Prince Fielder and the poor folks

Last week the Michigan League for Human Services released its yearly report on the status of children in this state.

Not surprisingly, the report, called the Kids Count Data Book, was depressing as hell. Most of what attention the study received in the media focused on the news that child abuse in the state jumped by 34 percent as the recession deepened and worsened.

That, and the fact that nearly half the kids in the state now qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches. To poverty experts, both things were about as surprising as learning that people in primitive areas tend to die of thirst when there is a major drought.

Naturally, we've taken precautions in this country to assure a steady water supply, at least enough to keep people alive. But making sure our kids are well-fed and protected — well, that would be socialism! Only commies would want to go that far.

The thing that haunted me most about this report, however, was neither of those two statistics, but the finding that "too many children suffer from dental decay and pain that cause difficulty chewing, concentrating, sleeping and swallowing."

Worse, "more than one in four third-graders in Michigan have untreated dental disease." Call me a commie all you want, but when I read that I would gleefully have given an abscessed tooth to — and withheld painkillers from — every right-wing moron who voted to take away support from 29,000 poor children last year.

There wasn't too much anyone could say to challenge the truth of the Kids Count Data Book findings. The Michigan League for Human Services is a rigorously nonpartisan, nonprofit agency that has been around for almost a century.

This particular study was financed by a prestigious group of foundations that range from Annie E. Casey to the Skillman and Blue Cross Blue Shield. Had the Kids Count findings received widespread attention in the media, it could conceivably have made a difference.

Even some who would spit on poor adults might have a problem with third graders, poor and hungry through no fault of their own, crying because of infected teeth. But not to worry.

The Kids Count report actually got little press, because there was far bigger and more significant news that day: The Detroit Tigers announced they were signing a 27-year-old baseball player named Prince Fielder to a nine-year contract for $214 million.

Yes, you read that right. Almost a quarter of a billion dollars for a heavy-set player who cannot run or field especially well, but who hits a lot of home runs. Wait a minute; forget that.

Can you really imagine, in any sane universe, paying that much money to a single baseball player, even if he sold all the tickets himself, batted .750, and painted the stadium at night?

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