Post Storm Poverty

In the New York Times there was an article about the poverty that hurricane Katrina unmasked. This brought the issue of poverty on the national agenda. This was seen as a chance to talk up new social programs but the politicians seem to be scrambling to save the old ones. Seeing that the repairing of the gulf coast would cost the Federal government an estimated $200 billion dollars, they are looking to cut spending with programs such as Medicaid and food stamps being vulnerable. A huge issue is the doubt of the effectiveness of some programs and the fact that many poor people do not vote. In 2004, 37 million Americans lived below the poverty line. The plight of impoverished Americans was merely brought to public attention by Hurricane Katrina.

This is similar to the period in United States history called the Great Depression. Many people were creeping into poverty. Some of the nation's biggest centers of agricultured had been devasted by drought. The Democrat president Franklin D Roosevelt was elected president. The president proposed the New Deals. A series of new government programs were introduced to aid the impoverished people in the nation. I believe that today somethin may needo tbe done about the level of povery in the nation. It does not have to be as drastic as what was done in the 1930s. It strikes me to be odd that the programs that currently aid poor people, medicaid and food stamps may be affected.