III. On
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
American people's economic, social and cultural
rights are not properly protected.
There is a wide wealth gap in the American society.
According to a New York Times report on October 5, 2008, the United States
developed the most the most unequal distribution of income and wages of any
high-income country over the past 30 years. The richest fifth of the Americans
earn an average of 168,170 U.S. dollars a year, about fifteen times the figure
for the bottom fifth -- 11,352 U.S. dollars. The top one percent of New York
City tax filers received 37 percent of the city's adjusted gross income-- which
includes wages, business income and capital gains, among other earnings (The New
York Times, April 9, 2008). There are 64 billionaires in New York City with a
combined net worth of 344 billion U.S. dollars, 469 percent more than the
collective worth of the city's billionaires two years ago (The Washington Post,
September 29, 2008). A UN report released on October, 22, 2008 showed that the
wealth gap in big American cities, including New York, Washington, Atlanta and
New Orleans, was almost as wide as some African cities, and the ratio of income
inequality in American cities was very high.
The number
of people who are homeless, in poverty and hunger increased in the United States
in 2007. Figures released in August, 2008 by the U.S. Census Bureau showed that
12.5 percent of Americans, or 37.3 million people, were living in poverty in
2007,up from 36.5 million in 2006. Eighteen percent of children (13.3 million)
were impoverished in 2007, up from 17.4 percent (12.8 million) in 2006 (Reuters,
August 27, 2008). Some 7.6 million American families, or 9.8 percent of the
total, were living in poverty. In 2007, the annual income of 1.56 million
American people, 41.8 percent of the country's population in poverty, reached
only half of the poverty threshold. In New York City, latest study shows 23
percent of the people are living in poverty (The Washington Post, July 14,
2008).
"According to a nationwide survey jointly conducted
by the Washington Post, Harvard University and others in 2008, about
80 percent of low-income workers could not afford to buy fuel or
save for pension insurance under the influence of the financial crisis." More than 60 percent of
them could not afford medical insurance and 50 percent could not pay for food or
housing. The Reuters reported that food stamps, the main U.S. anti-hunger
program which helps the needy buy food, set a record in September 2008, as more
than 31.5 million Americans used the program, a year-on-year increase of 17
percent (Reuters, December 3, 2008). About 48 percent of New York City
residents, had difficulty affording food for themselves and their families in
2008, doubling that of 2003. Already, 1.3 million New York City residents rely
on emergency food organizations, up 24 percent from1 million in 2004 (The NYC
Hunger Experience 2008 Update: Food Poverty Soars as Recession Hits Home). Some
68.8 percent of emergency food agencies reported that they did not have enough
food to fulfill demand (Survey shows impact of hunger crisis,
http://www.nyccah.org). More than 2 million American families were unable to pay
back house loans. Statistics released on November 13,2008 showed that
foreclosure filings grew 25 percent nationally in October 2008 over the same
month in 2007. More than 84,000 properties were repossessed by banks in October
(China Press, November 14, 2008).
Statistics collected by the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development showed that the number of chronically homeless
people living in the nation's streets and shelters reached 123,833in 2007. About
1.6 million people experienced homelessness and found shelter between October 1,
2006 and September 30, 2007 (The New York Times, July 30, 2008). The number of
requests for emergency shelter doubled from fiscal year 2007 to fiscal 2008
(World Journal, October 22, 2008). In Louisiana and Kentucky, the number of
homeless families increased to 931. In December 2008, 19of the 25 American
cities surveyed reported some kind of increase in homelessness between October
1, 2007 and October 30, 2008. And 16 cities reported an increase in family
homelessness (Advocacy Groups Fear New Wave of Homeless, http://ipsnews.net).
The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless estimated that more than 6,000
people were homeless in the District on an average day. Among them, 47 percent
were "chronically homeless" (District agrees on homeless shelter access; Faces
$5 million cost, The Washington Times, December 13, 2008).
The rights of laborers are not properly protected.
The unemployment rate in America keeps high. Statistics released by the U.S.
Department of Labor on January 9, 2009 showed that the unemployment rate
increased from 4.6 percent in 2007 to 5.8 percent in 2008, the highest since
2003. A total of 2.6 million jobs were lost in 2008, the biggest loss since
1945. In December 2008 alone, 524,000 jobs were lost, driving the unemployment
rate to a 16-year-high of 7.2 percent (The New York Times, January 10,2009). The
number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) reached 2.2
million in November, up by 822,000 over the past 12 months (Employment Summary,
http://data.bls.gov). According to a poll conducted by Harris Interactive, the
median time Americans spent working in 2008, which included housekeeping and
studying, was 46 hours, which was one hour more than that of 2007. One in every
four Americans said their working hours increased in 2008. The median time
Americans spent playing in 2008was 16 hours, a decline of four hours from a year
ago and the lowest since 1973 (Agence France Presse, December 10, 2008). A
survey of day-laborer sites in 25 states found that half of all workers had been
underpaid or not paid at least once (The Washington Post, July 8, 2008). In July
2008, a Minnesota court ruled Wal-Mart Stores Inc violated state wage and hour
laws, failing to give workers their full rest breaks and requiring hourly
employees to work off-the-clock during training (The China Press, December 10,
2008). On July 23, 2008, New York's State Labor Department said a clothes
factory called "Jin Shun" in Queens was found to have cheated its workers of 5.3
million U.S. dollars in the past six years by paying them salaries far below the
minimum wage and not paying for overtime work (World Journal, July 24, 2008). On
September 6, about 27,000 machinists in Boeing went on strike, requiring the
company to raise their salaries and welfares
(http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid-7600000). On October 20, U.S.
