III. On Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

American people's economic, social and cultural rights are not properly protected.

There is a wide wealth gap in the American society. According to a New York Times report on October 5, 2008, the United States developed the most the most unequal distribution of income and wages of any high-income country over the past 30 years. The richest fifth of the Americans earn an average of 168,170 US dollars a year, about fifteen times the figure for the bottom fifth -- 11,352 US dollars. The top one percent of New York City tax filers received 37 percent of the city's adjusted gross income-- which includes wages, business income and capital gains, among other earnings (The New York Times, April 9, 2008). There are 64 billionaires in New York City with a combined net worth of 344 billion US dollars, 469 percent more than the collective worth of the city's billionaires two years ago (The Washington Post, September 29, 2008). A UN report released on October, 22, 2008 showed that the wealth gap in big American cities, including New York, Washington, Atlanta and New Orleans, was almost as wide as some African cities, and the ratio of income inequality in American cities was very high.

The number of people who are homeless, in poverty and hunger increased in the United States in 2007. Figures released in August, 2008 by the US Census Bureau showed that 12.5 percent of Americans, or 37.3 million people, were living in poverty in 2007,up from 36.5 million in 2006. Eighteen percent of children (13.3 million) were impoverished in 2007, up from 17.4 percent (12.8 million) in 2006 (Reuters, August 27, 2008). Some 7.6 million American families, or 9.8 percent of the total, were living in poverty. In 2007, the annual income of 1.56 million American people, 41.8 percent of the country's population in poverty, reached only half of the poverty threshold. In New York City, latest study shows 23 percent of the people are living in poverty (The Washington Post, July 14, 2008).

According to a nationwide survey jointly conducted by the Washington Post, Harvard University and others in 2008, about 80 percent of low-income workers could not afford to buy fuel or save for pension insurance under the influence of the financial crisis. More than 60 percent of them could not afford medical insurance and 50 percent could not pay for food or housing. The Reuters reported that food stamps, the main U.S. anti-hunger program which helps the needy buy food, set a record in September 2008, as more than 31.5 million Americans used the program, a year-on-year increase of 17 percent (Reuters, December 3, 2008). About 48 percent of New York City residents, had difficulty affording food for themselves and their families in 2008, doubling that of 2003. Already, 1.3 million New York City residents rely on emergency food organizations, up 24 percent from1 million in 2004 (The NYC Hunger Experience 2008 Update: Food Poverty Soars as Recession Hits Home). Some 68.8 percent of emergency food agencies reported that they did not have enough food to fulfill demand (Survey shows impact of hunger crisis, http://www.nyccah.org). More than 2 million American families were unable to pay back house loans. Statistics released on November 13,2008 showed that foreclosure filings grew 25 percent nationally in October 2008 over the same month in 2007. More than 84,000 properties were repossessed by banks in October (China Press, November 14, 2008).

Statistics collected by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development showed that the number of chronically homeless people living in the nation's streets and shelters reached 123,833 in 2007. About 1.6 million people experienced homelessness and found shelter between October 1, 2006 and September 30, 2007 (The New York Times, July 30, 2008). The number of requests for emergency shelter doubled from fiscal year 2007 to fiscal 2008 (World Journal, October 22, 2008). In Louisiana and Kentucky, the number of homeless families increased to 931. In December 2008, 19of the 25 American cities surveyed reported some kind of increase in homelessness between October 1, 2007 and October 30, 2008. (Advocacy Groups Fear New Wave of Homeless, http://ipsnews.net). The Washington Legal Clinic for the Homeless estimated that more than 6,000 people were homeless in the District on an average day. Among them, 47 percent were "chronically homeless" (District agrees on homeless shelter access; Faces $5 million cost, The Washington Times, December 13, 2008).

The rights of laborers are not properly protected. The unemployment rate in America keeps high. Statistics released by the US Department of Labor on January 9, 2009 showed that the unemployment rate increased from 4.6 percent in 2007 to 5.8 percent in 2008, the highest since 2003. A total of 2.6 million jobs were lost in 2008, the biggest loss since 1945. In December 2008 alone, 524,000 jobs were lost, driving the unemployment rate to a 16-year-high of 7.2 percent (The New York Times, January 10,2009). The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) reached 2.2 million in November, up by 822,000 over the past 12 months (Employment Summary, http://data.bls.gov). According to a poll conducted by Harris Interactive, the median time Americans spent working in 2008, which included housekeeping and studying, was 46 hours, which was one hour more than that of 2007. One in every four Americans said their working hours increased in 2008. The median time Americans spent playing in 2008was 16 hours, a decline of four hours from a year ago and the lowest since 1973 (Agence France Presse, December 10, 2008). A survey of day-laborer sites in 25 states found that half of all workers had been underpaid or not paid at least once (The Washington Post, July 8, 2008). In July 2008, a Minnesota court ruled Wal-Mart Stores Inc violated state wage and hour laws, failing to give workers their full rest breaks and requiring hourly employees to work off-the-clock during training (The China Press, December 10, 2008). On July 23, 2008, New York's State Labor Department said a clothes factory called "Jin Shun" in Queens was found to have cheated its workers of 5.3 million US dollars in the past six years by paying them salaries far below the minimum wage and not paying for overtime work (World Journal, July 24, 2008). On September 6, about 27,000 machinists in Boeing went on strike, requiring the company to raise their salaries and welfares (http://news.bbc.co.uk/chinese/simp/hi/newsid-7600000). On October 20, US District Court in Manhattan of New York ordered Saigon Grill Restaurant to compensate 4.6 million US dollars to 36 delivery workers for violations of minimum wage and overtime laws (The China Press, December 23, 2008).

