Poverty Kills. Well, yeah?

We didn't need the Buffalo News to tell us this, but the article in Saturday's paper (February 13, 2016) makes a few good points that in spite of all America claims to be, it's far from the land of opportunity or equality.

Yes, poverty kills. Poor people have shorter lifespans than rich people and the gap is growing. It's money that provides access to good food, quality health care, modern medicine, technology, and education.

Yes, that gap in income does have an impact beyond the pocketbook.

Research points at smoking being a cause. What about the people that don't smoke? That work in restaurants working over grills that spew smoke, grease,and whatever else into the air? Is that a cancer cause? Granted, advertising affects the poor more than the rich and the rich are quitting smoking at greater levels. But still – do the rich live in highly concentrated urban areas that have heavy concentrations of automobile exhaust, live downwind from power plants, or near industrial areas that spew toxins in the air?

Researchers need to look bigger than cigarettes.

Children don't smoke.

Obesity is another cause of a shortened lifespan, along with the diseases and conditions that go along with it. High blood pressure, diabetes, you can add others to this list. All conditions that shorten a person's life span.

Let's look at the “food deserts” - urban areas where there are no grocery markets that sell real food. If all a person has access to is highly processed food or junk food, it's going to have a negative impact on their overall health and lifespan.

Exercise has an impact on that too. Even though walking around can do wonders for a person, I've liven in communities where I did not want to walk around outside. I've lived near Delaware Park – a beautiful place to walk around. Go to the east side – Kensington & Bailey area. Show me the park.

Access to health care. This is a no brainer. Rich people go to the doctors for preventative care. Poor people go to the doctors for emergencies. I get my annual physical. I have health insurance that gives me a premium break for preventive medicine.

Poor people don't get that. Even the vaunted “Affordable Care Act” doesn't always provide for preventive medicine. Then again, the ACA doesn't cover everyone. Neither does private insurance, so we're dealing with a large group of people that have nothing. Not even Medicaid.

So what do we do?

First: Medicare for all. We need a single payer health system that provides preventative care for all. And it costs less than what we have now. The European and Canadian health care systems prove it.

Second: Sound health education. In High School students are required to have 1 semester of health. That's it. It should be a semester every year in order to keep people up to date on the latest health information.

Third: End the food deserts. Every community deserves to have a grocery store that sells quality food at affordable prices. And garbage food needs to be priced higher – at least double. And lets get more greenhouses and community gardens going. These can provide affordable and quality food locally at good prices. (And create good paying jobs as well. )

Fourth: Make counseling available and affordable. The number of people that I know that smoke and drink (to excess at times) because it calms their nerves – are also slitting their own throats. There is responsible drinking and then there is stupidity. There is no way to smoke responsibly. Let's get counselors into the communities that teach people how to deal with stress in a way that won't kill them.

Let's remember one other thing – cheap garbage food, cigarettes, heavy drinking – these are all ways of dealing with the stress of living under capitalism.

Let's work to build a revolutionary party that leads us to socialism.

It's socialism or stress.

I take socialism.