America needs a bold new housing policy as growing numbers of Americans sleep in shelters, surf friends’ couches and camp in their cars.

Homelessness Is at Record Highs: Lets Show Some Real Compassion | Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace | AlterNet

A new study finds that certain brain functions of some low-income 9- and 10-year-olds pale in comparison with those of wealthy children and that the difference is almost equivalent to the damage from a stroke.

“It is a similar pattern to what’s seen in patients with strokes that have led to lesions in their prefrontal cortex,” which controls higher-order thinking and problem solving, says lead researcher Mark Kishiyama, a cognitive psychologist at the University of California-Berkeley. “It suggests that in these kids, prefrontal function is reduced or disrupted in some way.”

Study: Poverty dramatically affects childrens brains – USATODAY.com

Group’s Study Finds Income Gap Widening – WSJ.com
The U.S. has the highest inequality and poverty rates in the OECD after Mexico and Turkey, and the gap has increased rapidly since 2000, the report said. 

Wealthy households are not only widening the gap with the poor, but in countries such as the U.S., Canada and Germany they are leaving middle-income earners farther behind.

If America is to adopt socialism, why not have socialism for the poor, rather than for the rich? Why should American households that earn $50,000 a year subsidize Goldman Sachs partners who earn $5 million a year?

Lets Stop the Greatest Theft in the History of Humankind | Corporate Accountability and WorkPlace | AlterNet

On June 6th, 2008, the website of the Public Health Agency of Canada quietly added the 2008 report by Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr David Butler-Jones. Normally, as noted in this release by Liberals Dr. Carolyn Bennett and Dr. Ruby Dhalla, such a report to Canadians from a senior public official would be accompanied by news conferences and press advisories.

“The Conservatives sought to bury Dr. Butler-Jones’ report, which offered five recommendations for government action, including the pressing need to reduce poverty,” said Dr. Dhalla. “In particular, the report calls for further examination of income redistribution policies, programs and initiatives so that all families have the resources needed for healthy child development.

“It seems clear that the views of Canada’s Chief Public Health Officer are not compatible with the ideology of his political bosses… Muzzling the man who wrote the report is the next best thing to withholding it,” said Dr. Dhalla.

“Also at issue here is the continuing – and disturbing – trend of this government in its disrespect of senior officials and experts tasked with defending the interests of Canadians,” said Dr. Bennett. “We do Canadians no favour by hiding the truth from them…”

Challenging the Commonplace: Harper Government muzzles Chief Public Health Officer

A provocative new book argues you can’t do anything for yourself when you’re being swarmed by bees. It’s just an analogy, but author and philosopher Charles Karelis’s take on poverty is a stinging refutation of generations of social policy

TheStar.com | Ideas | The buzz about bee stings and the poor

Poverty is expensive. Just as it is much more costly to treat a disease than prevent one, it costs more to provide emergency hostels than affordable housing, more to take a child into the care of child welfare agencies than to make sure families have adequate incomes and more to cope with school dropouts than to train our youth for the jobs Canada needs to fill in the coming years.TheStar.com – comment – Eliminating poverty makes economic sense

Today the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released The Great CEO Pay Race, by Hugh Mackenzie. The study finds that Canada’s best paid 100 CEOs will have pocketed the national average wage of $38,998 by 10:33 am on January 2nd. The CEO report and an online tool to find out how quickly the top 100 CEOs earn your salary are available at www.growinggap.ca and www.policyalternatives.ca.

AlterNet: Health & Wellness: The Key To Good Health That No One Is Talking About: Money

The public generally believes that poor lifestyle choices, faulty genes and infectious agents are the major factors that give rise to illness. Here’s the rest of the story. Research now tells us that lower socio-economic status may be more harmful to health than risky personal habits…