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Poverty - Blog Posts
This isn’t right. It’s time to raise the wage.
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Hard to rise, and harder to fall: Poor college grads stay poor about as much as rich high school dropouts stay rich.
Likely because half our nation worships wealth regardless of where it came from.
Image by Worley Dervish.
After all, if generous aid to the poor perpetuates poverty, the United States — which treats its poor far more harshly than other rich countries, and induces them to work much longer hours — should lead the West in social mobility, in the fraction of those born poor who work their way up the scale. In fact, it’s just the opposite: America has less social mobility than most other advanced countries. And there’s no puzzle why: it’s hard for young people to get ahead when they suffer from poor nutrition, inadequate medical care, and lack of access to good education. The antipoverty programs that we have actually do a lot to help people rise. For example, Americans who received early access to food stamps were healthier and more productive in later life than those who didn’t. But we don’t do enough along these lines. The reason so many Americans remain trapped in poverty isn’t that the government helps them too much; it’s that it helps them too little.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/07/opinion/krugman-the-hammock-fallacy.html?ref=todayspaper (via shhaauun)
Minimum-wage jobs are physically demanding, have unpredictable schedules, and pay so meagerly that workers can't save up enough to move on.
In November, Congress cut food stamps for nearly 50 million people, and even more cuts are on the table.
While the right-wing has worked hard to smear SNAP recipients, here are stories of real, live people who have been affected by cuts to the government program that they depend on to...
The number of Americans who are poor enough to qualify for food stamps has increased by a disturbing 30 million in the last 13 years. In 2000, 17 million Americans were receiving food stamps; in 2013, the number is 47 million. Hoping to stir up racial tensions, far-right AM radio talk show hosts and Fox News wingnuts try to paint food stamp recipients as strictly or mostly people of color. But the facts don’t bear that out. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, roughly half of food stamp recipients are non-Hispanic whites (in Ohio, it’s around 65%). So when Republicans vote to cut food stamps, many of the people they are hurting are white. OnSeptember 19, Republicans in the House of Representatives voted to slash billions of dollars from the U.S. food stamp program during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s description of Obama as the “food stamp president” was obviously designed to inflame racial tensions and paint African Americans as freeloaders, but Gingrich neglected to mention that many of the people he considers freeloaders are actually white. When Republicans and the Tea Party contribute to hunger by attacking food stamps, people of color aren’t the only ones who suffer: Republicans are physically harming their own base. Slashing food stamp benefits won’t harm the Koch brothers or JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, but it will definitely harm poor whites in a place like McDowell County, West Virginia, which is 94% white (according to the U.S. Census Bureau), rural and has a life expectancy of only 63.9 for males and 72.9 for females (according to a report that the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington released in July 2013). If life expectancy is any indication, the economic conditions for white males in McDowell County aren’t much better than the economic conditions in Haiti, where, according to the World Health Organization, males have a life expectancy of 62. In contrast to McDowell County, that study showed a life expectancy of 81.4 for males and 85.0 for females in Marin County, California—which is affluent and heavily Democratic.
Owsley County, Kentucky is another example of a place that is predominantly white (97.6%), heavily Republican (Romney won 81% of the vote in Owsley County in 2012) and full of poverty. Bloomberg News has reported that in 2011, 52% of the county’s residents were receiving food stamps—which Rep. Hal Rogers, the Republican who represents Owsley County, voted in favor of slashing. From Kentucky to Mississippi to West Virginia, Republicans who were elected by an abundance of poor whites have voted in favoring of cutting food stamps.
There is no shortage of data on life expectancy that shows a downward trend for poor whites. In September 2012, the New York Times reported that poorer white males were dying much younger than more affluent white males: according to the Times, life expectancy had fallen to 67.5 years for the least educated white males compared to 80.4 for the more educated white males. And theTimes reported that life expectancy was 73.5 for the less educated white females compared to 83.9 for the more educated white females—which is also bad news for the GOP because even though white males are more likely than white females to vote Republican, white females are more likely to vote Republican than African American or Hispanic females. And depriving either white males or white females of access to food and healthcare certainly isn’t going to help them live longer.
I don't shop at Wal-Mart at all, and I don't shop on "Black Friday"--I'm just not into consumerism and corporatization. I encourage everyone to enjoy a day off work (if you get one) and spend time (on your family, your friends, or yourself) instead of money this Thanksgiving weekend.
I NEVER shop here anyway, but still, you shouldn’t either…
The real frauds are those who, in the face of facts, still choose to believe that individuals receiving a little over a hundred dollars worth of aid a month are greedy mooches yet take no issue with corporate welfare doled out to already thriving “people” to the tune of billions. Welfare queens exist, but you’re not going to find them in housing projects.
I had a feeling this guy was going to take the honors today.
Asshole of the Day, November 19, 2013: Tom Brower
by TeaPartyCat (Follow @TeaPartyCat)
Hawaii state Rep. Tom Brower has decided who deserves to have possessions and, more importantly, who doesn’t. And despite being a lawmaker, he decided the law wasn’t enough, so he has been going around town smashing the possessions of the homeless with a sledgehammer. Really.
