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The American Way of Poverty: How the Other Half Still Lives
Selected as A Notable Book of the Year by The New York Times Book Review Fifty years after Michael Harrington published his groundbreaking book The Other America, in which he chronicled the lives of people excluded from the Age of Affluence, poverty in America is back with a vengeance. It is made up of both the long-term chronically poor and new working poor -- the tens of millions of victims of a broken economy and an ever more dysfunctional political system. In many ways, for the majority of Americans, financial insecurity has become the new norm.The American Way of Poverty shines a light on this travesty. Sasha Abramsky brings the effects of economic inequality out of the shadows and, ultimately, suggests ways for moving toward a fairer and more equitable social contract. Exploring everything from housing policy to wage protections and affordable higher education, Abramsky lays out a panoramic blueprint for a reinvigorated political process that, in turn, will pave the way for a renewed War on Poverty. It is, Harrington believed, a moral outrage that in a country as wealthy as America, so many people could be so poor. Written in the wake of the 2008 financial collapse, in an era of grotesque economic extremes, The American Way of Poverty brings that same powerful indignation to the topic.
370 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
141 people are currently reading
4442 people want to read
About the author
Sasha Abramsky
25 books62 followersSasha Abramsky studied politics, philosophy, and economics at Oxford University. He is now a freelance journalist and senior fellow at Demos who reports on political personalities and cultural trends.
His work has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The Huffington Post, Rolling Stone, The Nation, The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Guardian, and Mother Jones, among other publications.
He lives in Sacramento, California.
His work has appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The Huffington Post, Rolling Stone, The Nation, The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Guardian, and Mother Jones, among other publications.
He lives in Sacramento, California.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 127 reviews
August 22, 2016
I came by this book in the most charming way. I have a friend who is a social justice activist, and she was having a "house cooling" : the opposite of a house-warming. She was in her 70s and her health had begun to decline, and so she made the decision to sell her home of 40 years and move to an apartment. She invited her friends to come to one final party at her house. All we had to do was bring a box for her packing - and take with us one of her "treasures" that wasn't moving to the apartment with her. Being who I am, I chose a book. And, Theresa being who she is, most of her books had to do with diversity, poverty or social justice.
This book, and others like it, needs to be read. The economy is changing too fast for our most vulnerable people, and our social safety net has holes in it. Enough already with "starving the beast." It is obscene that taxes for rich people keep going down, down, down, while the minimum wage has failed to keep up with inflation, children go hungry in abysmal schools, and Social Security and Medicare will be unable to meet their obligations to future generations without some action now.
But I felt the book was a little disorganized in its presentation, and limited in its prescriptions. Same old thing: the federal government should step in with big programs. #1, I don't see that happening in the current political climate. #2, it might not even be the best solution, or at least the only solution. The author talks about urban farms only in terms of how they illustrate the failure of the federal government to take care of people. I'm not so sure. I think urban farms are a hopeful sign. Look, I'm not against federal programs at all. I hope to take advantage of Social Security and Medicare soon myself. But, I'd rather see people figuring out ways to take care of themselves, at the community level. The first public schools, after all, weren't funded by the federal government. They were funded by local communities. The first hospitals weren't funded by the federal government. They were funded by churches. The US government surely has a role. But I'd have liked to read about more creative, innovative approaches that put people in charge of their own destinies.
Read about my own experience with poverty on my blog: http://www.kathrynbashaar.com/2016/08...
This book, and others like it, needs to be read. The economy is changing too fast for our most vulnerable people, and our social safety net has holes in it. Enough already with "starving the beast." It is obscene that taxes for rich people keep going down, down, down, while the minimum wage has failed to keep up with inflation, children go hungry in abysmal schools, and Social Security and Medicare will be unable to meet their obligations to future generations without some action now.
But I felt the book was a little disorganized in its presentation, and limited in its prescriptions. Same old thing: the federal government should step in with big programs. #1, I don't see that happening in the current political climate. #2, it might not even be the best solution, or at least the only solution. The author talks about urban farms only in terms of how they illustrate the failure of the federal government to take care of people. I'm not so sure. I think urban farms are a hopeful sign. Look, I'm not against federal programs at all. I hope to take advantage of Social Security and Medicare soon myself. But, I'd rather see people figuring out ways to take care of themselves, at the community level. The first public schools, after all, weren't funded by the federal government. They were funded by local communities. The first hospitals weren't funded by the federal government. They were funded by churches. The US government surely has a role. But I'd have liked to read about more creative, innovative approaches that put people in charge of their own destinies.
Read about my own experience with poverty on my blog: http://www.kathrynbashaar.com/2016/08...
October 23, 2013
I don't think liked is the right word, but this is a compelling and heartbreaking and I want to force everyone to read this book, especially anyone who believes that taxes are too high and people using government assistance are lazy. If you don't have time to read the whole book, at least peruse something like this review in the New York Times. But some other points for this review. Abramsky clearly lays out the way these issues are connected and come at the behest and benefit of those in power.
