Thursday March 10, Richard Eskow blogged The Penalty for Poverty should not be Death. He starts his blog off making a reference to the Brookings Institution, who made a report stating that wealthy Americans live longer than our poorer citizens, and the life expectancy gap between the two is growing at a rapid pace. Eskow begins his argument agreeing with the statement from the institute. Then stating the statistics of men in the top and bottom 10 percent of income and how their life expectancy ranges. Men who were born in the 1920's and were the bottom 10 percent lived six years less than the top 10, and 1950 the gap rose to fourteen years. So over a time of thirty years that gap doubled, and is still increasing today.

     Now not only does he state the issue, but then he offers a solution. He compares the United States to other countries and how long their citizens live compared to ours, and it is much longer. And the main difference between us and places like Canada is our health care. So his solution would be to allow free healthcare, lower the prices of medicines, and increase social security.  I feel his intended audience is every citizen in the U.S who cares about this social issue, and of course our government. He picked a good argument, with a lot of references and comparisons to back up his blog, so his word is credible. And I do agree with everything he is saying, and I know the poorer class people would. But would some of the wealthier care when they aren't experiencing the issue as much, or would the Government really care or want to fix it if these are ways to make more money and get rid of bodies?