Hightower Lowdown

In America, the richest country in the world, the poverty rolls are rising dramatically. . . and shamefully. The number of poor people is up by 4.8 million in the last four years. Another 39 million people are "working poor," meaning their jobs pay so poorly that they cannot afford the basics in life.

But our mass media mostly ignores poor people. We just had a national election that supposedly was about moral values, yet neither party even mentioned the immorality of rising poverty in the midst of plenty. Worse, the Bushites are working in the dark to dismantle the few effective programs we still have that address poverty—from education to retirement security.

For example, over 30 years the Community Reinvestment Act has induced banks to channel more than a trillion dollars into loans for small-business development and home ownership in inner cities and distressed rural towns. Now Bush's laissez-faire ideologues are proposing to exempt at least 1,000 banks, as well as many S & L lenders, from having to comply.

To help stop this assault on the poor, call ACORN: 202-547-2500.