OLD AND POOR IN AMERICA , a series

It's not as easy to be old and poor in America as it used to be.
Poor people die younger than the affluent,and the life expectancy gap is growing.

Nevertheless, the article on the Op-Ed page of Sunday's N.Y. Times might indicate some additional factors will dispose of the aged earlier. Apparently this would make the affluent breathe a lot easier. The article, by Barbara Ehrenreich suggests this might be the case and has an intriguing title:

IS IT NOW A CRIME TO BE POOR?

Of course if they could just make it a crime to be poor maybe they could at least put the old and poor in prison. Out of sight, out of mind. Thus the affluent would not be reminded of the kind of society they have created. Make no mistake,that's what all that hub bub you saw on your TV news was about last evening.

This is not a Right vs Left battle any more.The wealthy are panicking as Obama begins his crusade;The capitalists in his own party are fighting him tooth and nail.

Combining no health care, imprisonment and a few other ideas from Glen BRECK, Rush Oxycontin and Ann Couturier should should complete the dirty deeds.

Here are a few of the current attempts to criminalize being old and poor in America as outlined by Ms Ehrenreich in her brilliant article Sunday:

A new study from the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty,finds that the number of ordinances against the publicly poor has been rising since 2006, along with ticketing and arrests for more “neutral” infractions like jaywalking, littering or carrying an open container of alcohol.

Jaywalking?

I jaywalk just about every day but it's because my vision is so poor. I sometimes wander outside of the lines. Seventy eight years without an arrest and now I go to jail for jaywalking.No,they want me in jail because I am poor and old,not because I am almost blind and old.

I will be covering many similar prejudices affecting the old and poor in the next few days and weeks. Why? Because I am old and poor. Who better to write about it?

Tomorrow, "Crackdowns against the indigent," continues.