.
November 17, 2006
SouthAmerica: The United States government is in denial about a lot of trends that is developing in this country â and how the US government is dealing to solve the problems?
By creating new categories of people, and by changing its classifications on government reports. Basically, if you create a new category then the problems go away. Problem solved.
To keep the unemployment rate low in the United States â the US government had a simple solution: just create a new category âDiscouraged Workersâ and dump in that category millions and millions of people who otherwise would be classified as unemployed.
Here is another example. It does not look good for the United States to show to the world (mainly after Katrina) that over 35 million people in the United States are going hungry on a daily basis. How the US government is fixing this problem?
By reclassification; instead of describing the 35 million Americans who donât have enough food to eat as âHungryâ â the US government describes this group as âLow food security.â
Here we go again: this is another example, and a new success story, of how Americans are solving social problems today.
Here is a portion of the CNN report:
ROMANS: Now, this government getting some grief for dropping the word "hunger" from its classifications. "Low food security" is how the government wants to characterize what 35 million people experience in this country. Critics say changing what hunger is called for whatever bureaucratic reason it might be, changing what it's called doesn't change the reality that too many Americans in this day and age are still hungry.
DOBBS: Well, this administration should be marched straight over to a dictionary, the entire administration, and taught that words actually are important in their meaning, and to take -- create something called food insecurity, I mean, that is disgusting. We're talking about people being left hungry in this country.
*********
Transcript of the CNN television show: Lou Dobbs Tonight - November 16 2006
â¦An incredible report tonight, unbelievable to those in this country who believe that five years of so-called economic growth is reaching all levels of society in this country. Today, the USDA reports that tens of millions of people in this country are struggling to put food on the table.
Christine Romans reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):
Last year, 35 million people struggled to put food on the table. And the Agriculture Department reports the number of the poorest, hungriest Americans keeps rising.
Five years into an economic recovery, deep concerns that prosperity is not being shared.
KATE COLER, DEP. UNDERSECRETARY, USDA: There are some families that do face food insecurity, and that's why we're so aggressive with our programs to reach out to people so that they are aware of the food assistance programs that are available to them.
ROMANS: Thirty-six percent of poor families have what the government calls low food security. If it weren't for $33 billion in government assistance, that number would be higher.
Living above the poverty line is no guarantee of food on the table. Families on the cusp of the middle class are seeing stubborn hunger rates. Of families earning around $37,000 or more, more than five percent had trouble putting food on the table.
JAMES WEILL, FOOD RESEARCH & ACTION CENTER: Some of the middle class are joining working poor families and other poor families in what the government calls food insecurity. And we just see families struggling to not be hungry on a regular basis.
ROMANS: Stagnant wages, higher healthcare and energy costs putting a squeeze on the food budget. The government says the typical family of four spends $150 a week for food. A full-time minimum wage jobs earns just $205 a week. Advocates for a higher minimum wage seized on the hunger data.
MAUDE HURD, ACORN: I think the minimum wage certainly will help alleviate some of that. You know, people right now have to decide on whether they should eat quality food or put gas in the car to go to work.
ROMANS: A choice working Americans should not have to make.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Now, this government getting some grief for dropping the word "hunger" from its classifications. "Low food security" is how the government wants to characterize what 35 million people experience in this country. Critics say changing what hunger is called for whatever bureaucratic reason it might be, changing what it's called doesn't change the reality that too many Americans in this day and age are still hungry.
DOBBS: Well, this administration should be marched straight over to a dictionary, the entire administration, and taught that words actually are important in their meaning, and to take -- create something called food insecurity, I mean, that is disgusting. We're talking about people being left hungry in this country.
ROMANS: That's what a lot of the advocates are saying here today. They say hungry is hungry, period.
DOBBS: It's -- what are they -- food insecurity? ROMANS: There's low food security.
DOBBS: These are just abject idiots. I don't even want to -- and the fact that we have this problem in this country in the 21st century, it's reprehensible, whether you are a Democrat, a Republican, no matter what. Thirty-five million people.
ROMANS: And the Bush administration has set a target to cut that number in half by 2010. And so far, there is still a long way to go.
DOBBS: Cut it in half?
ROMANS: Cut the rate of low food security in half.
DOBBS: So 17.5 million should be feeling better about their prospects. Unbelievable.
All right. Thank you very much, Christine Romans.
**********
SouthAmerica: In the same program Lou Dobbs mentioned the military challenge posed by communist China.
I wonder how China can be a military problem for the United States when the United States is spending 10 times the amount that China is spending in defense spending in an annual basis.
It does not make sense to me.
The program also mentioned the following: âIf the Chinese government wants to be taken seriously as a responsible partner in global affairs it must learn to balance its narrow self-interests with the greatest interest of the world community.
