Are the times of The Grapes of Wrath revisiting America?

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Advocates for the poor and leading Democratic presidential candidates keep stating that something must be done about the growing numbers of poor people in the USA.
In my mind, I envision scenes from The Grapes of Wrath being experienced all over America, based on their rhetoric.
As much as the media in the USA loves to sensationalize every little event that comes along, I don't understand why reports and pictures of these hoards of homeless families, with their belongings tied to the family wagon, haven't appear on the nightly news as yet. The news networks had a field day for weeks on end over the plight of the homeless victims of Katrina. Where is the coverage of the hoards of the poor, homeless people, whose suffering we are being led to believe a Democratic vote will relieve? Or, has the standard of living improved in the USA to the point that the term "poor" now relates to an entirely different class of people?

[igi]

Grapes of Republicans

[suthrnlyts2004]

If you repeat the same thing over and over (like the Dems do), they'll actually convince their followers that it's true.

I see no differences in the area that I live in, so can only surmise that this just happened to take place overnight?

[YOU asked!!]

This completely destitute class of people only exist in the hordes you described in the minds of the Dem's...in the wake of Katrina My husband and I traveled to New Orleans at our own expense to help out...we left for home after 24 hours. All of the travel trailer's that were supplied to the victims to give them shelter were lined up along the highway in such great number's that they were only a few feet apart for miles...they were all for sale...the people selling them were sitting on their butt's drinking beer and actually had the nerve to ask us what we brought them...we turned over everything we had collected from our community to a local organization and just shook our heads and left. The majority of the people we met were trying to profit and were NOT grateful for anything they were given...we were even cussed at by 2 complainer's who said the wool blanket's we brought were too itchy and we should have gotten the better ones.They called us selfish Mother F*****S! They accused us of not caring. I am sad to say that when we left we no longer did care.

[hannah.bobanna]

We actually watched a video about poverty in modern America in an Economics class. I remember them saying the average "poor" American had a car, colored tv and even cable (this was awhile ago, so these may not be fully accurate memories). Most who collected food from their church didn't need to but chose to because it was free and made things a little easier for them. I do know that "poverty" is a relative term, and quite a number, though not all, of the poor in America live pretty well compared to the poor in other, less developed nations. I know my family receives state assistance in a number of areas, and we're only lower middle class and are doing fine for ourselves.

[Stony]

The major TV news media are owned by giant corporations run by multi-millionaires and billionaires. It is not in their best interest to show poverty in America on a regular basis.

It is however, in their best interest to exploit and encourage the political division that exists in the United States today, which they do very well.

Your choosing to disparage one party's rhetoric and ignore the other's undermines your avatar's implied claim to wisdom.

[Ruth]

For me it isn't a question of whether there are people in poverty in the US. Because there are. They tend to be found in urban areas, living above their means, primarily single parents, having gone through divorce and struggling. I do not deny their existence. And they were there with Clinton, too.

For me, though, the issue is the "solution" being put forth by the Dems. Government control. Higher taxes for all. No mention of the life-style choices that contributed to the poverty those people live in.

We all have choices. And we must learn to live with those choices, rather than imposing our consequences onto people who made better ones.

[Perplexed Bob]

.What do you expect the Democratic party to do? The Republican party has cornered the market on America's fear of terrorism. The Democrats are just trying to capitalize on the middle-class' fear of falling into poverty.
It's clear the choices are shaping up to be:
Vote Republican so you don't get your throat cut by a terrorist.
Vote Democratic so you don't become destitute.

[Josh]

The media (all media, not just Fox, not just MSNBC) likes to pretend that America is the land of happy-happy-joy-joy.

Now what the media has to do with a Steinbeck novel based in Kanasas about the great depression is beyond me.

Sometimes you guys reach waaaaaay out there.

There's a large wealth gap in this country. The top 1% own most everything in America and far too many people live in poverty.

If you cannot fathom helping out your fellow American, why not just shoot yourself in the head and save us the trouble?

[Moneta_Lucina]

Many believe the Grapes of Wrath is advocating socialism.

What we have is the benefit of looking back over history. There we can see that we survived and even thrived, with minimal social programs in play. The premise of the "machine" that needs stopping is paramount in the novel. The advent of the tractor changed farming from needing share-croppers, to a more efficient, cost probative enterprise.

Providing that this holds true for humans, we can expect that the new market will require a different type of worker. Meaning, shut down factories here, will force the laborers that worked them to learn something new.

I think the term poor is relative. Our poor would be considered rich if compared to the poor of other countries. Our best feature, is that we do not have a limit on how much we can achieve, if and when we decide to get up and pursue our happiness.

Josh: the setting for the novel begins in Oklahoma . . . and travels west toward California. Pretty good read, give it a go.