The poverty level income in America today is just over $23,000 per year. The average income of all men and women incarcerated in our prisons prior to their arrest and conviction is just over $19,000 per year. Why is this significant? The facts are simple; every man and woman in America who has reached a point of desperation when they know that they cannot care for those they love will resort to whatever actions they can make to care for them; this is human nature. The problem is that the ten percent of all Americans who control 90 percent of our nation’s wealth cannot relate to this fact.

Right wing politicians love to shout the fact that America is the ‘richest nation in the world.’ This is a reality, but it is nothing to celebrate in a message of pride. More than 90 percent of the American people struggle from paycheck to paycheck. The 2010 Census proved that income inequality is the greatest problem in our nation. No one is talking about this fact, including our elected officials and the mainstream media.

Today 45 percent of all Americans are living in poverty. A minimum of 50 percent of all of our nation’s people are living in low income or impoverished conditions. Add to this the fact that all of Trump’s proposals would add millions and billions of dollars to the income of our wealthiest people and the problem multiplies.

The number of Americans who live in poverty is increasing at an alarming rate. When this happens, family patriarchs and matriarchs will do anything to help their families survive. This is not conjecture, it is fact. Poverty is the most significant cause for the increase of crime in America.

Our government; Democrats and Republicans alike; fail to address the seriousness of a growing poverty level in our nation. Today an estimated 45 million Americans are living in poverty, and that number is escalating. This statistic is a combination of low paying jobs and the failure of our local, state, and federal governments to recognize the facts and address our national shame; our national epidemic.

The stock market proves that the wealthy are experiencing record profits and are benefiting from a growing economy. The working class; low income Americans; and the poor are not as fortunate. Wages are at a level comparable to the beginnings of the industrial revolution when our nation’s manufacturing entities experienced incredible profits while workers labored under virtually slavery.

Our penal institutions have few members of the wealthy class in their system; if any. It is the poor who are desperate and experience the maximum penalties under the law. The wealthy can afford the best attorneys and paid testimony to prevent them for punishment relevant to their crimes. This is why the great majority of our nation’s inmates were living in poverty prior to their convictions.

The crime here is that our nation has 585 billionaires, and your illegitimate president is one of them. We also have 10.7 million, millionaires. America has 4.4 percent of the world’s population and controls 25 percent of the world’s wealth. We also have 25 percent of the world’s men and women who are imprisoned. The numbers do not lie.

Capitalism has failed the vast majority of 320 million Americans. Time for real change.

One entire party supports the wealthiest of our nation’s people, and they are the destructors. Time for us to take our country back. 2018 is near.

Please re-post; thank you.

Op-ed by James Turnage

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