Twenty Years Of Life: Why The Poor Die Earlier and How to Challenge Inequity

FEATURING SUZANNE BOHAN – A recent United Nations report concluded that 40 million Americans are poor and of those, 18.5 million live in extreme poverty. The Trump administration angrily denounced those findings with UN Ambassador Nikki Haley saying it, “is patently ridiculous for the U.N. to examine poverty in America.” The Administration decided that only 250,000 Americans live in extreme poverty.

But unsurprisingly the Trump administration is of course lying and the UN is correct. Poverty is a huge issue in America and California the richest state in the nation, has the highest rates of poverty.

Right wing politicians blame the state’s more generous social safety net. But a new book details how it may be a lack of political power among low-income communities that most greatly hinders their ability to beat back poverty.

For information on Suzanne’s book visit http://suzannebohan.com.

Suzanne Bohan, award winning reporter having spent 12 years working for the Bay Area News Group which includes the San Jose Mercury News, Contra Costa Times, and Oakland Tribune. She won the White House Correspondents Association award for her reporting on health disparities. She is the author of a new book called ‘Twenty Years Of Life: Why The Poor Die Earlier and How to Challenge Inequity’.

**This story was originally broadcast on June 30, 2018.