Government
Paupers: Death Be Not Proud
Published September 04, 2009 @ 05:07AM PT
We all die. And something needs to be done with what remains after our last gasp.
Looking at this stark reality uncovers some little-considered aspects of poverty: What happens when you die without burial plans? Who pays and who decides what type of arrangements? What fiscal burden does the increasing number of economically-challenged people put upon local governments?
What happens post-life depends on your financial standing, what plans you have made, and, lacking plans and financial standing, where you lived before dying. Michael Jackson's grand--$150k+-- plans bespeak his wealth.
Medicaid Expansion Talking Points
Published September 03, 2009 @ 01:28PM PT
Via Ezra, I see Families USA has listed 10 reasons why we need health care reform. The #1 Reason? "Fully federally funded" Medicaid expansion that will insure millions of low-income households nationwide.
They helpfully extrapolate on each point in the easily digestible document. Here are your talking points on Medicaid expansion, an issue we've been tackling here at Poverty in America.
The bill will increase Medicaid eligibility to 133% of the federal poverty level (~$24k for a family of 3 in '09). This expansion alone would cover more than one-third of the currently uninsured, or about 17M people.
We need this expansion because so far we're leaving millions of poor adults without access to health care. Medicaid now is fairly restrictive in who qualifies among the low-income. In only 7 states are low-income childless adults currently eligible, and in only DC and 16 states cover parents at 100% of the poverty level.
The remainder of the report is super handy in explaining market regulation, the public option, coverage for kids, cost control, and other reasons why we need health care reform. Read up and gear up for President Obama's speech next week!
Low-Wage Workers Routinely Cheated
Published September 02, 2009 @ 12:46PM PT
A powerhouse of scholars has just released a comprehensive report documenting systemic, "widespread" wage violations in the low-wage market. 68% of more than 4,000 low-wage workers surveyed (average wage was $8.02/hour) had experienced at least one wage violation in the week prior. Wage violations included: not receiving overtime pay, not being given any breaks, having deductions illegally taken from paychecks, being forced to work past their scheduled finishing time, having their tips inappropriately garnished, and being paid less than the legal minimum wage. Critical to keep in mind as you advocate for workers' rights: the overall quality of the the workplace correlates strongly to the likelihood of wage violations.
Obama Restores Civil Rights
Published September 01, 2009 @ 07:00AM PT
Good news this morning: the Obama Administration is "restoring" the Civil Rights Division in the Department of Justice - the agency for anti-discrimination enforcement in the areas of housing, voting rights, employment, and so forth. Under Bush, the division was notoriously politicized, with conservative and Christian loyalists with little civil rights experience recruited and charged with prioritizing religious cases at the expense of the division's core focus on racial/ethnic discrimination. Why am I writing about this at Poverty in America? Because discrimination has historically reinforced racial, gender and other forms of inequality in housing, jobs, etc. - leading to the disproportionately high rates of women and people of color living in poverty.
Poverty as a Political Issue
Published August 31, 2009 @ 09:20AM PT
The American Prospect featured a great piece last week about how politicians frame poverty - and how that impacts public sentiment towards the poor. After Reagan effectively boogey-womaned mothers on welfare, President Clinton reframed Democratic economic policy as one concerned with the middle-class. This was a political maneuver to fight poverty subtly using a more inclusive rhetoric; many political observers claim that President Obama is doing the same thing today. What's especially interesting here is how their policy actions within our economic circumstances influence our general attitudes toward the poor. Is the best time to fight poverty now - during an historic recession - or when the good times roll again?
Keep Poverty on the Agenda
Published August 30, 2009 @ 12:00PM PT
With the death of Sen. Kennedy and the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina both happening this week, the topic of poverty was fresh in the public's mind. In eulogizing Kennedy, most of us could take pride in remembering his service to "working people" everywhere, his commitment to poverty reduction over the life of his career. With Katrina, it is also about a job unfinished, but with a much less nostalgic, sweet glow - the enduring problems of blight, housing insecurity, racial inequality and poverty are glaring, graphic, and depressing.
Whether you're motivated to action by the inspiring good works of folks like Senator Kennedy, or fueled by a sense of outrage over injustice, this past week offered plenty of reminders that poverty is a persistent, entrenched, political problem for which solutions exist. Investments in early childhood education pay lifetime dividends. Economic boycotts and union movements highlight workers' rights and benefits. Providing childcare, fair pay, and extensive family leave policies give mothers better opportunities to compete economically and earn enough to care for their families. And universal health care bankrupts neither households nor the entire medical system.
Change.org is just one platform where you can commit (and re-commit) to fighting poverty in the U.S. To start, let's begin by keeping poverty on the public agenda - as a problem we can and must solve. Let's not let it slip away as our weekend tributes wrap up. As Uncle Teddy and 15k volunteers in New Orleans remind us, the cause endures and the work goes on.
("Not Everyone in SF is Rich..." by Son of Groucho)
Half a Million Volunteer Hours Rebuild New Orleans
Published August 29, 2009 @ 08:43AM PT
In 2007, pollster John Zogby ventured that Hurricane Katrina would be the defining moment of our generation, signalling American hunger for a renewed, proactive government that led by example and empowered civic engagement. One positive outcome of Hurricane Katrina's devastating impact on the Gulf Coast is the number of volunteers who have participated in the recovery. Now I see from HandsOn New Orleans that more than 15,000 volunteers have contributed over 500,000 volunteer hours to the revitalization of New Orleans alone.
HandsOn New Orleans is leading a volunteer service day today on this fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. It is only one of countless recovery efforts still underway across the Gulf Coast. Preacher Jim Walllis in witnessing church groups visit the Gulf Coast repeatedly to participate in the rebuilding, has called the region is a '“converting ground' for a generation of 'new abolitionists' committed to eradicating global poverty, which they believe is the 'new slavery.'" I remember passing such groups praying near the river in my own work in NOLA.
As someone who believes passionately in government leadership to provide and care for all its residents, I am sometimes frustrated by the reality that so many of these volunteers have filled a critical void by our elected leaders. Yet I frequently comfort myself when thinking of Katrina by imaginging the number of Americans who will have personally contributed to recovery efforts; routinely when I describe my work or research, a listener will describe for me how they spent a week rebuilding homes, cleaning out a neighborhood or painting a school. And the beauty of our country is revealed when we mobilize government resources alongside civic participation.
On this fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, let's not forget that the work remains and the need endures - from Texas to Alabama. And let's say thanks to the thousands of residents, volunteers and non-profits who have given so much to restore an original American region.
(Volunteers repainting a house in New Orleans, 2008; by Editor B)
