Perhaps it was just a poor choice of words on Mitt Romney's part. Flush with victory after his win in the Florida primary, Mitt Romney appeared on CNN yesterday morning and said this: "I'm in this race because I care about Americans. I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair I'll fix it."

As we've watched the economic crisis unfold in Greece this year, and Greek citizens taking to the streets to protest the financial situation there, we've wondered why the same thing hasn't happened in America. Why haven’t we heard more outrage from the increasingly squeezed American people?

As the economic downturn continues, the ranks of those who live below the poverty line are growing. President-elect Barack Obama has promised to tackle poverty by reducing taxes, increasing the minimum wage and introducing new social services and rural investment. But what is his best, first move?

Poverty facts:

• 37.3 million Americans lived in poverty in 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
• Almost 700,000 children went hungry in America in 2007, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That's more than 50 percent higher than the year before.
• Families from Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas and Arkansas were reported to have the least "food security."

Grey metal towers appeared on the plateau west of Nabatiyeh, Lebanon, within a couple of weeks after the Israeli invasion. I first saw their ungainly silhouettes as I drove quickly from the coast, dodging in and out of the Israeli military convoys that littered the narrow country road with armored ...