Poverty 4th Leading Cause of Death in U.S. as Calls Grow for Third Reconstruction: Bishop Barber

An excellent program! This illuminates the horror and heartbreak, the immorality and insanity, the heartlessness and brutality of the obscene and ever-increasing redistribution of wealth upwards and the patriarchal, neoliberal, late stage predatory capitalist system that fuels this madness. Wall Street, the fossil fuel industry, the military industrial complex and endless wars, the pharmaceutical and insurance industries, the animal agricultural and prison industries, and other toxic systems have long been killing us. It is long, long past time to dismantle the runaway greed embedded in free market capitalism and cultivate radically different systems that respect, honor, and protect life rather than destroy it. ― Molly

Bishop William Barber, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign, says it’s “grotesque and immoral” that poverty is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, higher than homicide and respiratory illness, citing recent findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “Why do we hear so much about crime rates and opioids and gun violence in America, but poverty kills more people than all of those things?” asks Barber. He joins us to talk about the intensifying efforts of the Poor People’s Campaign to end poverty and empower poor and low-wage workers and support “The Third Reconstruction” resolution in Congress. This weekend, the Poor People’s Campaign led a Moral Poverty Action Congress in Washington, D.C., focused on ending poverty in the United States.

Please go here for the excellent original interview and full transcript: https://www.democracynow.org/2023/6/28/the_third_reconstruction