Telling of these facts is great.We need more news like this! The truth about poverty. 

If you hear about the Utilities Poverty Level, PLease  cover that. Current federal poverty level covers JUST Food. The Utilities Poverty Level covers lifes unavoidable expenses, like: Rent, (repairs)  Healthcare, Transportation, Clothes and  our heat and Utilities, plus food. I have emailed Mr.Obama asking passage  of utilities cost ofliving wage, and federal poverty guidelines.

There is a feed-back form at www.whitehouse.gov Scroll down to Contact, listed with 4 other options at the botton of the page. Click contact andthe form will appear.

I live in one of the state which must work 100 hours to pay the  bottom of the fair market value:Even through Maine and OR  has minimum wages over the federal level, People in these states must work 2 and a half weeks at 40 hours a week to pay the rent. After taxes  that leave less then 1 weeks pay for all the necessities of life.

Shannon, will you be as kind as to tell me where to find this study? I want to check it out for myself.

A hugely important piece that should be passed out to everyone concerned with the state of affairs in our country, but most especially needs to land in the laps of every senator and congressperson in our government.  In fact, it ought to be required reading for everyone involved with formulating social policy.....

These statistics are heartbreaking for low wage workers trying to keep a roof over their heads and the children of these workers who are often left at home with little supervision. 

Thank you for this information Shannon,

I live in Long Beach, CA, were there is no rent control and the amount of rent a familly has to pay for a one bedroom appartment is twice their paychek.. I think there should be more action to take on this matter and a pettition should be generated and sent to our governement!!!

Excellent post. I find it ironic that we have been provided a tax credit to buy a house during a year when so many are either losing their job, getting their wages frozen, or resorting to three part time jobs just to get by. The American dream is dead.

One more reason we should expect a Democratic administration and congress to pass a living wage law.

Good info, Shannon. Thanks for sharing.

This kind of information is very needed to stop a good amount of the dehumanizing rationalization that makes a safe haven for making this problem even worse.

Shannon, I hope you do not mind. I emailed this article with by line to a few newspapers, people from non-profits, churches, US Senators in Maine, Also mailed it to Mr Obama. 

This is so great of an article it is the truth. The report might not even be as bad as people enduring these inhumane conditions find them. But your article is an eye opener.

Mine, cannot be the only computer to act up after visiting Change.org Is there anything which can be done. It slows downs comes up withmore errors, gives me a site 15-40 times until I run Norton virus.   I  want to continue visiting change.org 
Even if I have been in the Homeless/Poverty/Human Rights field 25 years I can Learn from this site.   Articles like this gives me HOPE that the public might be told how bad it is. I do not wish my computer to act up.
Jan

Very important information, thank you for the article. I work as a volunteer homeless outreach worker and see homelessness on a daily basis. And everyday I go home with this in mind, "there but for the grace of God go I". I am no different than my homeless brothers and sisters. No different, just housed.

Rent control allows rent to go up, but never down, assuming that market forces will automatically adjust prices when the market is bad.

Unfortunately, most renters simply cut back on everything else, before going in search of a cheaper place to move. So rents stay high, and people go homeless while vacancy rates go up, but prices still remain high.

One way to PREVENT homelessness would be to help those at risk to find alternatives which are affordable.

I had expected prices in general would go down to entice people into buying. For the most part they have not. For those of you who do not know my work, I operatea Homeless Crisis Hotline in Maine.

It is an informational/referral hot-line. Lately its next to useless. The Homeless and even the female abuse shelters are overflowing. It started in 1994, till now. In fact, in many cases one must go onto a "waiting list" for shelter services.

Yes the people who control the prices, seem willing to change a $325 a month apartment without improvements, until they are at $725 a month - the average starting place in this state the last couple of years. 

Rents Prices are not coming down. They may have to climb out of this great recession.

We had a discussion in my classism group this morning on what the alternatives are.  One way to cut down on cost is to have roommates. You save money, are crowded. and could get a nut, as a roommate.

