T H I N K

A recent Hacker News discussion made me realize that many people
(ahem, Americans... and far too many Canadians) don't understand
poverty. In fact, what became obvious in the discussion is that many
people don't even believe that poverty exists (a galling belief). In
an effort to bring some reality to the discussion I attempted to
locate some links of good journalism and good statistics showing just
how pervasive poverty is (globally, but especially, in North America).
The Hacker News discussion was only the most recent dispute I've had
about the issue---evidently the Horatio Alger myth is pervasive and
not slackening despite the recent economic meltdown (shedding jobs
from at-risk/poor people, but not the wealthy).

Although I've read (and seen) many compelling examples of poverty and
economic disparity, I found it difficult to come up with really
provocative accounts on the fly, so I decided that I needed a
ready-reference for information about poverty and economic disparity.
My hope is that the next time some unethical jerk tries to tell me
that poor people (if they even exist) should just try working harder
(because, you know, *so-and-so* grew up "poor" and managed to become a
wealthy ), I can give them a handy link with lots
of great references! There's no end to the bottomless pit of the
wealthy denying cold hard facts, but at least this gives them
something to read while progressives can attempt to actually change
things.

So, with this in mind, please send me any good accounts (stats,
journalism) of poverty and economic disparity. I hope to have a nice
diverse mix that cuts across race, gender, ability, etc (as poverty
does), everything from first-person accounts to theory to quantitative
measures. I'll post the links for your use too! Check out
http://bit.ly/povertyisreal