SCHIAVONE: From currency manipulation to a secretive military buildup to supporting oppressive regimes in exchange for natural resources, the report finds China is a bad actor on the world stage.â
I wonder if these people were talking about China or the United States in last few decades.
***
DOBBS: More evidence tonight concerning the rising economic and military challenge posed by communist China.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in a critical report tells Congress it must increase pressure on the Bush administration to hold communist China accountable for its unfair trade practices and military buildup.
Louise Schiavone reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOUISE SCHIAVONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The words are bureaucratic, the delivery bland, but the message is unmistakable. China is a problem.
CAROLINE BATHOLOMEW, VICE CHAIRMAN, USCC: If the Chinese government wants to be taken seriously as a responsible partner in global affairs it must learn to balance its narrow self-interests with the greatest interest of the world community.
SCHIAVONE: From currency manipulation to a secretive military buildup to supporting oppressive regimes in exchange for natural resources, the report finds China is a bad actor on the world stage.
LARRY WERTZEL, CHAIRMAN, USCC: Its sense of responsibility in the way that American political leaders envisioned it has not kept up with that expanding power.
SCHIAVONE: The commission calls on Congress to press the Bush administration for World Trade Organization penalties against china for currency manipulation and intellectual piracy, call for more effective intelligence gathering about China's military buildup and development. Resist Chinese efforts to isolate Taiwan and call on the White House to pressure China to use its influence in Sudan to help end the slaughter in Darfur.
WILLIAM HAWKINS, U.S. BUSINESS & INDUSTRY COUNCIL: So they are using every device and every method they can to build up their industry, their military capabilities, amass money, amass technology, to be the next great power. SCHIAVONE: The commission is concerned about what appears to be China's intention to project power not only in the Pacific, but also in space, with sophisticated weapons that can take out U.S. command and control satellites.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The chances of making a mistake that could lead to a conflict are greater. The Chinese are spending a lot on defense, a lot more than they say publicly and they have upgraded their military.
SCHIAVONE: In China's raw self interest, preventing nuclear proliferation in North Korea, the commission calls for a formal agreement whereby China would inspect ships at sea bound to or from North Korean ports.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHIAVONE (on camera): Lou, the Bush administration defends its approach to China and agrees with the commission that China must be held to its commitments, but the commission is clearly concerned that China perceives its only commitment to itself. Lou?
DOBBS: Well, that's usually the case with nation states and should not come, as it apparently does, a shock to this administration or any other for that matter. Louise, thank you. Louise Schiavone from Washington.
.
November 17, 2006
SouthAmerica: The United States government is in denial about a lot of trends that is developing in this country â and how the US government is dealing to solve the problems?
By creating new categories of people, and by changing its classifications on government reports. Basically, if you create a new category then the problems go away. Problem solved.
To keep the unemployment rate low in the United States â the US government had a simple solution: just create a new category âDiscouraged Workersâ and dump in that category millions and millions of people who otherwise would be classified as unemployed.
Here is another example. It does not look good for the United States to show to the world (mainly after Katrina) that over 35 million people in the United States are going hungry on a daily basis. How the US government is fixing this problem?
By reclassification; instead of describing the 35 million Americans who donât have enough food to eat as âHungryâ â the US government describes this group as âLow food security.â
Here we go again: this is another example, and a new success story, of how Americans are solving social problems today.
Here is a portion of the CNN report:
ROMANS: Now, this government getting some grief for dropping the word "hunger" from its classifications. "Low food security" is how the government wants to characterize what 35 million people experience in this country. Critics say changing what hunger is called for whatever bureaucratic reason it might be, changing what it's called doesn't change the reality that too many Americans in this day and age are still hungry.
DOBBS: Well, this administration should be marched straight over to a dictionary, the entire administration, and taught that words actually are important in their meaning, and to take -- create something called food insecurity, I mean, that is disgusting. We're talking about people being left hungry in this country.
*********
Transcript of the CNN television show: Lou Dobbs Tonight - November 16 2006
â¦An incredible report tonight, unbelievable to those in this country who believe that five years of so-called economic growth is reaching all levels of society in this country. Today, the USDA reports that tens of millions of people in this country are struggling to put food on the table.
Christine Romans reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):
Last year, 35 million people struggled to put food on the table. And the Agriculture Department reports the number of the poorest, hungriest Americans keeps rising.
Five years into an economic recovery, deep concerns that prosperity is not being shared.
KATE COLER, DEP. UNDERSECRETARY, USDA: There are some families that do face food insecurity, and that's why we're so aggressive with our programs to reach out to people so that they are aware of the food assistance programs that are available to them.
ROMANS: Thirty-six percent of poor families have what the government calls low food security. If it weren't for $33 billion in government assistance, that number would be higher.
Living above the poverty line is no guarantee of food on the table. Families on the cusp of the middle class are seeing stubborn hunger rates. Of families earning around $37,000 or more, more than five percent had trouble putting food on the table.