The econmy itsself, must change, before we climb out of this muck and mire. First pay all workers a livable wage. Keep prices where they are, for 2 years.  After the workers are adequately paid, we all can afford rents. Then investors can make a profit.
We need to move from a consumers market, where we value how big is the size of our wallets. To a self evolving community. Where all of us are interested in being the best we can possibly can be, not worrying about the cost when we get a medical scare. Not worrying about the cost of college books. And Certainly not Worrying about the rent.
 
This Would require a financial genius. Oh wait such has been said back in the late 1940's by John Nash. Of the beuatiful mind film. He was a math genius, he said cooperation is required. While I do not understand the Math, I understand the concept.

When one is poor, it's not easy to move.  Often (if not closer to always), one's money for moving is tied up.  Even for a local (say cross town) move, one would need a minimum of deposit, first month's rent, the $40ish for local rent on a moving truck and gas - plus due to the poor credit often automatically associated with being poor just due to debt ratios, you're likely to need new deposits for one or more utilities.

For me to move, I'm looking at shipping - via freight - the minimum things I NEED to keep to a relative.  Then buying a plane ticket the next month and staying with them for at least a disability check to have all the deposits.  So over the course of 3 or so months, HOPEFULLY, I'll manage to move.  And it's going to take moving that far just to afford a new place.  I'll NEVER get another place locally.  Not with average rents being what they are and me making TOO LITTLE for most housing assistance programs and there being a minimum of YEARS wait on the waitlists for subsidized rent programs - where the waitlists are even open.

For those who has not figured out how the get to the 220 page reports. It took me awhile. There are links right  in the article. Hit the blue words saying "report" and magically, it appears.

Remember this report uses government public information from HUD and US Labor. if  anything it understates the amount of people in need.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is 61 years this year. It calls for a decent wage in more then one of its 30 articles.     So a livable wage is not a new idea.  IT is just an unimplemted idea.

Article 25 Impacts on health: the 1948 Version 1. everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including foods,clothing, and medical care, and the right of social services, the right to security in event of unemployment, sickness, widowhood,old age, or other livelihood circumstance beyond his control.   1977 Version  of  Article 25  You have the right to have 100% whatever you need so that you don't fall ill: do not go hungry; have clothes; and have the safety of a roof over your head;  and health care, and if you are out of work, you should be helped.  If you are ill,old, if your wife or husband is dead, you should have 100% supplement.  You should be aided up to the full need if you do not earn an adequate living for any other reason you cannot control.   (Italics = my words but I think they sum up the meaning of the orginal text. The plain text says "and a house, that is confusing.)

one Paycheck !! i'm closer than that i get $900.00 a month this month i'm  expected to live on $35.93  this month !!!. I see losing my ouse real soon

Any nation's FIRST priority should be meeting the basic (food-clothes-shelter) needs of ALL of its population.  PERIOD.

And FYI, another segment of the population being hit extremely hard are companion animals.  They are losing their lives at unprecedented rates due to being abandoned because their human family members either can't, or in some cases just won't, continue to shoulder the responsibility for their care.  For those of us like myself to whom cats (or others) are beloved family members, this is extremely distressing.  Anyone who CAN afford it, and truly cares, I urge you to go to your local sanctuary/rescue group/shelter/on the street and adopt/rescue.  Don't delay.  Save precious lives today.  And for EVERYONE who's hurting, you have my prayers and my good thoughts.  I'm hurting, too -- on all levels.

