BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?

More Evidence that Half of America is In or Near Poverty

In the Great Depression, it was common for people down on their luck to panhandle and or beg for money from the more fortunate. Most of these people were the labourers who built railroads, skyscrapers, roads and the like. Now that those were done, they didn’t have jobs, and to make matters worse, the Stock Market crashed and those same people lost what other paper reserves they had. A protest song was written and became a hit at the time when my grandparents were young and raising their families. So “Brother can you spare a dime” became a slogan for lashing out at governments for not fostering economic growth and wealth of a country. 

The bottom half of America own just 1.1 percent of the country’s wealth, or about $793 billion, which is the same amount owned by the 30 richest Americans. ZERO wealth is owned by approximately the bottom 47 percent.

The official poverty rate increased by 25 percent between 2000 and 2011. Seniors and children feel the greatest impact, with 55 percent of the elderly and almost 60 percent of children classified as poor or low-income under the relative poverty measure. Wider Opportunities for Women reports that “60 percent of women age 65 and older who live alone or live with a spouse have incomes insufficient to cover basic, daily expenses.”