America's poor are 'envy of the world,' says richest Congressman
Source: CNN
Darrell Issa, the richest man in Congress, said America has made "our poor somewhat the envy of the world."
Asked by CNNMoney whether he feels personally responsible to address income inequality in the United States, the Republican Congressman from California said "absolutely." But he noted that America is the richest country on earth and implied that those in poverty here are better off than the poor in other nations.
"If you go to India or you go to any number of other Third World countries, you have two problems: You have greater inequality of income and wealth. You also have less opportunity for people to rise from the have not to the have," said Issa. In the U.S., he noted there is better availability and access to quality public education.
Issa's personal wealth is by far the greatest of any congress member. His net worth in 2013 was $448.4 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, and stems from a car alarm business he built.
Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2015/05/07/news/economy/issa-poor/index.html
ailsagirl
(22,898 posts)olegramps
(8,200 posts)It is where a person who has money can get away with crimes and then get elected to congress.
ailsagirl
(22,898 posts)azurnoir
(45,850 posts)if you're not living in a thatch hut with a dirt floor and no running water or electricity and your children are not dieing of starvation then you're not really poor
Kelvin Mace
(17,469 posts)in the mountains of West Virginia. I have driven through that area and there is some pretty damned desperate situations. I remember stopping to read my map and looking at a burned out trailer and thinking how terrible it was that people lost there home. Then I noticed people were still living in it.
a la izquierda
(11,797 posts)I live in Morgantown, but not 5 minutes outside town limits is some of the most crushing poverty I've ever seen.
And I travel in and research Latin America for a living.
packman
(16,296 posts)those "miracles" of thatched huts with no running water or electricity takes time. Can't spring it on the sheep all at once, it takes time to dismantle a standard of living. But, they are doing a good job.
calimary
(81,440 posts)An embarrassment to California if ever there was one. And we have some doozies to our "credit" - including nixon, reagan, and that marvelous Proposition 13.
Gidney N Cloyd
(19,846 posts)d_legendary1
(2,586 posts)Compare america's poor to third world nations convinces the goobers who vote for them that our working poor have it too good. Its also a way of stripping benefits from those who are already struggling to stay afloat.
maddiemom
(5,106 posts)them getting, they will be living in true third world poverty and the Republicans will be satisfied.
yurbud
(39,405 posts)elleng
(131,075 posts)the food that poor Americans can't afford is so much BETTER than the food poor people in other countries can't afford.
gordianot
(15,242 posts)To bad cannot say the same thing about the rich.
When you attack poor people thats fascism.
This is the same old bullshit these assholes have been spewing for 50 fucking years.
Its fascism. We need to call it that
appalachiablue
(41,168 posts)that's what it is and if the shoe fits wear it. However, millions in the US are ignorant of history and what is happening in these times thanks to degraded public education and corporate M$M. There's no end to the right's slamming government, Washington DC, Democrats, Progressives and Obama as being un-American, unpatriotic communist reds and raging socialists. We have moved into a merger world of governments and corporations, our civil and human rights are challenged and we are losing our democratic institutions; hallmarks of fascist states among others.
knightmaar
(748 posts)cheapdate
(3,811 posts)The typical poor American does have an easier life than, for example, a poor person living in the slums of Lagos, Nigeria. Any place colonialism, capitalism, war, and corruption have destroyed traditional communities and societies you might find people living in abject, hopeless, squalor. Where you find traditional communities and societies intact you might find people living in "poverty" -- as defined by western, material standards -- but living fulfilling, meaningful, and content lives.
Issa is a fucking idiot, and "envy of the world" is an empty and arrogant saying.
n2doc
(47,953 posts)Personally, if I had my choice of country to be poor in, the US would not be my first choice. My first choice would be a country with a functional universal health system.
JonLP24
(29,322 posts)saving up enough money to pay the fees human smugglers offer overflowing them with refugees & poverty stricken Africans & Southwest Asians. Many Nigerians in fact.
Tommy_Carcetti
(43,191 posts)Oh, wait.......
louis-t
(23,297 posts)Don't worry Darrell, we'll soon be exactly like India when it comes to wealth inequality.