I live in Los Angeles and work with the homeless, I can tell you firsthand, it is getting really bad here. Many families with small children are becoming homeless , and I don't have to tell you about the mentally ill housing crisis. It's heartbreaking to me to see homeless people in one of the most heavily taxed and richest cities in the world. Homelessness knows no boundaries. SOme homeless people are college educated, and through no fault of their own, have either lost their jobs and don't have a way out. Many apartments here in Los Angeles require at least 2 months rent ( very expensive anyway) PLUS fees for cleaning, keys, garage, etc. If you've lost your job, chances are that money is going to be very hard to find.I am a college graduate, and I was homeless once, after leaving a bad relationship. I can tell you it was the worst experience of my life. The streets are a horrible place if you are a woman. There were times , even in the shelters, when I was in fear of being attacked, and most of my belongings were stolen. It is dehumanizing. Fortunately, I had parents who helped me out. A lot of people don't have that kind of support system.

Dear God, why won't somebody in the government help US?  We are the working poor.  We are the people who shop once a week and keep the economy going.  We are the ones who pay ridiculous utility bills so that Utility companies and cities can get rich off of our sweat.  It wasn't like this 30 years ago.  Somebody have pity on us and undo all of the damage of the Clinton and Bush administrations.  My God, please!  We are going down so fast we will be over the edge in about a month.  Someone please help.

Thank you for this report Shannon:
I am a homeless advocate in Nashville,Tn.I am invoulved with several groups and orgs here that the homeless,we feed them 5 times a week now and as soon as we the volunteers together we add 2 more days a week.And I am homeless myself and have giving my life to helping the homeless.I am one of the many fighting to stop the closing of the Tentcity here.I intend to use this report at the next Homeless Commission meeting here,which was to be yesterday but was postponed,now though when I go to the meeting I will have this report to try to show these fools that instead trying to hurt the homeless here they need to get ready for the large increse in the numbers of homeless that is comming.Already happening every week we are seeing a lot of new faces in the lines to eat.If you have anything else that will support our case would you please e-mail it to me.
 Thank you very much for this repord.God bless you.

PS
I would love a full copy of this report.If you could e-mail it to me myself and the homeless of Nashville would be very grateful.

I am in hopes that most of those who expressed outrage at rights costing twice their wages is expressed to Obama. Tell him to not worry about increasing mimimum wages to $9.40 an hour that will not pay the renr either-increase to a livable wage even if small business's most be supplemented.

This is a 60 year old idea, whose time has come. It was said and adopted back in 1948 in the Universal Declaration of Human rights that people have a standard of living allowing for Food, rent and repairs, transportation, health care, clothes, and utilities. Way back then, they saw the need for recreation, and vacations.
Write Obama using the Feed back form at www.WhiteHouse.gov  Scroll down to five items at the bottom of the opening page, including Contact information at the right bottom. Click on that, a form will come up. If you compose in that form, you will have to move the curser to where you made a mistake.  You can copy and paste into the form. 

I have written to president Obama, today on US Supreme Court Appointment. You can also ask for liberal who understand poverty.

I go back to a time when every working familly could afford to buy a home or rent a decent apartment with the mother staying home to raise the children. Those days are gone. During my early days, I planned on a retiremnet living in California. I worked long hard hours purchasing three duplexes and a GI home. In divorce proceedings, the California judges gave all my property to my ex wife who immediately sold everything and squandered the money. Subsidized housing is the answer for people like me and the hard working families. The government taketh away, then should giveth back.

there are 2 factors causing this:

1.  the avg worker is not being paid his fair share. Upper management is getting far more than they deserve. 30 years ago the average executive was paid approximately 40 times the average workers pay. now the average executive makes 350-400 times the average workers pay. upper management is being paid wayyy to much and the average worker gets peanuts. it all started with reagan and has continued unabated for nearly 30 years. the only way it will change is if workers unite and unionize. without unions our nation will get to the point where it will be more like venezuela or mexico
than a west european democracy.

2. Iraq. the bush-cheney fiasco has cost this country over
a trillion dollars - that's $1,000,000,000,000+ oe to put it in
simpler terms one million times one million. it's the worst single financial disaster in the nations history. it will take the u.s. over 20 years to recover from this loss.

