Monterey, CA The Rich Get Richer While The Poor Get Poorer

Fifty years after President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a war on poverty, there are millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet.  With food and gas prices rising rapidly, seniors on a fixed income are having a terribly difficult time this year.  Republicans in the House of Representatives have convened a series of meetings on poverty in America, arguing that hundreds of billions of dollars of government spending has done little to solve poverty.  Therefore, Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) and others in his camp believe that more social benefits should be cut.  Although the stock market and economy have rebounded quite a bit, most of the gains have gone to the nation's wealthiest people and the prospect of the poor and seniors on a fixed income facing more cutbacks is extremely depressing.  There is no easy solution to the problem, but cutting government assistance programs further doesn't seem to be the answer.