The problem, in a nutshell.
Eighteen percent of Texans, and 25 percent of Texas children, lived below the federally defined poverty level, according to the 2005 American Community Survey. The nationwide percentage below poverty level was 13 percent.[...]
Overall poverty rates, locally and nationally, didn't change much between the 2000 census and last year, although levels increased somewhat more significantly among Hispanics and blacks in Harris County.
"Generally, the survey reports that the socioeconomic profile of Texas has stayed pretty much the same as it has been for years. It was bad to begin with and has not gotten better," said State Demographer Steve Murdock, with the Texas State Data Center at the University of Texas in San Antonio.
Happy Labor Day!
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The GOP's War on Workers
by davidsirota
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/4/84335/71510
Mon Sep 04, 2006 at 07:43:35 AM CDT
Today, we will inevitably see Republican politicians attend Labor Day parades and events pledging their loyalty to the American worker. But as I show in a new San Francisco Chronicle op-ed, the GOP is waging a war on workers to the point where Republican leaders think it is now acceptable to refer to workers in terms reserved for military targets and terrorist threats. This isn't surprising - Republicans understand that if they destroy organized labor, they will destroy one of the last remaining institutions that fights for the economic interests of workers. If that happens, the GOP's corporate donors will be even better able to have their way in the political arena. In other words, they understand that destroying labor would result in the completion of the hostile takeover of our government by Big Money interests.
So, if today you see a Republican politician say with a straight face that he/she really cares about workers, remember the facts documented in this op-ed - they tell the real story.
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From:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/09/04/EDG3BKSCQI1.DTL&type=printable
On America Working
The war on workers
- David Sirota
Monday, September 4, 2006
U.S. Education Secretary Rod Paige labeled one "a terrorist organization." Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, called them "a clear and present danger to the security of the United States." And U.S. Rep. Charles Norwood, R-Ga., claimed they employ "tyranny that Americans are fighting and dying to defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan" and are thus "enemies of freedom and democracy," who show "why we still need the Second Amendment" to defend ourselves with firearms.
Who are these supposed threats to America? No, not Osama bin Laden followers, but labor unions made up of millions of workers -- janitors, teachers, firefighters, police officers, you name it.
Bashing organized labor is a Republican pathology, to the point where unions are referenced with terms reserved for military targets. In his 1996 article, headlined "GOP Readies for War With Big Labor," conservative columnist Robert Novak cheered the creation of a "GOP committee task force on the labor movement" that would pursue a "major assault" on unions. As one Republican lawmaker told Novak, GOP leaders champion an "anti-union attitude that appeals to the mentality of hillbillies at revival meetings."
The hostility, while disgusting, is unsurprising. Unions wield power for workers, meaning they present an obstacle to Republican corporate donors, who want to put profit-making over other societal priorities.
From:
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/09/04/EDG3BKSCQI1.DTL&type=printable