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Never MoreUrgentlyNeeded
GOD'SPLAN
TO
HELP THE POOR
by
Clayton Steep
It
has been on record for thousands of years- but no nation
has yet followed God's antipoverty program!
I
T GETS
co ld at
night and it's aw–
fully uncomfort–
able not being able to
stretch out, but at
least Ernest and
M ary De Marco
have their older car
to sleep in.
The middle-aged
man cu rl ed up in a
stai ned blanket sorne
50 feet away isn't that
fortunate. The cloth
bag next to him con–
tains all his earthl y pos–
sessions. Only the mas–
sive freeway bridge
overhead shelters him
from the elements.
lt wasn' t always this way for the
De Marcos. They once owned a
home in a middle-class neighbor–
hood. Those were the days. Ernest
was a corporate manager with a
promising future. His star was ris–
ing, as they say. T he De Marcos
had fr iends. Ernest treated his
business acquaintances to frequent
dinners in their tastefully furnished
home. Mary especially enjoyed giv–
ing parties on the garden patio by
the swimming pool.
The De Marcos were living
slightly beyond tbeir means-who
isn't?-and they used their credit
June
1983
cards often. But they thought they
were managing their affairs wcll
enough. They even had a little
money tucked away in sorne con–
servative investments.
Then one day the balloon burst.
The company Ernest worked for
sought protection under the bank–
ruptcy code. Ernest suddenly found
himself without a job. He tried
hard to find work elsewhere, but no
one was hiring. The money the De
Marcos had had in their invest–
ments covered the mortgage and
car payments for severa! months.
Then it was necessary to start
liquidat ing belongings. Piece by
piece t he De Marcos sold
their furniture and major
items. That kept them
going for a while, but
finall y both cars were
repossessed and the house
was foreclosed. With
what little cash they had
left the De Marcos pur–
chased the 10-year-old
car they now live in.
Too young for Social
Security, they don't qual–
ify for welfare either
since both of them work
at whatever odd jobs they
can find. No permanent
solution to their predica–
ment seems forthcoming
from anywhere. So there
they are: barely gett ing
by, living from day to
day, feeling trapped.
Few of the commuters whizzing
along the freeway overhead realize
that the thin and fragile thread
holding together most of their own
personal economic structures is all
that is keeping them from joining
the millions of De Marcos world–
wide-the swelling ranks of the so–
called new poor. People who never
thought it could happen to them.
People who are much like other
people except that they happened
to get caught in a web of circum–
stances or, as is most often the case,
a combination of circumstances and
the consequences of unwise deci-
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