Detroit, Camden, Providence etc.

This song was written in 1969 and, sadly, remains all too relevant today. Social and economic justice are not priorities for most people. Millions of Americans remain without health insurance, median wages have been flat since the seventies, the gap between rich and poor has never been greater, fifty-nine percent of the jobs created in what has been dubbed the "recovery" are classified as low wage ensuring tens of millions of families will remain among the ranks of the working poor, and nearly one quarter of American children live in poverty which adversely impacts their health and academic readiness and performance. The U.S. ranks 27th among developed countries for life expectancy, our infant mortality ranking is 40th, yet our per capita spending on health care is $8000 versus a median per capita expenditure of $3000 for OECD countries, and only two OECD countries have rates of childhood poverty above 20% - the U.S. and Romania. Our Defense budget is approaching 700 billion dollars per year which is more than the combined spending the ten countries ranked below the U.S. It is estimated that the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will eventually cost the American taxpayers between four and six trillion dollars. The bankruptcy of Detroit is not the result of union pensions averaging $18,000 a year but of criminal enterprises originating from Wall Street. Nor will Detroit be alone for long among broken and destitute American inner cities.