editorial

Though the US styles itself a human rights champion on every occasion, it is nothing more than a show.

This is evidenced by the fact that the phrase “death line” has become a popular search expression in the country. The phrase means that an individual’s or a family’s income reached the lowest level, depicting the fragile life situations of Americans.

According to a report issued in 2025 by the ALICE Federation, a nonprofit organization of the US, the income of 42 percent of the families in the country failed to reach even the lowest level in 2023, with those below the poverty line accounting for 13 percent.

It is said that if Americans run into any trouble in their life, they might soon get below the “death line”.

From the outset of the new year 2026, lots of wanderers, who lodge in streets in downtown Los Angeles, California, formed a long line to get relief foods. They reportedly include those who had had fixed jobs, like salesperson or company employee, and even many who had been middle-class persons.

A large number of Americans have been reduced to the death line mainly because of the high cost of living, including medical expense, various kinds of taxation and mounting debts.

According to a recent opinion poll conducted on adults by an American family, 44 percent of respondents said that it is hard to cover medical fees, 28 percent that there were times when they themselves or their family members found it difficult to see a doctor. And 36 percent said that they gave up or postponed medical treatment for the high medical expenses and 18 percent of them said that consequently, their health worsened.

This is only the tip of the iceberg.

In the US, over 1.2 million high school students leave school halfway every year as they cannot afford the school fee and about 6 million young people under 24 are too poor to go to school. School fees grow every year to reduce seven of ten university graduates to debtors and they thus start their social life under the shackles of debt.

In particular, women are subjected to blatant discrimination.

The American Constitution still has no provision forbidding discrimination against women. Every year, about 54 000 women lose their occupations for their pregnancy and over six million others suffer from violent crimes.

People’s rights to existence and development are ruthlessly infringed—this is the true colours of the US which styles itself a “human rights champion”.