Employees' pension plans shrank considerably. A senior budget analyst with the US Congress estimated in October 2008 that Americans' pension accounts lost 2 trillion US dollars in the past 15 months. More than half the people surveyed in an Associated Press-GfK poll said they would have to delay their retirement. A survey conducted by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) released in October 2008 said one out of five Americans above the age of 45 stopped putting money into a 401(k), IRA(Individual Retirement Account) or other retirement account (The China Press, October 8, 2008). A study by Hewitt Associates found the average US 401(k) plan balance was down 14 percent in 2008 to 68,000 US dollars from 79,000 US dollars in 2007. 401(k) refers to a section of the US Tax Code that allows retirement plan investors to defer paying taxes (The China Press, November 25, 2008).

The realization of Americans' education rights is not guaranteed. The American Human Development Report 2008-2009 showed that 14 percent of Americans (about 40 million), with inadequate ability to read or write, were not able to understand the articles on newspapers or user manuals (The China Press, July 17, 2008). A report published on December 3, 2008 by the US National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education said college tuition and fees increased 439 percent from 1982 to 2007 while median family income rose 147 percent. Tuition for the 2008 fall semester increased by 6.4 percent on average for state universities. Many states planned to sharply increase tuition for public universities in 2009. Florida and the Washington states were considering an increase of 15 percent and 20 percent, respectively. Among the poorest families -- those with incomes in the lowest 20 percent -- the net cost of a year at a public university was 55 percent of median income, up from 39 percent in 1999-2000. At community colleges, that cost was 49 percent of the poorest families' median income in 2008, up from 40 percent in 1999-2000 (The New York Times, December 3, 2008). Only 11 percent of the children from the most impoverished families were college graduates. The figure for children from the top earning 20 percent families was 53 percent. (The New York Times, February 22, 2008).

Americans without health insurance have been increasing. According to the American Human Development Report published in July 2008, despite spending 230 million US dollars an hour on healthcare, Americans live shorter lives than citizens of almost every other developed country, ranking 42nd in terms of life expectancy. One out of six Americans does not have health insurance. The Census Bureau said in a report published on August 26, 2008 that there are 45.7 million Americans without health insurance. Nineteen states had already made cuts or were planning to make cuts in Medicaid and/or State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) (The China Press, December 12, 2008). As medical expenses were rising, many companies quitted buying health insurance for their employees. A research conducted by the National Federation of Independent Business in March 2008 found that only 47 percent small-size companies provide health aids for their employees. Among companies of 50 employees or less, only 24 percent offer health aids. Many gave up seeing a doctor or receiving treatments as they couldn't afford it.

Drugs, suicide and other social problems prevail in the United States. America has the largest population of cocaine and marijuana users in the world. A survey of 54,000 people from 17 countries found that 16 percent of U.S. survey respondents had at least tried cocaine in their lifetime, and more than 42 percent had tried marijuana (WHO global drug survey finds high rates of cocaine, marijuana use in US, http://www.thebostonchannel.com). The suicide rate among middle-aged white Americans had been on the rise. A research report issued on October 21, 2008 by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health said between 1999 and 2005, the overall suicide rate in the United States rose by 0.7 percent every year. The figure for white men aged 40 to 64 rose 2.7 percent and for middle-aged white women 3.9 percent. In 2007, a total of 138 people in the city of St. Louis committed suicide. As of June 2, 2008, 61 in the city committed suicide, up by 15 year-on-year (The Washington Post, June 2, 2008). The suicide rates in Baltimore, Detroit and New Orleans were all on the rise (The Christian Science Monitor, January 4, 2008). Many young Americans have personality disorders. Researchers found that almost one in five young American adults has a personality disorder that interferes with everyday life, and nearly half of young people surveyed have some sort of psychiatric condition. Fewer than 25 percent of college-aged Americans with mental problems get treatment (1 in 5 adults has personality disorder, http://www.archgenpsychiatyr.com).