For most of us, our mail during the Christmas season brings glittering cards from old friends with headlines like” Merry Christmas”, “Tis’ the Season to be Jolly,” “Joy to the World,” and other well-worn kitschy phrases. So ingrained are these words in memories from childhood that it is easy to miss equally memorable headlines in the nation’s newspapers at this time of year. A review of headlines in the New York Times since November 1, 2005 persuasively demonstrates that the holiday season in America is for “the Haves” and not the “Have Nots.” Here are a few new headlines to add to the series of stories reported in the last 30 days. These have a bit more bite.

A Solution for the Problem of Obesity. Starting on November 13 we were reminded in an article, “Food Pantries Feel a Post-Hurricane Pinch,” by Avi Salzman that since Hurricane Katrina drained local and national food reserves, food pantries around the country are experiencing the most severe shortage of food and the highest level of demand ever––yes, ever. With less to go around and more people in need, Christmas will bring high heating bills and a lack of food for many Americans.

The Poor Should Learn to Use Crosswalks. On December 4 the National Desk alerted us to the tragedy befalling Hispanics living in the South, where the lack of transportation is leading to an epidemic of pedestrian accidents. Attempting to travel along or cross busy streets, Hispanics are being run over at a rate significantly in excess of other groups in society. The article cites the lack of money for personal transportation combined with a lack of public transportation as the causes.

The Poor Just Don’t Know How To Save. The following Monday, December 5th, in “In Richer Than Ever, but Watch Out for Missing Costs,” amid many economic facts Dylan Loeb McClain pointed out the extent of persistent inequality in the U.S. Noting that in 2004 the average Household Net Worth (in 2004 dollars) was $437,040, McClain offered up a table that displayed the distribution of net worth in five equal size groupings. Lo and behold, the top 20% of the nation’s households enjoyed 69.3% of the nation’s total household net worth.

In These Times of Trouble, Everyone Must Tighten Their Belt. On December 11th, another article in the New York Times, “Working Hard and Losing Out,” pointed out that if Congress has its way, Scrooge will bring his wrath down on the most vulnerable groups in our society in the final moments of this congressional session. At present the bulk of the $40 billion in savings being touted by members of Congress as evidence of their ability to control spending are being made possible through cuts in programs like Medicaid, child-support enforcement, food stamps and subsidized child care. Sharon Lerner writes, “The obvious target will be working families with incomes just above the poverty line, including tens of thousands of who have left welfare in recent years.”

The Poor Need Not Apply. Three days before Christmas Eve, let us not we forget the hundreds of thousands of families who remain displaced as a result of Hurricane Katrina. Reporting today (December 21, 2005) New York Times editorial writers remind us that the Small Business Administration announced last week that “federal loans to rebuild homes damaged by Hurricane Katrina have been flowing to wealthy neighborhoods in New Orleans but not to poor ones.” Of the almost 300,000 home loan applications processed, “82 percent were rejected on the grounds that the applicants didn’t have high enough incomes or good enough credit ratings.”

So as we wind up the year, and some of us ring in the New Year with cheer, where do we stand as a nation? Hunger is ever present and is rising in parts of the country, the poor can’t afford cars, more than a million people were displaced from their homes because of Hurricane Katrina, and many have no assurance of when or whether they will ever be able to go back to their communities. Given these facts, combined with a Congress aiming to enact budget cuts on the backs of the poor and vulnerable, what’s a little income inequality when all is said and done?