 " AAAAAAAAAA" I AM NOT SURE WHAT ISSURE IN THIS WORLD IS MORE SAD. ALL I KNOW IS NO ONE SHOULD HAVE TO PAY TO LAY THEIR HEAD UPON THE EARTH, THESE LANDS WERE GIVEN FREELY TO THE CHILDREN OF THE EARTH, AND NOW SOME ENERGY FORCE HAS MADE IT WHERE I HAVE TO GIVE THEM MONEY,,,, THEIR ARE SO MANY PLACES TO BE CONVERTED TO LIVING HOMES, OLD BUSES, CAN BE CONVERTED, MANY THINGS IF PEOPLE WOULD WAKE UP AND FREE THIER MINDS, SOMETIME I FEEL THE ONLY WAY TO RID THIS FORCE IS TO GET BACK TO THE GARDEN, STOP BUYING. RIDE A BIKE, WALK MORE, TAKE DOWN THIS FORCE, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH,,, I AM A SPIRITUAL REVOLUTIONARY, ITS TIME TO STEP UP....p.s. NO ONE SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO OWN TWO HOMES , EVERYONE FIRST SHOULD HAVE ONE, NO ONE SHOULD BE ABLE TO MAKE PROFIT FROM THE HOUSING STITUTION... IT IS OUR BIRTH RIGHT TO WALK FREELY, AND LAY YOUR HEAD IN PEACE.. THANKS,,,MYSIC

All the market forces are conspired to raise prices and rents with nothing keeping them down. At the same time, all the market forces are conspired to keep wages down, except the executive salaries and bonuses, and the highly skilled, hard to find talents who can market themselves. For the rest of us, we live by the grace of those in power. And we have seen what the power brokers do....all for themselves. The few good people don't have the support they need to make changes. President Obama tried to change Washington and Wall Street. It's not happening because those in power don't want to lose it.

I agree with the thought  "no one should have to pay to lay their head upon the earth, these lands were given freely to the children of the earth, and now some energy force has made it where I have to give them money,,,," 

I have nothing against millionaires owning more than house-But only after

The rest of us are Fed and has a Bed.

In another thread someone referred to the 70% paid less than livable wage as "unfortunate".

 Those words irk me, because it sounds like our plight accidentally happened.   70% of us being paid less than required to survive, was not a natural catastrophe, it was not bad luck, like a hurricane.  POVERTY IS About design.   I do not know about anyone else living without enough to pay all bills but my financial adversity, is by design.

Yes my calamity is by the designed of people up the financial totem pole, who never want to try anything else. They would rather you believed the capitalist method, and consumerism, are the only form of economy. Consumerism is a sickness, which cause the greenhouse gases.

There is a format we can devise where "People ACTUALLY come Before Profits" is not just a slogan to gather more profits.  By strengthening from the bottom up we make a better land.  Industry, calls workers the backbone of America. But then if workers were paid enough to pay all their bills, they would become the competent ion. Never give many workers enough to thrive seems to be the thought of many generations of lifetimes.

It would cost investors an initial loss of perhaps $10 a stock, to pay a livable wage. The prices must remain fixed. And businesses who could not truly afford the raise's, would have their workers income supplemented by the government.

We are children of the creator.   As the Chosen ones traveled from Egypt to the Promised Land, Manna was meant to be free. That is why saved potions of trail mix, (manna) spouted maggots overnight.

I do not agree there are just a few good people wanting change. I believe there are more good people then hard hearted people. They just need to hear that 30% of the States in the USA Pay the disabled less then the cost of rent in their SSI Checks.  In some states the inadequate SSI checks, are more than welfare checks.  As happens in Maine , one of the 15 states paying SSI less than the Fair market price of rent. If the rest of the people knew that According to governments own figures,

Seventy percent of the American people are not paid enough to pay rent, repairs, clothes health, recreation, food, and Utilities. That is by design. If we held our hands together instead of bad mouthing those weaker than ourselves, and raised our voices high, the good people might be heard. End 100% of poverty.

