[Costello:] Good morning, fellow Detroit Tiger fans. Yes, they are in first place in the central division. It's cloudy right now, 70 degrees later today, partly cloudy, with a high of 83. As the nation's middle class disappears the number of poor in this country is growing. If you listen to Tavis Smiley and Cornell West, nobody cares. The poor have become invisible. To combat that, Smiley and West are traveling across the country to give the poor a voice. They call its poverty tour. Today, they are in the city of Detroit and they join us now. Tavis Smiley and Cornell West host of "The Smiley and West Radio Show," thank you for coming on.
[Unidentified Male:] Thanks, Carol. Thank you.
[Costello:] So we do this thing called talk back every morning on AMERICAN MORNING. This is the question we asked our viewers this morning. Do the poor share responsibility for our economic woes? I got to tell you, I'm going to read you a response and then Tavis, maybe you can respond to this. This is from Stacy, she says welfare in theory was a good thing, but it but it is now but it's become a way of life for generations. The poor actually have it better than the middle class. Tavis, do you think there's any real understanding about who the poor are in this country?
[Tavis Smiley, Co-host, Smiley And West Radio Show:] I think first of all, with respect to the person who wrote that, that's complete lunacy number one and that's as charitable and kind I can be about a comment like that and that's really the problem, Carol, right now in America. When you talk about poverty, there's always been a connection, a link between poverty and crime, but now, it's become a crime in this country to be poor and that's the problem. The poor get dumped on, the poor get piled on, the poor get demonized. We cast aspersion on them and somehow blame them for their lot in life. Here's the bottom line, I heard your earlier segment talking about this debt ceiling deal. I think this debt ceiling deal, Carol, was really a declaration of war on the poor. The Congress, the president, respectfully, have declared war on the poor. You can't sign into law legislation that raises the debt ceiling, but opens up a crater in the floor. Put another way, no unemployment extensions for poor people. No closing of a single corporate loophole, not one new tax, not one cent of new tax on the rich and the lucky, so once again, the corporations get off scot free. Wall Street and the banks get off scot free and all these cuts aimed at the poor. How do you blame the poor for that?
[Costello:] But, Cornell, put it this way, Cornell, the Heritage Foundation, this is conservative organization. They did this study. They say the poor in America today, are unlike the poor in America years ago. In fact, most of the poor in America live in a decent house. They have TVs. They have microwave ovens and they even have a refrigerator. What are they complaining about?
[Cornell West, Co-host, Smiley And West Radio Show:] Yes. I think that's a lie. I think what we've seen and most poor people recognize the lack of food, the lack of housing, the lack of quality education, which is for white, black, red, and yellow, across colors across cultures is very real. But look at it this way, when you have the top 400 americans have more wealth than the bottom 150 million, that 1 percent of the population have more wealth than the bottom 90 percent
[Costello:] Yes, but the argument
[West:] Heritage Foundation
[Costello:] Those people pay the taxes in America and the poor don't pay any.
[West:] No, but that's a lie too. Most of the taxes are paid by middle class. One out of four corporations don't pay a penny of taxes. They got offshore havens. They got offshore subsidiaries. The very head of President Obama's job commission, of GE, hasn't paid a penny of taxes in the last two years. So all these misconceptions is what brother Tavis and myself came up with the idea of the poverty tour. The legacy of Martin King, keep track of the dignity and humanity of poor and working people shatter all these lies being told about them.
[Costello:] Tavis, what is President Obama, what would you like President Obama to do because you have several bones to pick with him?
[Smiley:] Well, we don't have enough time to give you a list of things I think he ought to do respectfully. Number one, the president ought to start using the word poor, p-o-or, don't be afraid to talk about the poor to say the word poverty. In three presidential debates the last time around, between Obama and McCain, the word poverty, poor never came up one time. Last year in his state of the union address the president became the first president since 1948 in that speech to not say the word poor or poverty. We have to call it what it is. Number two, they ought to be a White House conference on poverty. We have conferences on everything else in the White House, why not a White House conference on poverty. Why not a plan, just like we had a plan to raise the debt ceiling, why not a plan over 10, 15, 20 years to eradicate poverty.
[Costello:] The president represents everybody in America, not just the poor and not just the middle class and the wealthy.
[Smiley:] Precisely.
[Costello:] Dealing with a lot of stuff right now so why concentrate on one segment of the population?
[West:] When the banks had a national emergency, they bailed out and found $700 billion. When we go to war, we find $1.3 trillion for the poor and working classes living in a state of emergency, a matter of national security, especially the children. We got 21 percent of our precious children of all colors living in poverty and that's morally job seen in the richest nation in the history of world.
[Costello:] I wish we could continue this conversation, but we have to wrap it up here. Thank you both for joining us this morning. You're in Detroit, you're stopping to talk to the poor across the city of Detroit and then on to other places. Tavis Smiley, Cornell West host of "Smiley and West radio show." You can check out their web site, povertytour.smily and west.com. Thanks to both of you.
[Velshi:] A very compelling argument they make.
[Costello:] Those close to the White House who have tried to make this argument you have to focus on the poor and you have to focus on race-based employment programs to alleviate poverty for different segments of society.
[Velshi:] Because there's disparity between these groups.
[Romans:] There is. I'm telling you, there's been real push back to that because this White House wants exactly as you said, about everybody, not about isolating people. It's about everybody.
[Costello:] And frankly, I think to an extent, the poor have been demonized because many people in America think they're leeches on society. They're just, you know, sucking everything out of us.
[Velshi:] Three million or 2 million job openings and you have 14 million looking for jobs. Doesn't matter how good you are. Whole bunch of people aren't getting them. It's a very interesting discussion. Your morning headlines are coming up next including amazing videos of riots and looting across London.
[Romans:] Also ahead, what's the secret for a safe kids lunch, how to skip the stomach ache. It's 44 minutes after the hour.