"Too often in recent decades, our political leaders have ignored what’s staring them in the face and instead enacted policies that make economic hardship worse for those already on the margins or starting the long slide into destitution. As detailed in this book, they do so because American’s political process is increasingly beholden to powerful financial interests, its priorities shaped by what used to be seen as Southern mores: a belief not just in the inevitability of inequality, but in the desirability of oligarchy as a social structure, in the usefulness of poverty as a social control mechanism, its reaction to that poverty punitive and unforgiving."
It's even harder to read this after the debates about the Affordable Care Act, people braying from the hills that helping others get and keep some level of health insurance eats at their "freedom," as though the words, "for the people by the people" don't mean that our government should be a way by which we can help others. The same people who complain that business like Wal-Mart have no responsibilities to anyone except shareholders, and have a firm belief that it's very important that they make $46 billion a year instead of maybe $44 billion while paying their workers a more livable wage, instead of the England Victorian era wages that people are being paid. Heaven forbid we ask for this from companies.
December 10, 2013
It takes a great catastrophe to bring about great action. In 1929 when the stock market crashed, people lost everything. The Roosevelt Administration responded with programs intended to provide a social safety net. The intent was to get people back to work and protect the most vulnerable; these protections have helped individuals after the Great Depression ended.
However, during the Great Recession, there was no such result. In fact, more social programs were cut and have remained cut, further ensuring a future catastrophe. People have become too desensitized to poverty and they would rather blame the person for being poor than blame the system for creating it. What Sasha Abramsky points out in his book is that we’ve created a system that is ensuring more and more people will fall into poverty and those that don’t will blame the victims for it.
The first half of Abramsky’s book focuses on the disadvantaged. It is story after story of individuals who have fallen on hard times. He covers a wide range of people and identifies the social and government situation that created it. Personal stories of poverty from those who are usually invisible, empty food pantries, people living in shacks, and those struggling to make it as all of the social services that are intended to protect them are completely overwhelmed. He also points out the hypocrisy of anti-tax conservatives in many instances. Much of this stems to the Reagan years of “Welfare Queens” driving Cadillac (which was a known lie even back then, and yet, it continues to make it easier to blame the victim). There are those who would gut the key pieces out of a program and then turn around and complain how they do not work. It seems to be a consistent strategy with some and the consequences are devastating. Through this, he also points out how the issues with solving poverty are more of a political issue than it is a force of will.
Abramsky sets out to identify those problems in the first half of the book and provide solutions in the second half. Many of the solutions are easily implementable on paper, from small tax increases, to payback systems to ensure people are above the poverty line. However, the main issue goes back to political will. Abramsky is an expert in telling these stories and he is putting the weight of his solutions behind them. He would know how to connect with liberals on this side, but I felt he had a missed opportunity in talking about the community-wide impact. Poverty affects everyone. It’s not just those who have to decide between whether they heat their houses or go hungry, it’s those communities that are impacted. Businesses will not set-up shop in a community with high poverty rates, unskilled workers, and low educational attainment. The anchor stores can drive a community and create residual supporting businesses that bring jobs. That’s an impact everyone can understand and closes the loop on his original points. If people are too selfish and prefer to blame the victim, it’s best to play on that and demonstrate how everyone is affected by poverty. It’s a systemic problem and impacts everyone.
However, during the Great Recession, there was no such result. In fact, more social programs were cut and have remained cut, further ensuring a future catastrophe. People have become too desensitized to poverty and they would rather blame the person for being poor than blame the system for creating it. What Sasha Abramsky points out in his book is that we’ve created a system that is ensuring more and more people will fall into poverty and those that don’t will blame the victims for it.
The first half of Abramsky’s book focuses on the disadvantaged. It is story after story of individuals who have fallen on hard times. He covers a wide range of people and identifies the social and government situation that created it. Personal stories of poverty from those who are usually invisible, empty food pantries, people living in shacks, and those struggling to make it as all of the social services that are intended to protect them are completely overwhelmed. He also points out the hypocrisy of anti-tax conservatives in many instances. Much of this stems to the Reagan years of “Welfare Queens” driving Cadillac (which was a known lie even back then, and yet, it continues to make it easier to blame the victim). There are those who would gut the key pieces out of a program and then turn around and complain how they do not work. It seems to be a consistent strategy with some and the consequences are devastating. Through this, he also points out how the issues with solving poverty are more of a political issue than it is a force of will.
Abramsky sets out to identify those problems in the first half of the book and provide solutions in the second half. Many of the solutions are easily implementable on paper, from small tax increases, to payback systems to ensure people are above the poverty line. However, the main issue goes back to political will. Abramsky is an expert in telling these stories and he is putting the weight of his solutions behind them. He would know how to connect with liberals on this side, but I felt he had a missed opportunity in talking about the community-wide impact. Poverty affects everyone. It’s not just those who have to decide between whether they heat their houses or go hungry, it’s those communities that are impacted. Businesses will not set-up shop in a community with high poverty rates, unskilled workers, and low educational attainment. The anchor stores can drive a community and create residual supporting businesses that bring jobs. That’s an impact everyone can understand and closes the loop on his original points. If people are too selfish and prefer to blame the victim, it’s best to play on that and demonstrate how everyone is affected by poverty. It’s a systemic problem and impacts everyone.
