of four. The hardest hit have been children, whose rate of poverty is worse than the rate in 19 ""rich"" countries.
Plans to fight poverty in America don't seem to exist. The current Bush administration seems to be fixated completely on war in Iraq. We spend so much time trying to build our empire outside our borders that we forget to take care of our own people. According to the Bush administration, more tax breaks will help, which were given last year. The top 1 percent must've felt it because most of us barely got enough back to go out for dinner.
The rate of poverty in this country is at a dangerous level, and so far there is no light at the end of the tunnel. The Republicans got a hold of the country with only one in six Americans behind them. Elections, as always, didn't get much of a turnout. Maybe we'll have some more tax breaks for the rich and a few pennies will trickle down to the people.
We are seeing some of the worst conditions in a long time. The working class and poor are getting the worst end of it. Since jobs have been getting scarcer, there has been an increase in temporary jobs to alleviate the economic obligation of a permanent job. Most temporary workers don't get any benefits, can't join a union and are paid poverty wages.
Wisconsin's statewide system of limited-term employees continues to put many people in dead-end jobs where they can only hope every year to get converted to a permanent position. These jobs usually start pay at about $7 an hour and usually don't go over $8.50, hardly a living wage. Even the UW System uses the LTE classification to maximize its profits. There have been plenty of cases where workers have been ""temporary"" for five, 10 even 20 years before becoming converted to permanent or fired.
As long as the people continue to ignore cases like these, where people are blatantly thrown around based on the needs of a corporation or university, we will continue to live in a society segregated by class.
