Poor America (Panorama)

[Tommy4ever]

This Panorama documentary about poverty in America was recently put on by the BBC.

Here it is in Iplayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01c2y2b/Panorama_Poor_America/

And, for non-UK people here: http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/poor-america/

Its really quite shocking how some of this stuff can go on in the richest country on earth, shows a side of America we don't often see (atleast over here).

[PC LOAD LETTER]

Yeah, it's pretty bad over here. I'll have to wait a little bit to watch the show, don't have speakers or anything at the moment. But I'll post again later with my reaction.

My neighborhood in Atlanta, it's a small working-class (colloquial) neighborhood, there's 5-15 homeless people camping out on this abandoned property on any given night. They have a mini tent city set up, a fire pit for cooking, they do cash work for some of the nearby businesses (clean up trash, etc), and they really enjoy random company (as my friends and I found out, and then spent countless nights there drinking with them over the years). The police ran them off a while back, but they returned recently.

The average annual income for a person in my area is between $15,000 and $20,000. Average household income for married couples is $36,000-$40,000. Cross into the next neighborhood (same street, after a single cross-street) and it goes to an average individual income between $65,000 and $80,000 with the average household income being $90,000-$110,000. It's extremely difficult, in my area, to find an apartment for rent for less than $900-$1000/mo. The ones that are lower are in a sorry state of disrepair and have long waiting lists.

A few years ago, this british dude Marc Singer did a film on a group of homeless people in Manhattan. It's called Dark Days (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Days_%28film%29). I highly recommend it.

[MotherCossack]

yeah it is awful... the kernal and myself watched it last week.
but what i do not get is why americans are so against helping the old, sick and vulnerable?
well that's how it seems from where i'm looking.
why do those evil looking capitalists, who proclaim that america is the land of the free, and, that you make your bed... you gotta lie in it.... why do they always enjoy such apparent support.... cheers .... applause... shouts of support etc....
i would go out of my way , make huge sacrifices, and take massive risks, for the opportunity to do him real damage if he, or any like him, came here.