for those who think getting out of poverty is as simple as parental discipline,

or as easy as pulling at your own bootstraps:

Poverty in early childhood poisons the brain, the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Boston heard on Friday.

Neuroscientists said many children growing up in very poor families with low social status experience unhealthy levels of stress hormones, which impair their neural development. That effect is on top of any damage caused by inadequate nutrition and exposure to environmental toxins.

Studies by several US universities have revealed the pervasive harm done to the brain, particularly between the ages of six months and three years, from low socio-economic status.
…
Jack Shonkoff, director of Harvard University’s centre on the developing child, said policymakers had to take note of the research because “the foundation of all social problems later in life takes place in the early years”.

“The earlier you intervene [to counteract the impact of poverty], the better the outcome in the end, because the brain loses its plasticity [adaptability] as the child becomes older,” he said.

Stress hormone levels tend to be higher in young children from poor families than in children growing up in middle-class and wealthy families, said Prof Shonkoff. Excessive levels of these hormones disrupt the formation of synaptic connections between cells in the developing brain – and even affect its blood supply. “They literally disrupt the brain architecture,” he said.
…
Well-tailored programmes can help, Prof Shonkoff agreed. But in the end, the only way to remove the “toxic” impact of poverty on young brains is to abolish poverty itself, he said.

Why does this seem to be something every kid knows instinctively (that poverty is bad for people), while so many adults think that people choose to wallow in poverty? Is it simply because then we can choose not to do anything about it?

As the preznit so memorably said,”First, let me make it very clear, poor people aren’t necessarily killers. Just because you happen to be not rich doesn’t mean you’re willing to kill.”

This is your country on republicanism.

This is why John Edwards’ message is so important, no matter his status.

h/t to cookie jill for the link.

Last 2 posts in Economic justice

to quote atrios: - July 11th, 2008
justice in america - June 25th, 2008

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3 Comments so far (Add 1 more)

(listed oldest to newest)

Slim, you most likely are 100% correct on this post. However I do have several questions about it. Don’t the poor have dreams/visions about bettering themselves? I do realize, as do you, it is hard to get out of poverty.

However, it seems, according to the article, that poverty is handed down from generation to generation, and that is what I find somewhat in question. Non of the poverty people have desires to become better? We all want to better ourselves, and want our children to do better than what we, as parents, have done.

And yes, I’m sure the mental health of poverty people have to come into play. But mental health comes into play in every part of society today. A good example of that is the people who win the big lottery. In a couple of years, they are broke. Why?

And how is the chain broken? Almost everyone I associate with are willing to help people, if they are trying to help themselves. The people who just sit there and say “you owes me”, are not going to get very much help from the average American.

With the Republican party against everyone who isn’t ultra rich, and the Democrat party wanting to tax everyone, who in the hell is going to be able to help them? They themselves, mental health problems and all, have to start helping themselves.

Like you, I do feel sorry for them, but just what do you expect the average American taxpayer to do? Paying more taxes to help them is not the answer. We taxpayers need help ourselves, thanks to the crooks we have elected.

[Reply]

1. Above comment written by Allen on February 22nd, 2008 at 9:34 pm (replies, if any, are attributed separately above).
Work from the bottom up, like Roosevelt did. Better schools, jobs rebuilding our crumbling infrastructure, a GI bill that actually means something. Yes, we’ll have to pay for it - but imagine what we could do if we weren’t paying for this war. Imagine what would be possible if we cut the defense budget by just 25%.

[Reply]

2. Above comment written by slim on February 25th, 2008 at 10:12 am (replies, if any, are attributed separately above).
You can now see our foster yellow lab on the HSSW website at this address:

http://southwesthumane.org/index.php?pr=Animals_in_Foster_Care

He is “BoBo”

[Reply]

3. Above comment written by bushtool on February 29th, 2008 at 10:22 am (replies, if any, are attributed separately above).

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