This is presumably the richest country in the world! If this is true, how is it possible that 72.5 million Americans received government assistance each month of 2025 to sustain daily life?
This translates to 22 percent of the U.S. population needing government help to live on a daily basis.
Government assistance came from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Food Stamps and Medicare, and local food banks and churches also played a role in helping people. Besides food, there is rent, heat in winter, clothes, health and school supplies to consider.
On the other side of the poor, we have the homeless. There are an estimated 770,000 people living on the streets, in parks and in shelters.
The statistics for the rich, on the other hand, are very impressive. Musk is the first trillionaire in the world — not sure how many zeroes are in a trillion. Then we have Bezos, Gates, Zuckerberg and their friend, the president, who just acquired $2.5 billion. The president’s son-in-law was also gifted $2 billion from the Saudis.
So, in our American population, we have about a dozen billionaires living on the exploitation of the poor, and 72.5 million Americans living on the welfare system. And when we say we are living in the richest country in the world, what do we mean? Who are we talking about?
Are we talking about one America or two countries in one America?
In Mississippi, 18+ percent of the residents live at or below the poverty level. The same for Louisiana. In 2019, conditions were so bad in Louisiana that it received $22 billion in federal aid. Statistics show that the 10 poorest states in the country are in the South.
So, we have a rich/poor problem in America that is dismal and seems to be excluded from the government’s list of problems for consideration.
Is there a solution to end our welfare system and give meaning to the lives of those 72 million people who face poverty daily and don’t know how to get out of it?
Yes, there is! This is a problem for the government to solve.
Suggestion No. 1: Education, job training, life skills, nursing home and health care workers can get people into the workforce. Affordable and/or free daycare can help mothers become gainfully employed.
Suggestion No. 2: Traveling through Central and South America and parts of Africa (gathering information on women and gender issues), it was noted that women were given a piece of land which they cultivate and produce food to feed their families. On their piece of land, they grow fruits and vegetables, and they also have chickens and a sheep or goat.
This setup makes them self-sufficient and independent. Why can’t we do something like this in America? We certainly have the land.
Suggestion No. 3: Get each billionaire to build 1,000 houses for the poor families. The president and his family can build 2,000 houses.
Since this is a pipe dream and would not happen, we must turn to the practical aspect of solving the “hungry and homeless” problems in America.
Whether we take this seriously or not, lack of education is at the root of these problems. People in rural areas are more apt to be in these situations, and financial resources — the government — should be directed to those states that need to get out from under.
This is the job of our elected officials. Elected members of the States and Congress have a responsibility to help the poor and homeless people and get them out of the nightmare they did not ask to be placed in.
Members of Congress are poor before being elected. Once they step into power, all they see is green ($) power and forget the people who put them there.
At the end of this page, nothing will change. Living in hope can only go so far. Compassion cannot fill the cart at the supermarket.
However, human dignity is worthy of consideration, and it is people like us — and those in power — who are responsible for our neighbors — whether hungry or homeless.
PS: American soil is still a good place to be standing on. It is a place of hope.
Evelyn Uddin-Khan lives in Salisbury.
