Smiley: poverty 'greatest threat' to US democracy

Speaking to Al Jazeera's Tony Harris, Tavis Smiley, US talk show host and author, says the US presidential election this year has been dominated by money.

Smiley says the 46 million people living at or below the poverty line in the US should now be regarded as a matter of national security for Washington.

The greatest threat to American democracy ... one per cent of the American people cannot continue to own and control 42 per cent of the wealth

Smiley says though poverty figures showing a growing gap between the rich and poor in the United States, were released in September, there has been "no real conversation about poverty" neither in this election, nor in the 2008 election.