By the way, the last line should read "stems from a car alarm business he built after being accused and/or indicted for grand theft auto, arson, and insurance fraud.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)tanyev
(42,601 posts)Recursion
(56,582 posts)Issa'a an ass but that doesn'the change the fact that America'a poor are still among the wealthiest people in the world.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)He damn well should know that income inequality in the US is FAR worse than it is in India. In fact, only Russia, the Ukraine, and Lebanon are worse.
https://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/?fileID=BCDB1364-A105-0560-1332EC9100FF5C83
oberliner
(58,724 posts)I hope you are not disputing that.
Where he is wrong is when he says "the envy of the world" as there are many countries in the world with a much more substantial safety net (most of Europe for example) and those poor would certainly not envy ours.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)Issa claims that income inequality is worse in India. Point blank, no, it isn't; income inequality is worse in the US.
The standard of living is likely lower in India than the US, but that's a VERY different issue.
oberliner
(58,724 posts)Sorry about that - you're right.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)Hehee.
Recursion
(56,582 posts)By Gini they beat us; by absolute spread we beat them. A person poorer than 99% of Americans is richer than 98% of Indians (but three of the world's ten richest people live in Mumbai).
closeupready
(29,503 posts)Didn't think so. Some Democrat you are.
Jack Rabbit
(45,984 posts). . . it's because he views it as a problem for which cutting Social Security and food stamps and eliminating the earned income credit is the solution.
appalachiablue
(41,168 posts)you Americans have it real good, from a sociopath and convicted felon no less. Where are the Dems. to refute this audacity?
jwirr
(39,215 posts)live in for you and you get to live in it for one year. Bring you family with you. Duplicate our lives and then tell us what you think. One of us will trade places with you.
Yes, it could be worse. But isn't this what America is all about? Giving people a chance? What is wrong with being the envy of the world? And isn't that what is disappearing with R control?
As usual he is an idiot.
LeftInTX
(25,515 posts)and let him live poor.
We could film it. It would make for a cool reality show.
AngryDem001
(684 posts)asjr
(10,479 posts)a long pole and plant it in one of his orifices , then plant it in a corn field to shoo off the birds.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)we're talking income inequality in the USA, jerk. Go to hell Issa.........
He's already got first class accommodations to that destination.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)to be true.....
Ilsa
(61,697 posts)Isn't that the first "fact" he's wrong on?
Diclotican
(5,095 posts)n2doc
No thanks - I might be seen as a poor man - but I would far more be a poor man in Norway - rather than being a poor man in the US - if I had been - I would not be around - because of not being treated for ilnesses..... Mr Issa is so full about himself - that he might believe what he state.... But for the most part he is just full of it....
But then again - rich tend to belive in their own wacume, and he might be one of them, who do belive it...
Stupid man - and he is elected to the US Congress.. It is a reason US going to hell in a handbasket...
Diclotican
muntrv
(14,505 posts)Ed Suspicious
(8,879 posts)"India or other third world countries?"
Even his personal business is to capitalize on fear. What a shithead.
stuffmatters
(2,574 posts)Doubt it was from doubled viper revenue.
And this remark sure reminds me of Mitt's enthusiasm about slave factories in Asia ( "the fence was to keep them from
getting IN!" There is really something deeply wrong with their brains (morals, values, sense of human decency, humanity....)
Tom Ripley
(4,945 posts)mother earth
(6,002 posts)Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)Shove it where the sun don't shine! Your "class" is nothing but hoarders on steroids! Learn to share Mr. sociopath!
There should be NO POOR living in any country on this earth! We are all born onto this earth we are all equally deserving of the resources if this earth.
butterfly77
(17,609 posts)Kicked&Recommended
Feron
(2,063 posts)There are places in America that resemble Third World countries. And help isn't coming.
Poverty, sadly, isn't hard to find in America and Issa needs to get outside of his bubble. Talk about out of touch!
n2doc
(47,953 posts)So I doubt he sees much extreme poverty. Of avoids it when he can.
PersonNumber503602
(1,134 posts)Yuck.
valerief
(53,235 posts)Plucketeer
(12,882 posts)Could a lying thief get wealthy selling anti-theft hardware - AND...complain about how he's being screwed by those who can't even afford a car!
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)Who knew grand theft auto paid so well?
TheDebbieDee
(11,119 posts)cindyperry
(151 posts)it has to be
Jesus Malverde
(10,274 posts)Politicians who see desperate people around the world who will sacrifice their health and environment for the chance to feed their families.
They want that desperation everywhere.
candelista
(1,986 posts)americannightmare
(322 posts)This guy made millions on nuisance noise pollution??? Figures. Gawd Bless America!