JAMES WEILL, FOOD RESEARCH & ACTION CENTER: Some of the middle class are joining working poor families and other poor families in what the government calls food insecurity. And we just see families struggling to not be hungry on a regular basis.
ROMANS: Stagnant wages, higher healthcare and energy costs putting a squeeze on the food budget. The government says the typical family of four spends $150 a week for food. A full-time minimum wage jobs earns just $205 a week. Advocates for a higher minimum wage seized on the hunger data.
MAUDE HURD, ACORN: I think the minimum wage certainly will help alleviate some of that. You know, people right now have to decide on whether they should eat quality food or put gas in the car to go to work.
ROMANS: A choice working Americans should not have to make.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Now, this government getting some grief for dropping the word "hunger" from its classifications. "Low food security" is how the government wants to characterize what 35 million people experience in this country. Critics say changing what hunger is called for whatever bureaucratic reason it might be, changing what it's called doesn't change the reality that too many Americans in this day and age are still hungry.
DOBBS: Well, this administration should be marched straight over to a dictionary, the entire administration, and taught that words actually are important in their meaning, and to take -- create something called food insecurity, I mean, that is disgusting. We're talking about people being left hungry in this country.
ROMANS: That's what a lot of the advocates are saying here today. They say hungry is hungry, period.
DOBBS: It's -- what are they -- food insecurity? ROMANS: There's low food security.
DOBBS: These are just abject idiots. I don't even want to -- and the fact that we have this problem in this country in the 21st century, it's reprehensible, whether you are a Democrat, a Republican, no matter what. Thirty-five million people.
ROMANS: And the Bush administration has set a target to cut that number in half by 2010. And so far, there is still a long way to go.
DOBBS: Cut it in half?
ROMANS: Cut the rate of low food security in half.
DOBBS: So 17.5 million should be feeling better about their prospects. Unbelievable.
All right. Thank you very much, Christine Romans.
**********
SouthAmerica: In the same program Lou Dobbs mentioned the military challenge posed by communist China.
I wonder how China can be a military problem for the United States when the United States is spending 10 times the amount that China is spending in defense spending in an annual basis.
It does not make sense to me.
The program also mentioned the following: âIf the Chinese government wants to be taken seriously as a responsible partner in global affairs it must learn to balance its narrow self-interests with the greatest interest of the world community.
SCHIAVONE: From currency manipulation to a secretive military buildup to supporting oppressive regimes in exchange for natural resources, the report finds China is a bad actor on the world stage.â
I wonder if these people were talking about China or the United States in last few decades.
***
DOBBS: More evidence tonight concerning the rising economic and military challenge posed by communist China.
The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission in a critical report tells Congress it must increase pressure on the Bush administration to hold communist China accountable for its unfair trade practices and military buildup.
Louise Schiavone reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOUISE SCHIAVONE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The words are bureaucratic, the delivery bland, but the message is unmistakable. China is a problem.
CAROLINE BATHOLOMEW, VICE CHAIRMAN, USCC: If the Chinese government wants to be taken seriously as a responsible partner in global affairs it must learn to balance its narrow self-interests with the greatest interest of the world community.
SCHIAVONE: From currency manipulation to a secretive military buildup to supporting oppressive regimes in exchange for natural resources, the report finds China is a bad actor on the world stage.
LARRY WERTZEL, CHAIRMAN, USCC: Its sense of responsibility in the way that American political leaders envisioned it has not kept up with that expanding power.
SCHIAVONE: The commission calls on Congress to press the Bush administration for World Trade Organization penalties against china for currency manipulation and intellectual piracy, call for more effective intelligence gathering about China's military buildup and development. Resist Chinese efforts to isolate Taiwan and call on the White House to pressure China to use its influence in Sudan to help end the slaughter in Darfur.
WILLIAM HAWKINS, U.S. BUSINESS & INDUSTRY COUNCIL: So they are using every device and every method they can to build up their industry, their military capabilities, amass money, amass technology, to be the next great power. SCHIAVONE: The commission is concerned about what appears to be China's intention to project power not only in the Pacific, but also in space, with sophisticated weapons that can take out U.S. command and control satellites.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The chances of making a mistake that could lead to a conflict are greater. The Chinese are spending a lot on defense, a lot more than they say publicly and they have upgraded their military.
SCHIAVONE: In China's raw self interest, preventing nuclear proliferation in North Korea, the commission calls for a formal agreement whereby China would inspect ships at sea bound to or from North Korean ports.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SCHIAVONE (on camera): Lou, the Bush administration defends its approach to China and agrees with the commission that China must be held to its commitments, but the commission is clearly concerned that China perceives its only commitment to itself. Lou?
DOBBS: Well, that's usually the case with nation states and should not come, as it apparently does, a shock to this administration or any other for that matter. Louise, thank you. Louise Schiavone from Washington.
.
