© ean Proctor/The Flint Journal-MLive.com via AP, FileIn this Jan. 9, 2016 file photo, Michigan State Representatives Shelton Neeley, left, and Phil Phelps, right, address people during a rally to talk about the water crisis in Flint, Mich. Ever since the full extent of the Flint water crisis emerged, one question has loomed above all others: Would this have happened in a wealthier, whiter community?
Almost 63 percent of America's work-eligible poor are working. Many of the remainder are plagued by a real unemployment rate that is two to five times higher than the official rate, as Congress has continually thwarted job creation proposals.
Immigrants comprise 13 percent of the population, but make up 28 percent of the small business owners.
Poor families don't waste money. Two-thirds of their income is consumed by housing, food, transportation, health care, and insurance.
A study of 18 European countries found "increasing employment commitment as social spending gets more generous" -- in other words, dividend payments encourage people to work harder, rather than the other way around.
Comment: More to the point, it is not just the unwillingness of Congress and local politicians to address these problems, but the fact that many of those politicians and those whose unseen hands guide public policies are, if not outright psychopaths are at least sociopathic in nature. They do not have the capacity for empathy, and as intra-species predators they use ordinary humans to advance their own agenda, then throw them to the wolves when they have outlived their usefulness.