fredag 10 augusti 2007

Arkansas 1935 och läget idag



“This is the cabin of Aunt Vina Jones. She is very ill with dropsy [vattusot] and will probably not live long. Her sister has come to try to help her by administering tea made of Wahoo roots. … Even while this picture was being made the case worker could hear Mrs. Jones calling for her deceased husband to come and take her to their new home.”

Bilden och bildtexten kommer från en samling fotografier med samtida kommentarer, utförda av hjälparbetare under den stora depressionen i USA. Platsen är Arkansas 1935. Jag hittade hänvisningen till bilden här.

Hur är läget idag. Läs detta som kommer härifrån (det handlar om en undersökning som gjorts av Michiganuniversitetet):

The rich really are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, a new University of Michigan study shows ... [man har kollat ett urval av 8000 personer]

Over the last 20 years, the net worth of the top two percentile of American families nearly doubled, from $1,071,000 in 1984 to $2,100,500 in 2005. But the poorest quarter of American families lost ground over the same period, with their 2005 net worth below their 1984 net worth, measured in constant 2005 dollars.

The poorest ten percent of families actually had a negative net worth---more liabilities than assets. The poorest 5 percent of American households had a negative net worth of a little more than $1,000 in 1984, compared to nearly $9,000 in 2005. ...

The average amount of short-term debt black families carried was $12,900; for white families, the average amount of debt was $16,800.

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