Poverty Rate In U.S. Saw Record Increase In 2009: 1 In 7 Americans Are Poor

Why is it that Americans are discovering that the U.S. now has the largest increase in poverty in more than a half a century under the administration of a U.S. president that may be one of the most sympathetic to the needs of the middle class and the poor of all presidents during this period? One answer might be that it reflects a long tail of a previous president due to the engagement of elective wars with poor outcomes and disastrous tax and social policies. This will most likely be at the heart of the political rhetoric of the Democratic party during the the 2010 mid-term and 2012 presidential election. However, there may be a deeper truth, which our national leadership and the American public is missing, or is unwilling to speak about. American society has deep structural problems from long-standing policies and socio-poliical behaviors stemming back to the early 1980s and before, that have aggregated into disastrous unsustainable, yet well entrenched, societal patterns. The key question is "When will the sociopolitical climate be ripe for political leadership to emerge that can speak honestly with the American public about the federal debt? When will the American citizenry be willing to choose political leadership that will work with the public to make hard decisions that will rebalance the ecological footprint of America, and talk honestly about the costs, as well as the benefits of a petrochemical-dependent economy? When will the socio-political environment of the United States again be ready to engage policies and actions from the global and national levels down to the community and household level that reinvigorates America with sound resilience and sustainable practices that give the U.S. a viable mechanism for maintaining the health and human security of Americans during the 21st century? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/11/poverty-rate-in-us-saw-re_n_713387.html