Ok so i agree with a lot of what y'all say but lets face the facts. A lot of it has to do with the fact that people are lazy and not willing to actually work. We are a very low income family with 4 kids{we homeschoo}. To make ends meat we grow our own food and make most everything ourselves including soap. We even make our own cheese{thanks to my b-day present,a dairy goat}. We have our own eggs and meat thanks to the chickens{Christmas present}. It makes the small city plot a bit crowded but it works, {and keeps the neighbors yards mowed}.There are lots of things you can do to avoid having to buy and accept those high prices and help those around you.
 My husband works at your basic fast food restaurant and has for 17 yrs. His #1 complaint is no one will work, they call in or just don't do their job. Out of everyone that works there, there is only one other employee that actuality works. And does the job right. The two of them are always having to stay over and work to make up others slack so that they don't get a bad score and get in trouble or closed. that doesn't leave him much time for the family. Aslo he has not had a raise in yrs so while min wage{he makes just above} and prices keep going up he does not benefit we just keep becoming more poor {not complaining we are  very blessed to be able to do what we do}.  If people at his job would work they'd have better time and more profits which would mean bonuses and raises.  As for you guys that were laid off due to company closing or whatever I'm not talking about you. Its not your fault and I sure hope something works out.

BTW have any of y'all thought about a community garden like we have. Anyone that comes and works the garden gets to take food and eat with us. It helps me with the garden and helps my neighbors and others who can not fully tend a garden by themselves or simply don't know anything about it/ have the space.....whatever the case is.  Heres the site that got us started http://www.pathtofreedom.com/   you dont need a lot of space to feed yourselves so you can pay the rent.  Even if all you have are kitchen counters and window sills or window boxes. If you try hard enough you can better yourself without wanting others to fix it for you.

i never said always or all

oh and btw i am disabled

You can always do something even if it isnt what i do. Which is what the point was. Im so sorry you took it as a personal insult it was not my intention. Was mearly pointing out that many want someone else to fix the problem rather than making their own lives better.  Ive lived all over the us and have seen the same issues everywhere i go, so please dont take offence to my view. Im just calling it like i see it. Yes, there are many who cannot actually help how they live but there are a lot who can and don't. BTW as far as your hands and hips go i am truly sorry for your pain my neighbor suffers the same. But she fights for everyday and i truly respect her for that.

Margaret it sound to me like you are a good women. What is btw? Anyhow its great that you have your own food. But not everyone can have a goat in their driveway, So they can make their own cheese. My landlord would go out the window. The town has ordinances on not keeping livestock.

It sounds to me like you brought into the blame those with less than yourself.  That is exactly what those with more wants us to do.  Then we do not blame the responisable party.

While I didn't see any always in your message, I did not to re-read your post. People not paid enough often feels an always around every corner. And those 30% paid a livable wage or above, wants us bickering among ourselves. 

Some workers do not do a good job.  That is a fact of life. But 65% of the poor nationally are the working poor. They are working as hard as they are allowed to work by physical or mental limitation, or by mart's only allowing part-time workers.

I for one believe we as a nation can do alot better. Wouldn't we have better workers if they were getting a wage that made them feel human?

What I am saying here may not sink in all at once. But it is good that people are telling their plight, the way they see it. Keep on writting
If your husband is working as hard as he can, Why shouldn't your husband be paid the price it cost to live?Sounds like he is doing his job and others jobs. Why aren't you paid enough to buy food store food if you want.

Very good point we too are not to have livestock. I have found though that goats and chickens are often not included {though cocks are often not wanted lol, boy they crow early}. There is only one town in Al that i can find that has a no chickens ordnance and only one other town in Al that has any other ordinances such as how far the chickens must be from a neighbor. If your Area is so tuff maybe they need to revamp in the common interest of the people.
On the other hand if one {not all}will not work for a small wage why should we believe they will work for a larger one? I would never give a raise to a lousy worker. I know many unemployed {and yes a few homeless had it not been for family}that keep searching for "help{others to pay their bills" but will not accept a "lesser" job. I don't understand.
 As far as my husbands poor wages i believe we were put in this position so that i would learn to do all this and teach others. If we had a lot of money i would never have thought to do so.
 We by most standards have very little, until the week we didn't even have beds for everyone! But oh well, we are still rich, we have family and food and are able to share what we do have. Thank God for that. Again I am truly sorry i offened you.

