Another recent posting.   
      
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    ...   
      
    the panel focused on practical ways to combat poverty and   
    discussed public policies that create a more equitable economy.   
      
    The group agreed unanimously that any budget cuts need to avoid   
    targeting those who depend on them the most.   
      
    ...   
      
    Obama released his 2012 federal budget on Monday. The $3.7   
    trillion proposal trims or terminates more than 200 federal   
    programs next year --   
      
    ...   
      
    The president said the plan is aimed at boosting the nation's   
    economy while reducing record budget deficits.   
      
    Monday's panel discussion included a look at the different   
    forms of poverty across the nation. Valmonte and Kammer, from   
    New York City and New Orleans respectively, offered their own   
    distinctive experiences.   
      
    ...   
      
    For Kammer, who works in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama --   
    some of the most impoverished states in the nation -- poverty   
    has a clear racial dimension.   
      
    In her remarks, Nissenbaum drew attention to "the other side   
    of poverty" that is income inequality -- criticizing the   
    enormous disparity between income gains of the top 1 percent   
    versus the bottom quintile since 1979.   
      
    "If people were paying their fair share of taxes, if income   
    was divided more readily, if poor people were being paid more,   
    we'd see some changes and some really important changes in   
    peoples' lives," Kammer said.   
      
    Another key theme was contesting the notion that poverty can be   
    overcome individually.   
      
    "We hear people who say individual responsibility as though   
    the poor chose to be in poverty," Valmonte said. "For the   
    most part, it's the structure that keeps them in poverty."   
      
      
      
      
   BOB KLAHN bob.klahn@sev.org   http://home.toltbbs.com/bobklahn   
      
   ... Difficile est satiram non scribere. --Juvenal Satires I 30   
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