America Is A Poorer Place

The 2010 Census has confirmed what many Americans already know, often from firsthand experience; that is, Americans are poorer. Nearly one half of the nation is now living in poverty or with low income, this totaling to more than 146 million people, as the middle class shrinks further. I'm sure the conservative pundits will say something like, "Don't believe these numbers. The country is just great. We're number one! You're unpatriotic if you believe otherwise." Folks, this is what tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires, wage and benefit cuts for other Americans, and program cuts for the poor has brought us. IT DOESN'T WORK! (Unless, of course, you're in the upper income strata.)

WORD HISTORY:
Low-This is the word generally used as an adjective. The verb form is from a different source (I'll try to remember to do it soon). This word goes back to Indo European "legh," with the general notion of "to lie/lay." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "legaz," which meant "lying flat, lying at or near the ground." While Old English had the related "licgan," the ancestor of "to lie (down or flat), recline," it wasn't until the 1100s that the related Old Norse "lagr" ("low") began general use in English as "lah," with a (more or less) long "a." This later became "lohe," before the modern spelling. Common in the other Germanic languages: German has the now little used "läge," Low German Saxon has "lääg," West Frisian "leech," the now almost extinct North Frisian has "leeg," Dutch has "laag,"Danish has "lav," Icelandic has "lágur," and Norwegian and Swedish have "låg."