RobinA
(9,894 posts)about whose poor are the worse off, shouldn't the response to the comparison be, "So what?" Mr. Issa, is this really a contest? We should be making it possible for all our citizens who wish to to live at a level that is acceptable to us as a nation. A civilized nation is not one that has people living less crappy lives than some other nation, it's one where no one is living a crappy life.
truthisfreedom
(23,152 posts)You've got lots of practice.
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)mahatmakanejeeves
(57,586 posts)Margaret Bourke-WhiteTime & Life Pictures/Getty Images
During the Great Ohio River Flood of 1937, men and women in Louisville, Kentucky, line up seeking food and clothing from a relief station, in front of a billboard proclaiming, "World's Highest Standard of Living."
For information on this photograph: Behind the Picture: The American Way and the Flood of 37
kacekwl
(7,021 posts)I would think it was the line for free breakfast , lunch , dinner , coffee , etc at the congressional dining room.
HassleCat
(6,409 posts)Now I know who to blame for that "REE REE REE WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP" that wakes me up at 2:00 AM. And he got rich doing it. There is no justice!
OnionPatch
(6,169 posts)I don't beat my wife nearly as much as my neighbor does!!!!
leftyladyfrommo
(18,869 posts)How can any living, breathing person be so obtuse?
vkkv
(3,384 posts)Vinca
(50,302 posts)Martin Eden
(12,875 posts)... if they feel like the envy of the world.
riqster
(13,986 posts)McCamy Taylor
(19,240 posts)Wealth disparity is a sign of a sick society. And Issa is still an idiot.
Cha
(297,528 posts)"most admired people" then?!!!!
bluegopher
(87 posts)Joe Chi Minh
(15,229 posts)candelista
(1,986 posts)I have never seen that before on any internet news or discussion site. You are too well educated for DU. Dumb yourself down immediately!
Saint Lazarus
Joe Chi Minh
(15,229 posts)can Google it easily genuff. Oddly enough, I seem to have sparked off an epidemic of 'et al's n the Net, one, which should have been 'etc'. But I'm a natural-born drop-out, and I'm paying for it now, as my brother-in-law is always trying to impress me with his BA! A humble gnuff accreditation it seems to me.
Nice pictures. Where are they from? I'm sure they're medieval, and I might even have seen some frescoes by the same artist.The older I get, the more I seem to enjoy that naive style of painting.
candelista
(1,986 posts)Yes, medieval art is way less sophisticated than ancient Greek and Roman art, but it has its own charm.
Joe Chi Minh
(15,229 posts)DreamSmoker
(841 posts)This is the Asshole who chased Hillary for two years now and got squat...
Making bold statement as if Hillary is guilty of the highest crimes in Government..
I had no idea that he was the Richest member in Congress..
Part of the Elite like Romney... Has no clue how the average Americans way of life is a struggle..
Those equal opportunities all but gone for the rest of us..
A Top Dog for the Corporate agenda all along..
JonLP24
(29,322 posts)Anywhere with an economic opportunity but I believe many see America through rose colored glasses. No doubt better than where they are coming from but better than it really is, remarkable considering they were subcontractors being human trafficked by subcontractors of KBR that I had the privilege of meeting. Not to mention someone always had to pull guard and "watch the TCNs"
JohnnyRingo
(18,640 posts)"Cleveland audiences are the most rockin' people in the world!!"
Yaaaaay!! WooHoo!
...And now I learn that America's destitute are the luckiest people in the world. yippee
Insulting pander.
BlancheSplanchnik
(20,219 posts)And those are just off the top of my head.
Dr Rise
(99 posts)ALL of the sociopaths in our government have got to go!
killbotfactory
(13,566 posts)feedrover2415
(2 posts)Interesting Read, thanks!
Dopers_Greed
(2,640 posts)Only in America can you make a ton of money from setting your own building on fire
mntleo2
(2,535 posts)First a little back story about Margaret:
...She is my Shero in so many ways. One time, while we were protesting about funding the poor together I asked her which was worse ~ being poor in America or being poor in Somalia? I expected the obvious answer, but before I tell you what she said here is a little bit of her story:
Margaret's entire family was killed, her children, her husband and her home was destroyed. So she fled to a refugee camp where she was raped and used for slave labor.
