Bashing the Homeless: When Pinkberry Becomes Punkberry

By Joel John Roberts | Jan 23, 2012 | 39520 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.povertyinsights.org%2F2012%2F01%2F23%2Fbashing-the-homeless-when-pinkberry-becomes-punkberry%2FBashing+the+Homeless%3A+When+Pinkberry+Becomes+Punkberry2012-01-23+09%3A00%3A35Joel+John+Robertshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.povertyinsights.org%2F%3Fp%3D3952

What is this country coming to when a guy in a car chases down a homeless man and pounds him with a tire iron, just because they exchanged angry words? Sounds like the old Wild West where guns were the primary mode of justice, or today’s drug cartels terrorizing its people just south of America.

You would think the guy in the car was some young, angry teenage male wanting to harm homeless Americans just for the thrill of it, a sad trend in this country.

Let’s Recall Poverty Before the Safety Net

By Kathryn Baer | Jan 20, 2012 | 39450 Commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.povertyinsights.org%2F2012%2F01%2F20%2Flet%25e2%2580%2599s-recall-poverty-before-the-safety-net%2FLet%E2%80%99s+Recall+Poverty+Before+the+Safety+Net2012-01-20+09%3A00%3A08Kathryn+Baerhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.povertyinsights.org%2F%3Fp%3D3945

Huffington Post blogger Dan Morgan looks back nearly 50 years to tell us what poverty was like in his early reporting days.

This is an important, timely post because it reminds us of how poor people lived — and died — before the creation of today’s safety net.

Here in the District of Columbia, Morgan found “people living in basement apartments with dirt floors. Many were hungry, cold and short of coal for stoves. Some children were staying home because they had no shoes.”