With less than three weeks to go, politicians on both sides of the aisle seem as far apart as ever over how to avoid going over the fiscal cliff. In the midst of their considerations, there's a lot of talk about how would going over the cliff help or hurt the middle class and the wealthiest Americas. But one group that is not getting a lot of attention in the conversation is the very poor.

"Poor people are being rendered more and more invisible everyday," says television and radio host Tavis Smiley. "Millions of Americans have already gone over the fiscal cliff. It's not about going over a 'cliff.' It's about austerity masquerading as a conversation about a so-called fiscal cliff." 

Tavis Smiley is the best-selling author of "The Rich and the Rest of Us: A Poverty Manifesto." He will be moderating a nationally televised discussion entitled “Vision for a New America: A Future Without Poverty” on Thursday, January 17. And he's asking interested Americans to sign his petition to eradicate poverty here.