I have a slightly different take on all this: I am a 28-yr-old massage therapist working part-time for other people, which is not lucrative, and make around $900/mo. But I'm living happily, and I owe that to living in a co-op.

Officially, our $1400/mo, 2500 sq ft split-level ranch house with yard is supposed to be for 3 or 4 people. Currently our co-op has 9 people, including one married couple. We pool money to split the expenses of food and utilities evenly, and then each person pays for their own room or space (some bedrooms have been converted from other spaces, like the 2 bedrooms made from the absurdly large den.) I pay the most, $300/mo plus an average of $40 utilities and $100 for food per month. Everyone else's rent is between $80 and $240.

A few of us are college students, but the rest of us are just living our lives as adults without the expectation that success means living in our own private houses. The low rent gives us freedom to work less and follow passions more. Our house isn't filthy or chaotic, and we don't seem to be suffering from these loneliness and depression problems that Americans seem to be plagued with. On the contrary, we only have to cook dinner once a week and eat what other people make the rest of the time, always have people to confide in, visit with, and sit around laughing with, become part of each other's social and resource networks, and our garden rocks the party that rocks the party. There isn't much "struggling" around here. We pretty much love each other and have a great time being pretend-family.

Of course, every house is different, and our house, for example, would not be ideal for someone with children - but other co-ops in town are. Sharing makes life a lot easier. A lot of our problems are economic, but developing cooperative skills and more realistic expectations of what success means would help a lot too.

Wow, Amanda what a solution! I bet its really interesting. We cant have a ton of others here but we do have singles that stay with us off and on per season. Mostly college kids they don't pay anything but they sure do help out a lot around here. I bet its really great at your house. Lots of spice and variety.

sorry fogot BTW means by the way

i'm glad to know i'm not the only person in this current living situation...

I guess change.org is a place where people wanting to make sense of the world would go. Providing a full report to the public on how some states take 3 full time jobs to pay rent, is not going to be provided by many newspapers YET.

Hearing that people are cleverly providing their own food. Or living in crowded continuously focusing upon the benefits of the situations is great. WE ARE NOT ALONE.

Myself having a place where I can get out added information I have gathered, is the best I write for a few weeklies or monthlies, which are written by the poor for the poor. I would like to write for mainstream media.

When someone in the fray of the mix is allowed to write a column in Mainstream media, we are moving toward the path of justice. That is they are poor themselves-helping other underpaid folks.

Change.org could be a step toward action. We will not forget our training of blaming those with the least overnight. But as we constructively focus on the cure-We move toward life as intended to be.
I do not mean to offend anyone, but has anyone the answer to why its fine to pay hardworking people the amount it costs to live?  In other words 65% of all the poor are the working poor. 70% of all Americans are NOT paid  livable wages. Why are we paid a survival rate, rather then a rate allowing us to pay all our bills and thrive?

I have wondered this off and on for 52 years. Since I was 7 year old. An International document from before I was born mentioned a decent wage-and still Too many of us, cannot pay the price of rent,repairs, food, health care, and Utilities at the same time.

