http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/us/olson.htm
A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute showed that the percentage of people living below the poverty line in this country has risen from 11.6 percent in the 1970s to 14.2 percent in 1994. The most vulnerable members of society are the ones that suffer most when poverty increases. Research by the Population Reference Bureau showed that out of 38 million people living below the poverty line in the United States, 40 percent were children and 10 percent were over 65. Additionally, the Children's Defense Fund reported that one-fourth of all children nationwide under the age of six live in poverty, a statistic higher than in any other developed country.

    The effects of this rise in poverty are most visible in the denial of basic needs, such as food. A nationwide survey published in 1997 revealed that approximately 30 million Americans were hungry, and at least 12 million of these were under eighteen. This is a 50 percent increase since 1985. Another team of researchers estimated that 8.4 million people suffer from food insecurity in California alone. They predicted that by 2000, this number might grow to include as many as one-third of the state's children.

   These figures are even more startling in light of the evidence that such economic changes were not evenly distributed. In fact, the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) found that the incomes of the rich rose significantly at the same time that poverty was growing. In 1978, the typical CEO salary was 60 times that of the average worker. By 1995, the average CEO earned about 173 times as much as a typical worker. This is the highest wage gap in the industrialized world, leading to a deep disparity between the poor and the wealthy. At the same time, the government has done nothing to equalize the scales. In fact, the EPI estimated that the net tax bill of the wealthiest 1 percent of American families has actually fallen by $46,792 since 1977.
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http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/us/drinan2.htm
The United States is so much in arrears in its dues to the United Nations that it may lose its vote in that body in the foreseeable future. It is also far behind where it should be in its aid to underdeveloped nations, which hit a 50-year low in 1997-- at $6.2 billion. This is also the world's stingiest nation in terms of total gross national product devoted to the world's poorest countries, currently giving less than one-tenth of one percent of it.

   Brian Atwood, the highly regarded administrator of USAID, recently testified to the Congress about the dire consequences of a S2 billion cut in the foreign operations budget. He mentioned increased global tension over lack of secure food supplies, especially in Africa, forecast that some 100,000 individuals would lose the opportunity to get small loans to buy their way out of poverty, and warned that economic stabilization programs in Latin America would also collapse.

(FRM NOTE: While this article refers to international matters, it seems clear that the poor in the USA are effectively a 3rd world community and are increasingly treated as such. The so-called “welfare reforms” parallel the international activities our government has pursued lately.)

   There is little evidence that the Congress was moved by these eloquent arguments. Why does it not respond to the pleas of the churches and countless humanitarian groups in America? The answer may lie in the lamentable way in which America finances its campaigns for Federal office. The scandal of rich people and businesses "buying" access and influence is a long and dreary story. Reform is unlikely in 1999.

 The donors to congressional campaigns represent just one quarter of 1 percent of the population; 95 percent are white, 80 percent male, 81 percent have incomes over $100,000 and 20 percent over $500,000; 50 percent speak regularly to their members of Congress. No wonder voters are cynical when they see the Congress responding to the rich male white people who support their campaigns.

Working full time, year round for the minimum wage of $5.15 an hour earns only 83 percent of the poverty line income for a family of three.

Despite the economic bonanza on Wall Street, five to seven million Americans are homeless, one in nine faces hunger, and  one in four children lives in poverty, more than any other industrialized country.