Much like Batkid, Hawaii has found its own superhero. Except that instead of protecting the powerless from harm, he roams the streets with a sledgehammer and looks for homeless people in order to literally smash their possessions.
Remarkably, this vigilante isn’t just some random Hawaiian, but five-term State Rep. Tom Brower (D).
Noting that he’s “disgusted” with homeless people, Brower told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser about his own personal brand of “justice”: “If I see shopping carts that I can’t identify, I will destroy them so they can’t be pushed on the streets.” Brower has waged this campaign for two weeks, estimating that he’s smashed about 30 shopping carts in the process.
You see, he’s disgusted with homeless people, so that justifies his actions in his own mind. And he’s such an asshole that he thinks telling a newspaper is going to make him a hero. Let’s hope Hawaiian voters see him for the bully he really is.
After we posted the nomination of Rep. Brower, this reply came from Twitter which sums it all up:
@assholeofday Compassionate to homeless? No. Returned carts to stores that paid for them? No. Destroys property? Yes. Just a common criminal
— Heather (@SunLovingMama)
November 19, 2013
Just a common criminal. And we hope this asshole of the day is locked up.
Full story: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/11/19/2966371/hawaii-homeless-smash/
Ugh!
This is an elected representative smashing a homeless person’s possessions with a sledgehammer. Worst person ever?
tbh we really need to have a conversation about digital poverty cos assuming all students have both their own laptop and a reliable wifi connection stinks of classism
Cinderella is (still) a heroine
Recently Keira Knightley mentioned that she doesn't allow her children to watch Cinderella, because "she did nothing and waited for a man to save her". Because she isn't "feminist" enough. Emma Watson too made about the same comments a few years back when she rejected the role of Cinderella. To be honest, I was extremely disappointed with both actresses's interpretation of the character, a bit more with Watson, because she is a UN ambassador for women. Cinderella is a domestic slave in a male dominated society. She's an orphan, her remaining(all female too! ) family appears to be financially unstable, and yes, she's a servant. Do you know how many women are actually in the same position today? MILLIONS. Moving on, with one of my favourite quotes about Cinderella: she didn't ask for a prince. She asked for a dress and a night off. She had every right to be at that ball, she even worked hard to be there, and yet her stepmother and sisters still found a way to sabotage her. Enter deus ex machina: the fairy godmother. Because social services didn't really exist at the time. She gets to the ball, she has fun, she even gets to meet the prince, and yet when her time is up, she just goes home. She doesn't beg anyone to take her in, she doesn't ask the prince to save her. Why? Maybe she's still too traumatised and scared to actually escape. Maybe she thinks she isn't worth that much anymore. So, home she goes, back to cleaning and cooking. This is where I'll stop narrating. This is enough. This is a story that has been true, is still true, and sadly will be true for countless young women. So, Keira and Emma, please tell me: what is a "strong woman" supposed to do when faced with poverty, abuse and has no access to education, welfare or even just a better job? Why does Cinderella have to be a role model, when she is in fact a victim? All these women in sweatshops, in the fields, in the kitchens of rich men's mansions, would really like to know: I'm I not "good enough" as a woman?
I think this is important for me to say, especially as someone who is far below the poverty line and disabled myself.
Now is the time to get fat, especially for people who are going to be put at risk by tariffs and restrictions on food stamps.
Now is the time to learn how to forage and how to use herbs to prevent and treat simple ailments.
Now is the time to learn first aid, how to stitch wounds, how to prevent a bullet wound from killing someone.
Now is the time to make plans to help disabled folks who can't run or defend themselves.
Now is the time to build muscle if you are physically able.
Now is the time to learn how to mend or create clothing.
Now is the time to try and transfer to physical media, and to transfer important information into something physical.
Now is the time to learn media literacy and how to decipher fake news.
Now is the time to understand that being a doomer will help no one, especially not yourself.
Things are going to shit. Prepare yourself as well as you are able. Don't spend your time worrying about impending doom, that won't help you. But what will help you is being prepared for things to go wrong. Start being more loving to the people who deserve it. Start taking care of yourself so that if at some point you can't, you'll have more time to change that fact. Start being hopeful. Start being angry if you aren't already. Start forgiving yourself, because you are your biggest ally. Start learning. About yourself. About how to support yourself. About the world. I love you, and we will all get through this via the aid of ourselves and others.
I want to write about the pain of it all, I want to write about the people I qued with outside of food banks; there was an old man who looked like a wise wizard with his long white hair, he waited for a small portion of pasta most days and offered me advice on the best times to turn up, there was a group of polish men with cans of alcohol shared between them, who at first assumed I was polish aswell and tried to talk to me, but all I could say was Przepraszam, nie wiem Polski the old man told me to stand next to him after that, there was also a brother and sister who where both addicted to heroine, most days they seemed to be going through intense withdrawals. We would all wait in a old medieval churchyard, some sat on toppled headstones while others leaned against stone angels with their faces covered. I want to write about what complete isolation and poverty does to you, how eyes don't meet yours and voices talk over you. But when I do, the room goes quiet and people look away, suddenly i feel the need to awkwardly laugh and say so yeah anyway.
More information on the foreign agent law.