When the Catholic church rescued Margaret and brought her to America, they gave her 2 years to find her way before they withheld any more support. Before she came to America, Margaret left her Muslim faith and became a devout Catholic and she attends mass wherever she can find time. Margaret worked her butt off in a McJob here in Seattle, but did not make enough to pay for a home. So she found herself homeless and on the street for two years, using the nightly shelter system before she could be put in transitional housing. But not before she caught the deadly TB that is going around among the homeless.
I met Margaret while I was working in transitional housing as a computer tech in Americore. I could not help but notice how kindly and helpful she was with other Somalian refugees ~ many of them in shock, not only from the horrors they had experienced in their country, but also with the culture shock they experienced her in America after they were "saved" ~ IF you want to call it that.
While Margaret was from a nuclear family as one wife, many of these Somalians are 2nd or 3rd wives whose husbands abandoned them and their children during the up-rises that left their families in peril. When they were brought here, many of them were left to fend for themselves in a country where they did not speak English and their children were left bereft. They are good people and fiercely proud to become Americans ~ as is Margaret. But they also suffer because they do not know our ways and their children, who are just wonderful kids, are often left to be the breadwinners, especially the eldest males.
Back to Margaret and our protest together. While we were marching at our state capitol, we walked together in solidarity with police on horseback walking besides us and about 2000 others. She noted how friendly they were and that, if this had been in her country, they would have most likely tried to kill us for speaking out. It was then I asked her what she felt about poverty in America and why she was marching in our protest for better funding. Here is what she said (paraphrased because I am telling you from memory):
She said to my surprise. "It is far worse to be poor in America than in Somalia." She continued after I asked her why she felt this way. "In Somalia if you have no home, you go into the forest where indigenous people have lived for eons and they teach you how to live. In America all the indigenous people are not allowed in their forests anymore and they have forgotten how to live in them thanks to U.S. policies which took away their right to their land. If you try to live in the forests in America you would be arrested, nobody is allowed to live there in God's lands that should belong to everyone by God's hands. In Somalia if you have nothing to eat, you glean from the fields and find things to eat in the forests and then even in the city you can build a fire and cook your food, you can make a shelter from whatever materials you can find. There is nothing in America you can find on your own, you have to pay for everything, even if you have to go to the bathroom..."
Margaret continued on while amidst our waving our signs and calling for change, "I am marching because I see the suffering not only of my own people who have come here, but for all Americans who suffer in poverty. This is because in America taking food from a field would be "stealing" and if you tried to build a shelter or make a fire in the city, you would be arrested. Most godly people no matter their faith knows that the world belongs to God, not to certain people who say they "own" all of God's resources when they know they should share them. While they say they love God and Jesus so much, then they already know in their own hearts that they should not keep everything for themselves when they cannot even use all they have while others starve..."
Now I know about people like Darell Issa and how foolish he can be, not only from my own experiences with poverty, but from others who have come to America. He has no idea about being poor in America, all he knows is his mansions and making money off the backs of the poor for his own gain, to hell with anyone else. All he knows is that he can pay for the necessities in life, while the poor here have to pay for every single little thing they need ~ except perhaps the air we breathe, which is becoming more polluted every day by Issa's friends and for which the poor will pay for in the 17% taxes they pay more than any other class. They cannot go into the forest and make their way as those in Somalia could. They cannot live in the city, which is a desert and a wasteland for those who are poor. How "lucky is anyone to be poor and an American living in conditions like that? Darrell Issa is an idiot and ignorant!
Cat in Seattle
Board member of POWER: http://www.mamapower.org
hunter
(38,325 posts)In the U.S.A. the first thing our society robs from the poor is their free agency and dignity.
Suddenly the poor are like the children of abusive parents, people who have to be told what to do and how to live, and if they do not "obey," if they are not able to "conform," then they are severely punished, physically beaten, even thrown into prison.
The U.S.A. projects the image of a happy society, but the psychological cruelties and indignities this society inflicts upon everyone, and the poor especially, are one more reason the U.S.A. is not a true first world nation.
wordpix
(18,652 posts)wordpix
(18,652 posts)stealing cars and burning down bldgs. Now he's worth $1/2 billion? Wow.
barbtries
(28,810 posts)though some republicans are now writing laws making sure they can't choose what they eat. oh yeah, other poor people only dream of being poor in america.
issa is one of the worst people in congress imo
mb999
(89 posts)and everything that people in the past have fought for in this country is being eroded because of voting for plutocrat assholes like this that want to reduce us to the conditions in India.