Abandoned by America

Back in September we watched in horror as New Orleans poorest waited at the Convention Center for someone, anyone, to rescue them. The images stirred comparisons to the abandoned poor in developing world countries in Africa. The parallels are easy to make. In countries like Zimbabwe and Sudan the ruling class is doing quite well thank you very much, leaving the population at large to fend for themselves.

At the time we reminded ourselves that we were over-reacting and it really wasn't that bad. But this week we receive news that reinforces this image. The infant death rate in the US has been reported this week tp be the lowest of all industrialised nations (except Latvia). This is driven by the infant death rate amongst the poorest in the US, many of which we saw at the Convention Center in September. The infant death rate in this group was around 9 per 1000, more reminiscent of developing world countries.

In other words, healthcare for the poorest of the poor is similar to that in the developing world where the population has been abandoned by society. Healthcare is actually quite representative of a population's lot as a whole. We can but conclude that the ruling class in America has abandoned its poor. Katrina just put it front and center.