District Court in Manhattan of New York ordered Saigon Grill Restaurant to
compensate 4.6 million U.S. dollars to 36 delivery workers for violations of
minimum wage and overtime laws (The China Press, December 23, 2008).
Employees' pension plans shrank considerably. A
senior budget analyst with the U.S. Congress estimated in October 2008 that
Americans' pension accounts lost 2 trillion U.S. dollars in the past 15 months.
More than half the people surveyed in an Associated Press-GfK poll said they
would have to delay their retirement. A survey conducted by the American
Association of Retired Persons (AARP) released in October 2008 said one out of
five Americans above the age of 45 stopped putting money into a 401(k),
IRA(Individual Retirement Account) or other retirement account (The China Press,
October 8, 2008). A study by Hewitt Associates found the average U.S. 401(k)
plan balance was down 14 percent in 2008 to 68,000 U.S. dollars from 79,000 U.S.
dollars in2007. 401(k) refers to a section of the U.S. Tax Code that allows
retirement plan investors to defer paying taxes (The China Press, November 25,
2008).
The realization of Americans' education rights is not
guaranteed. The American Human Development Report 2008-2009 showed that 14
percent of Americans (about 40 million), with inadequate ability to read or
write, were not able to understand the articles on newspapers or user manuals
(The China Press, July 17, 2008). A report published on December 3, 2008 by the
U.S. National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education said college tuition
and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007 while median family income rose
147 percent. Tuition for the 2008 fall semester increased by 6.4 percent on
average for state universities. Many states planned to sharply increase tuition
for public universities in 2009. Florida and the Washington states were
considering an increase of 15 percent and 20 percent, respectively. Among the
poorest families -- those with incomes in the lowest 20 percent --the net cost
of a year at a public university was 55 percent of median income, up from 39
percent in 1999-2000. At community colleges, that cost was 49 percent of the
poorest families' median income in 2008, up from 40 percent in 1999-2000 (The
New York Times, December 3, 2008). Only 11 percent of the children from the most
impoverished families were college graduates. The figure for children from the
top earning 20 percent families was 53 percent. (The New York Times, February
22, 2008).
Americans without health insurance have been
increasing. According to the American Human Development Report published in July
2008, despite spending 230 million U.S. dollars an hour on healthcare, Americans
live shorter lives than citizens of almost every other developed country,
ranking 42nd in terms of life expectancy. One out of six Americans does not have
health insurance. The Census Bureau said in a report published on August 26,
2008 that there are 45.7 million Americans without health insurance. Nineteen
states had already made cuts or were planning to make cuts in Medicaid and/or
State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) (The China Press, December 12,
2008). As medical expenses were rising, many companies quitted buying health
insurance for their employees. A research conducted by the National Federation
of Independent Business in March 2008 found that only 47 percent small-size
companies provide health aids for their employees. Among companies of 50
employees or less, only 24 percent offer health aids. Many gave up seeing a
doctor or receiving treatments as they couldn't afford it.
Drugs, suicide and other social problems prevail in
the United States. America has the largest population of cocaine and marijuana
users in the world. A survey of 54,000 people from 17 countries found that 16
percent of U.S. survey respondents had at least tried cocaine in their lifetime,
and more than 42 percent had tried marijuana (WHO global drug survey finds high
rates of cocaine, marijuana use in U.S., http://www.thebostonchannel.com). The
suicide rate among middle-aged white Americans had been on the rise. A research
report issued on October 21, 2008 by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of
Public Health said between 1999 and 2005, the overall suicide rate in the United
States rose by 0.7 percent every year. The figure for white men aged 40 to 64
rose 2.7 percent and for middle-aged white women 3.9 percent. In 2007, a total
of 138 people in the city of St. Louis committed suicide. As of June 2, 2008, 61
in the city committed suicide, up by 15 year-on-year (The Washington Post, June
2, 2008). The suicide rates in Baltimore, Detroit and New Orleans were all on
the rise (The Christian Science Monitor, January 4, 2008). Many young Americans
have personality disorders. Researchers found that almost one in five young
American adults has a personality disorder that interferes with everyday life,
and nearly half of young people surveyed have some sort of psychiatric
condition. Fewer than 25 percent of college-aged Americans with mental problems
get treatment (1 in 5 adults has personality disorder, http://www.archgenpsychiatyr.com).
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