What brings on poverty in American Cities? What changes could be made to reduce or eliminate poverty in those cities?

Here are some facts to ponder. 

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This has got to be one of the greatest  American tragedies. What do the top 10 cities with the highest poverty rate all have in common?
 
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Detroit, MI (1st on the poverty rate  list)...hasn't elected a Republic an mayor since 1961;


Buffalo, NY (2nd)...hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1954;


Cincinnati, OH (3rd)...hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1984;


Cleveland, OH (4th)...hasn't elected a  Republican mayor since 1989;


Miami, FL (5th)...has never had a  Republican mayor;


St. Louis, MO (6th)...hasn't elected a  Republican mayor since 1949;


El Paso, TX (7th)...has never had  a Republican mayor;


Milwaukee, WI (8th)...hasn't elected a  Republica n mayor since 1908;


Philadelphia, PA (9th)...hasn't  elected a Republican mayor since 1952;


Newark, NJ  (10th)...hasn't elected a Republican mayor since 1907.
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Einstein  once said, 'The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.'
 
It is the  disadvantaged who habitually elect Democrats --- yet are still disadvantaged.
 
Opinion: The disadvantaged remain disadvantaged  because they are looking for a Liberal Democratic Government to give  them something, when all they have to do is work for it.
 
(How  can a person be 5th generation AND disadvantaged in this country?)
 
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"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream.
 
It  must be fought for, protected, and handed on to them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free".
 
-Ronald Wilson Reagan

Bob,

What steps would you envision as necessary to break the cycle you describe? 

Geoff,

Thank you for inviting me to answer this question. To be honest with you, I do not know what causes poverty in American Cities. If I had to take a guess, I would say poor management of money and over spending. I disagree with you when you say it is because they have not elected Republican Mayors. We had a Republican in the White House for the last eight years and the entire country is going down hill. We are in one of the worst recessions that this nation has seen in decades. Not just the cities are in poverty, but the entire country. Heck, we are almost in a depression, if not already. can you explain what changes can be made to reduce or eliminate poverty in the United States after Bush?

Be Blessed

geoffbeneze, I just spent a half hour outlining the steps, pressed the submit button, and the whole thing vanished.  I'll answer again tomorrow.

Geoffbeneze, Although I do not have all the answers, but having lived in several major cities, I can tell you that from time immemorial poverty has existed. Long before there were Democrats and Republicans it existed. As far back a human civilization the same conditions existed. There has aways been the very wealthy vs. the very poor. Apparently poverty will never disappear until there is a redistribution of wealth balancing the wealthy and the poor. During Bush II's Administration, more money flowed upward then ever came down to the poor. With the terrible economy that we now have now, things will get much worse before they will get better. That is an indisputable fact. To verify what I am saying, put weath in the US into the searh bar and you will find that the top one percenters in this country owns 95% of the wealth. Out of these, the 1% of the very wealthy owns Billions of dollars. So, to sum up my opinion, poverty has existed since the first civilization. It has manifested itself with the most powerful or the wealthiest people who kept their subjects in poverty. And, to translate it to modern times in the US, we have the very wealthy and the abject poor. I hope that I have answered your question.

Michael Joel Held

I would like to take this invitation to vent. I just heard that the people who work on the T (which is a train) that only commutes back and forth a short distance pays its employees $100,000/yr. There are other such jobs I could mention such as GM that paid top dollar and continue to do so after retirement at young age. There are state employees who are taking cuts and at first I felt bad for them till I found out that even after the cuts they were making out better than most. Now for the grand finale, how do the outrageously rich people feel (and there are many) ie, Hollywood, and then lets go with Bill Gates and the rest of the "list" ...they live in mansions and so on and care not of the suffering, they go to charity events for the publicity as I see it. Get all gussied up, get their picture taken. Does that make them feel less guilty. Enough said for now.

What is so sad that innercities have been forgotten altogether it is like innercity is the root and as the tree grows what caused the tree to grow is forgotten. I don't know whether because Republicans are out of the picture or not but the innercities need the help so badly but anyone in high authority have forgotten them.

When I lived close to Downtown Miami it was so safe I could walk Downtown and never have a problem and I mean late at night or early in the morning no matter what time of day or night. This was in 1955 when I first came to Miami because I moved here because my father worked for the United States Government in Central America and for the most part it was all American and everyone spoke English there was no Spanish.

Then the Cubans came at the same time and all of the orginal people that came here were forgotten and the Cubans took over and now if you don't speak Spanish you are no longer welcome but with them they brought their crime that they were committing in Cuba. I couldn't even walk down the street without fear of something happening to me a matter a fact a Cuban man was showing himself and doing things in front of me that was not nice at all while I was walking my dog. I called the police and they found him with someone in his car that was wanted for a felony in another state. We went to court and the judge told him he had to seek mental help the very next week he tried the same thing to my sister that went to court with me I guess he never learned.

If the government does not try to cure the root of all cities and towns the whole state will disappear as we know them today and that is a fact.

The innercity is about the only place where they live and do their crimes so it has become so bad that everyone has moved away and they remain. I and my husband went Downtown Miami a little while ago to see what it looks like today and now all of the busineses have bars and gates in front it looks like a prison. The streets are dirty etc. It is down right scarey and that is a fact.

"geoffbeneze, I just spent a half hour outlining the steps, pressed the submit button, and the whole thing vanished.  I'll answer again tomorrow."

Oh, that nearly pushes me over the brink when it happens. I've learned to do my composition either in my email client or in a mini WP so I can copy the completed text over to Yedda. However, I've managed to tear some of the few remaining hairs when the system drops messages.