759,000 Americans Dead. Who is to Blame?

Author(s):  
Liam Dekel ◽  

Seven hundred and fifty nine thousand people (Elflein, 2021). Friends, family, and strangers all over the United States have died from COVID-19. One can blame many things, but personally, I blame America’s horrible healthcare system that supports the rich and drives a double-decker bus over the poor. In a time when people are coming back together while COVID is still running rampant, what we need is a secure healthcare system that can protect our families and friends.

2019 ◽  
pp. 153-170
Author(s):  
Mary Jo Bane

Utilizing National Congregations Study data, this chapter paints a demographic portrait of American Catholic parishes in which Latinos are underrepresented and the affluent overrepresented, compared to the overall self-identified Catholic population. As the United States grows increasingly diverse racially, and as the gap between the rich and the poor grows, American Catholic parishes are also highly segregated economically and ethnically. Indeed, Latinos and the wealthy are significantly more segregated by parish than they are by neighborhood. With ethnic and economic segregation closely tied, the Catholic parish landscape is increasingly composed of rich white parishes and poor Latino parishes. The chapter grapples with implications of this empirical reality, along with potential solutions.


Author(s):  
Carol Graham

This chapter goes on to ask who still believes in the American Dream. It begins with a review of what we know about the relationship between inequality, well-being, and attitudes about future mobility. It summarizes what we know from survey data on attitudes about inequality and opportunity in the United States, and then places those attitudes in the context of those in other countries and regions, based on new data and analysis with a focus on individuals' beliefs in the role of hard work in future success. Evidence suggests that the American Dream is very unevenly shared across socioeconomic cohorts. The poor and the rich in the United States lead very different lives, with the former having a much harder time looking beyond day-to-day struggles and associated high levels of stress, while the latter is able to pursue much better futures for themselves and their children, with the gaps between the two likely to increase even more in the future.


2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Vasika Hananti ◽  
Bambang Subandrijo

Abstract: Harvey J. Sindima observed Liberation Theology as it flourished in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and the United States. The social situation in that society has some similarities in Luke's community. According to Philip Francis Esler's research, Luke's theology seeks to answer the social situation in Luke's community, especially regarding the relationship between the rich and the poor. This study aims to review Sindima's review of Liberation Theology based on Philip Francis Esler's thoughts on the relationship between rich and poor in Luke's Gospel. In Sindima's writings, the involvement of the rich has not been found as an effort to minimize the suffering of the poor. In this study, the author uses an analytical method. The result is that the good news for the poor in Liberation Theology is in line with the good news in Luke's Gospel. Moreover, in Luke's Gospel the liberation of the poor is not only the responsibility of the poor themselves as in the Theology of Liberation in Sindima's description, but also the responsibility of the rich as part of a sharing community.  Abstrak: Harvey J. Sindima mengamati Teologi Pembebasan yang berkembang di Amerika Latin, Afrika, Asia, dan Amerika Serikat. Situasi sosial dalam masyarakat tersebut memiliki beberapa kesamaan dalam komunitas Lukas. Menurut penelitian Philip Francis Esler, teologi Lukas berupaya menjawab situasi sosial dalam komunitas Lukas, terutama menyangkut hubungan orang kaya dan orang miskin. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk meninjau uraian Sindima tentang Teologi Pembebasan berdasarkan pemikiran Philip Francis Esler berkenaan dengan hubungan orang miskin dan kaya dalam Injil Lukas. Dalam tulisan Sindima masih belum ditemukan keterlibatan orang kaya sebagai upaya meminimalisir penderitaan orang miskin. Dalam penelitian ini, penulis menggunakan metode analitis. Hasil tinjauan ini adalah bahwa kabar baik bagi orang miskin dalam Teologi Pembebasan sejalan dengan pemberitaan kabar baik dalam Injil Lukas. Lebih dari itu, dalam Injil Lukas pembebasan terhadap orang miskin bukan hanya menjadi tanggung jawab orang miskin itu sendiri sebagaimana dalam Teologi Pembebasan dalam uraian Sindima, tetapi juga merupakan tanggung jawab orang kaya sebagai bagian dari komunitas yang saling berbagi.


Author(s):  
Michael Sherraden ◽  
Lissa Johnson ◽  
Margaret M. Clancy ◽  
Sondra G. Beverly ◽  
Margaret Sherrard Sherraden ◽  
...  

Since 1991, a new policy discussion has arisen in the United States and other countries, focusing on building assets as a complement to traditional social policy based on income. In fact, asset-based policy already existed (and still exists) in the United States, with large public subsidies. But the policy is regressive, benefiting the rich far more than the poor. The goal should be a universal, progressive, and lifelong asset-based policy. One promising pathway may be Child Development Accounts beginning at birth, with greater public deposits for the poorest children. If every child had an account, then eventually this could grow into a universal public policy across the life course.


Author(s):  
Richard M. Titmuss

This chapter focuses on the characteristics of blood donors in the United States. Despite all the statistical inadequacies in the data presented, the trend appears to be markedly in the direction of the increasing commercialisation of blood and donor relationships. Concomitantly, proportionately more blood is being supplied by the poor, the unskilled, the unemployed, Negroes, and other low-income groups, and — with the rise of plasmapheresis — a new class is emerging of an exploited human population of high blood yielders. Redistribution in terms of ‘the gift of blood and blood products’ from the poor to the rich appears to be one of the dominant effects of the American blood-banking systems.


2018 ◽  
Vol 73 (289) ◽  
pp. 102-124
Author(s):  
Jung Mo Sung

A crise econômica que atinge os Estados Unidos e a Europa e a visibilidade mundial dos movimentos “Ocupem” nos Estados Unidos colocaram novamente o tema da desigualdade social em destaque. Geralmente, nas Igrejas e na teologia, esse assunto é objeto de crítica ética utilizando-se o conceito de classes sociais em termos de renda, ricos e pobres. Este artigo defende a tese de que, para superamos o cinismo frente ao sofrimento dos pobres, é preciso ir além: é preciso uma crítica teológica que se liberte do cinismo e trabalhe com a noção de classes sociais, associada ao lugar nas relações sociais de produção, de idolatria e de pecado estrutural.Abstract: The economic crisis affecting the United States and Europe and the worldwide visibility of the movement “Occupy” in the United States brought the issue of social inequality once more to the fore. Generally, in the Churches and in theology, this matter is the target of ethical criticism where the concept of social classes - in terms of income, the rich and the poor - is used. This article defends the thesis that, in order to overcome cynicism in face of the suffering of the poor, we must go further: we need a theological critique that can free itself from cynicism and work with the notion of social classes associated with the place in the social relations of production and with the notion of idolatry and structural sin.Keywords: Economics. Market. Social classes. Social conflict. Structural sin. Theology. Idolatry. Option for the poor.


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