I think the whole problem comes with to many people having the goal of being millioinaires and rich.  IN at least one of the scandanavian countries people can't earn over $200k. Anything over that must either be deducted as business expenses , like for paying employees, or given in the form of taxes to the gov't.   Then the gov't can supply many good things for their country.  Now here in the USA(as well as other countries too, china included) the number of millionaires is increasing, the number of people in poverty is increasing and the middle class is disappearing. that is because the money always has to be balanced.  If people are becoming millionaires they're getting all that money from other people, many of whom are now becoming poor. For example, if the price of gas and oil goes up the owners of Exxon/ Mobil get wealthier while all the people that drive  cars and heat their houses get poorer for a larger amount of money they spend each week must go for that.  The cost of living goes up  far faster than most salaries including minimum wage.  If we had the same policy as the scandinavian countries and didn't allow anyone to keep over $200k of their income each year( or some similar amount), well then we'd have less millionaires(hopefully no millionaires), better education, better transportation, better green energy programs that could save people lots of money, more jobs available and lots more.  In the Bible it says that it is harder for a rich man to get into heaven than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.  Being rich can lead to many evil temptations.  If people do get rich, they should make lots of donations and try to help the rest of the world.  If noone was allowed to be rich, well then probably noone would end up being poor.  So if poverty is a growing problem then it is time to get more money back from those who have earned an awful lot, like the president of Exxon/Mobil, and use it to help make this country more liveable.   When the cost of health insurance goes up 23% or more a year, well it is time for those rich people in the business to stop getting all these loopholes so they don't have to pay taxes, and to make them give most of their money back to the country to help others.  

a reasonable solution exists... i feel that we need to be more open minded to new, and unconventional ideas.

one thing a lot of people are not considering is perhaps the Venus Project? i don't feel this is acknowledged enough, because it breaks away from the standard conservative traditionalism that most people cling to so dearly...

if you haven't heard of this yet, check it out:

http://www.thevenusproject.com/

it's not perfect, but it's a hell of a lot better than what we have now.

"We must become the change we want to see in the world."
-Mohandas Gandhi

I looked up the Venus Project, and Iagree that resources should be a new foundation for Raising the standard of living. For those of you who do not have time to open and read what they wrote here is part of it:

3. People are not equal without equal purchasing power.

4. Most people are slaves to jobs they do not like because they need the money.

5. There is tremendous corruption, greed, crime, embezzlement, and more caused by the need for money.

6. Most laws are enacted for the benefit of corporations, which have enough money to lobby, bribe, or persuade government officials to make laws that serve their interests.

7. Those who control purchasing power have greater influence.

8. Money is used to control the behavior of those with limited purchasing power.

9. Goods such as foods are sometimes destroyed to keep prices up; when things are scarce prices increase.

Some people are ahead of us up here in Maine-that is great to know.  Imagine health care in a resource economy You need antibotics-you have such.   You need $700 a month pills for heart-you have them. much like star trek the next generation. 

The project is located in Venus Florida.
 
This is what the Venus project says:
 http://www.thevenusproject.com/
A Resource-Based Economy is a system in which all goods and services are available without the use of money, credits, barter or any other system of debt or servitude. All resources become the common heritage of all of the inhabitants, not just a select few. The premise upon which this system is based is that the Earth is abundant with plentiful resource; our practice of rationing resources through monetary methods is irrelevant and counter productive to our survival.

Look at www.Hospitalityhouseofmaine.org  this is what we say. just not as eloquently.  I believe they are moving in the right direction, and hope people of intergity are leading it.

Think a minute: We chose to repeal welfare, turning recipients into a massive, desperate, bottom (sometimes sub-minimum) wage temp work force while corporate America was in the midst of exporting massive numbers of US jobs to foreign countries. So -- more people desperate for work at any wage, and a shrinking pool of available jobs. This has been a powerful tool for suppressing wages, crushing unions and deeply damaging the whole economy. We are now dealing with the consequences of getting what we asked for.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING , from the bottom up and the top down and meet in the middle.    IF PROJECTIONS are correct? Then we need to be building / rebuilding transportation efficient urban area's into higher density housing , The Transportation, HUD and EPA met together and will be working together on this. More affordable Affordable Housing is the answer to this situation. Only question is will they get started anytime this century? By inaction the politicians are deciding to leave the problem to our Grandchildren's Kids.