If the economy is so 'smoking hot' why are 26% of children in NM living in poverty?

Question

And NM isn't the worst - it's ranked #47 out of 50.

http://www.abqtrib.com/news/2007/jul/25/kids-still-fare-poorly-nm-report-states/

Only Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi did worse overall.

Answer 1

Because the economy for international corporations is smoking hot, which is the reason the Dow looks so good. unfortnately it is a very unreliable view of the American economy.
When my grandfather was making far less than anyone does now, he could support a family of 6 on it, while only he worked. Now, you need both parents working with an income of at least 70k to do that.

But if you want the neocon answer that ignores the issue...."Life's not fair!"

Answer 2

Because they're in NM. If you want to benefit from the great economy, you have to go somewhere it's great. The American economy is not monolithic, there are always some regions doing better than others.

The definition of 'poverty' can also be a little nebulous. An income that you just couldn't possibly live on where I live, in CA, might be adequate to get by in many other states, or even different parts of CA.

If you use a national definition of 'poverty' based on income, then states with lower cost of living will likely have higher 'poverty.'

Answer 3

There's an old story about Bill Gates walking into a bar and raising the average income of everyone in the bar by millions of dollars a year.

The Bush administration wants to claim credit for a good economy so it uses statistics that show the economy to be good. The problem is that 98% of Americans are not sharing in this good fortune. It is not 'a rising tide that raises all boats the same'. Many of us don't even have boats!

Even people with good jobs and lives are feeling a little more desperate these days. Nobody feels his job is safe. Most of us are deeper in debt than we were a few years ago. The cost of health insurance has gone up 70% just since 2000 (and it was considered a crisis then!) The cost of gas has doubled, and this will inevitably lead to inflation because it raises the cost of anything delivered by truck, which is just about everything.

But the real agenda of the Republican Party is to concentrate wealth. So corporate profits are up, Fortune 500 top execs continue to get 50%/yr raises. Well-connected companies are looting the treasury. Continuing deregulation is strengthening anticompetitive oligopolies. So from their point of view, this is the best of times!

Answer 4

When someone asks a question like this and I see all the ignorance being voiced about poverty, I begin to see how Bush came to be in office...blind by choice,

The poverty rate is so high because the WORKING POOR are not earning enough to keep themselves out of poverty. Also, in the drive to the bottom cost American employers have been forced to jettison health insurance for their employees, so any health crisis causes a slide into poverty for many people.

This is due to the loss of US manufacturing jobs to the third world and the importation of third world no-benefit, part time jobs into the US economy.

Answer 5

Those other three states also have the most undereducated populations in the nation, especially Louisiana.

Education is a major step in getting out of poverty, but parents and children need to take advantage of it and stay in school if they ever want to break out of poverty.

Parents need to take advantages of what the Federal government offers them to learn and acquire new skills to enter the work force and effectively provide for their families. In most cases, poverty is the result of the decisions parents made that affects the well-being of their children.

Answer 6

The economy of COMPANIES is hot, not of the people. There are poor abandoned children EVERYWHERE in the USA that no one cares for. Of course, Cons say that these children are "too lazy" to get a job and that's why they're poor and abandoned.

Answer 7

Because they are illegal aliens! If we didn't try to spend millions of dollars on people who are here illegally, then maybe all American CITIZENS -- not just children but the elderly as well, can live a better life. It's time to close our borders and try to clean up the mess we have.

Also, children who live in poverty may be from families whose occupation is generational welfare and have never got a job to pay their own way for themselves and their children. Recipients should undergo MANDATORY drug screening before getting any public assistance then random if they pass. We have to take drug screen testing to work -- why not for those who are too lazy to work and get paid with my tax dollar?

Answer 8

i live in texas about 20 miles from the nm border and i can tell u around her if the parents want to work there is plenty of oil field work to go around so if the kids are living in poverty it is not the economy's fault it is the lazy no-good parents who dont want to work.

Answer 9

That was there under Clinton and the Dem Governor who is running for President.

The funny thing is that maybe NM should learn from other states that are successful instead of sitting on their fingers, as you seem to do, and blaming others.

Answer 10

Economies will always be better or worse in certain pockets of the country. In the past, people would move from the crappy section to a better one. Now, they stay put, because the government will provide. Just one more of many reasons welfare dampens our economic growth.