Green Cards and Poverty

Every now and then, I have a freak out about income inequality and poverty in the United States.  Today, my freak out was brought upon by the loss of my green card.  The green card gives me the right to leave and return to America, gain residency, obtain employment and attend school.  I am aware that the ownership of one of these flimsy, plastic cards gives me many privileges but today I am exasperated about it.

I misplaced my card, which you think would be like losing any other ID card (or even a passport).  You would think that I could send in a form to renew the card, probably dial a telephone to report it lost/stolen and then move on with my life. Well, unfortunately to renew the card costs over $400 dollars, and the form to report the card missing or stolen is the same form that requires that you send money to get a new green card.

Now, I am fortunate in many, many ways.  However, I don't have an extra $400 dollars laying around that I can throw at the government to replace my card.  This month I have to renew my car tabs ($75.00), get an oil change ($40 - unless I find someone to do it for me), get an emissions test, pay my car insurance ($500 - luckily already paid), get my car a tune-up (because I think something is wrong with my car).  I have spent almost the whole summer saving up for my semester in Chicago so that I am not dead broke the whole time I am there...and now I have to spend a good chunk of my savings on replacing a plastic card.  How frustrating.

Yet again, I want to reiterate how lucky I am to be fortunate enough to own a car, and have a green card.  However, there are many people within America who are not as fortunate as I am, and it doesn't come from a lack of drive to succeed.  I was thinking today about how a trip to the hospital emergency room can run upwards of $1000, and people who most often have trouble paying for their medical treatments are also poor.  While someone who is wealthier, and can afford insurance (and has it available for cheaper through their jobs) can walk in and pay a small copay, and the great health insurance they have can cover most of the bill.  In this type of situation, the poor always lose.

So, in honor of those frustrated (and affected) by income inequality in America, here's a few good links:
It's the Inequality, Stupid - a set of graphs from the lovely people at Mother Jones magazine
"Shadowy Lines That Still Divide" - an introduction to the Class Matters series from the New York Times
Homepage for the Class Matters Series - New York Times
Class Matters: Where Do You Fit In? - An Interactive Graph on Class
Highlights from Census Data about Poverty in the U.S.
State/County Maps of Percentage of People in Poverty

As you can see, three of those links come from the Class Matters series from the New York Times.  I was fortunately first exposed to this in class by Professor McGowan when we purchased the book version of the series for a unit on class in contemporary America.  It's a great book that everyone should read.  Since I know that people are lazy, and probably won't look up the book, here's a link : Class Matters on Amazon.com

Now, I think I can sleep well.  Good night!
p.s. Vancouver was awesome, a post to come tomorrow about how I had such a great time! :)