Raining On The Poor

When you are down, you typically don’t want to be kicked in the gut while down. Sometimes it seems that such acts occur among the sick symptoms of our society.

For example, the two older women, also known as the “black widows”, were convicted of murdering two homeless men. They befriended these men, took out life insurance policies on them, then killed them. This is more than just getting kicked in the gut when you’re down, it’s basically putting a gun to the head of a homeless person. A symptom of sickness in our society.

I was at UCLA last night speaking at a student Hunger Banquet. I talked briefly about the foreclosure tragedy going on in our country. The fact that during the month of February in California, 53,000 Californians lost their homes due to foreclosure. I mentioned that these people will typically not become homeless—although some might—but the majority will enter the rental market. And due to the laws of supply and demand, rents will go up because of the demand goes up. Sure enough, an LA Times article this morning validates this fact—LA County rents went up 4%. When it rains (foreclosed house), it pours (higher rents).

Finally, speaking of college students, it looks like the California budget cuts will hit college students as well. UC and Cal State budgets will get a 10% cut. That means less students will access public universities. It’s a temporary budget fix that will reduce the number of people in our State with college education. We all know that a college education helps people leave poverty. Less college educated people means more people in poverty.

It’s raining on the poor.

(Pic from http://images.travelpod.com/)