Oct 11 2013
Wince of the Week, October 7-14, 2013: The EHRP team winced this week when we read former President Jimmy Carter’s comment that the middle class today lives more like the poor than they did 3o years ago. This quote is excerpted from “Carter: Middle class today resembles past’s poor” an Associated Press wire story in USAToday:
“Even in one of the wealthiest parts of the world there is a great deal of foreclosures and now a great deal of people who are fortunate to own their own houses owe more on them than the houses are worth in the present market, and that’s all changed in the last eight years,” Carter said in an interview with The Associated Press.Taking a break from framing windows at a new 12-unit town house development in a section of East Oakland where Habitat already has built or repaired 115 homes, the 89-year-old former Democratic president said the federal government is investing less in affordable housing at a time of greater need.“The disparity between rich people and poor people in America has increased dramatically since when we started,” he said. “The middle class has become more like poor people than they were 30 years ago. So I don’t think it’s getting any better.”
Former President Carter was framing windows at a new town house being built by Habitat for Humanity when he was interviewed by the AP. He listed many factors contributing to wealth inequality including tax breaks for the wealthy, a minimum wage that has not kept up with inflation, and the federal government’s lack of assistance for affordable housing.
Carter asserted that improving quality of life for Americans would improve the economy.
“The richest people in America would be better off if everybody lived in a decent home and had a chance to pay for it, and if everyone had enough income even if they had a daily job to be good buyers for the products that are produced,” said Carter, who has volunteered his time to Habitat for Humanity in 1984.
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