January 21, 2014
A comprehensive analysis of the causes and history of modern American poverty. Though most of it is a depressing read, it ends on a remarkably optimistic note, insisting that the problem of poverty is not only tractable, but possible to solve finally in the near term.
But don't expect an unbiased analysis, or a politically agreeable solution.
"We will get further in understanding [...] poverty if we consider how entrenched the new plutocracy [...] has become than if we look solely for explanations regarding the purported intellectual, economic and cultural inadequacies of the poor." This seems reasonable, considering the roles that societal injustice and random fate have on anyone's fortunes.
But in his actual arguments, Abramsky goes all the way. The author has already accepted as axiomatic that the poor have no responsibility for their poverty, either as a cause or as part of the solution.
One reason that a solution to poverty evades us is that the "blame the poor" and "blame society" sides keep talking past each other. Abramsky is firmly entrenched in the latter position. The solutions are typical of the view: people need money, so give them money; people need jobs, so give them jobs. It is blaming the victim to suggest that individuals take some part in the solution, even if it's to a problem that they didn't ask for.
A few headscratchers make their way into this book. One concerns the role of the housing crisis as a cause of poverty. The book references "upside-down" mortgages as a contributing factor to poverty, and mentions them as an important part of several cases and anecdotes. What is not explained -- what is never explained -- is how the paper value of an occupied house can possibly affect the income or expenses of the householder, in a way that makes him poor. In any case, we are reassured that any problems are due to aggressive marketers, not to the person who signed the note.
Another puzzling feature is the frequent mention of malnutrition among the poor. The fact that hunger (as commonly defined) has been largely eliminated would seem to undercut the poignancy of the anecdotes, but it clearly represents a major victory and validation of liberal policies. Instead, the author seems to have swallowed the common myth of rampant hunger (defined as "food insecurity", a technical term with no resemblance to hunger).
The author compellingly makes one point for the conservative plutocrat: the liberal democracy which permits accumulation of wealth relies on the participation of all citizens, educated, interested, and enfranchised. The tendency to alienate and marginalize large ever larger segments of the population is not to anyone's advantage.
But don't expect an unbiased analysis, or a politically agreeable solution.
"We will get further in understanding [...] poverty if we consider how entrenched the new plutocracy [...] has become than if we look solely for explanations regarding the purported intellectual, economic and cultural inadequacies of the poor." This seems reasonable, considering the roles that societal injustice and random fate have on anyone's fortunes.
But in his actual arguments, Abramsky goes all the way. The author has already accepted as axiomatic that the poor have no responsibility for their poverty, either as a cause or as part of the solution.
One reason that a solution to poverty evades us is that the "blame the poor" and "blame society" sides keep talking past each other. Abramsky is firmly entrenched in the latter position. The solutions are typical of the view: people need money, so give them money; people need jobs, so give them jobs. It is blaming the victim to suggest that individuals take some part in the solution, even if it's to a problem that they didn't ask for.
A few headscratchers make their way into this book. One concerns the role of the housing crisis as a cause of poverty. The book references "upside-down" mortgages as a contributing factor to poverty, and mentions them as an important part of several cases and anecdotes. What is not explained -- what is never explained -- is how the paper value of an occupied house can possibly affect the income or expenses of the householder, in a way that makes him poor. In any case, we are reassured that any problems are due to aggressive marketers, not to the person who signed the note.
Another puzzling feature is the frequent mention of malnutrition among the poor. The fact that hunger (as commonly defined) has been largely eliminated would seem to undercut the poignancy of the anecdotes, but it clearly represents a major victory and validation of liberal policies. Instead, the author seems to have swallowed the common myth of rampant hunger (defined as "food insecurity", a technical term with no resemblance to hunger).
The author compellingly makes one point for the conservative plutocrat: the liberal democracy which permits accumulation of wealth relies on the participation of all citizens, educated, interested, and enfranchised. The tendency to alienate and marginalize large ever larger segments of the population is not to anyone's advantage.
December 6, 2016
In the U.S., we have lost the ability to see poverty and the will to understand why it occurs, which perpetuates and deepens poverty for those who suffer it. Numbers differ according to whether one is measuring the entire population or segments of it, such as children. In 2012, UNICEF found the U.S. second only to Romania in child poverty, at 23 percent. In many areas of the country, the rate is far higher. Life expectancy has fallen and infant mortality has risen. The recent recession has exacerbated what was already happening. The book tells heartbreaking stories of people falling deeper into poverty.
Many factors contribute to the U.S.’s lack of a social safety net like those in most European countries. It is partly a heritage of the British system in effect when the U.S. was settled (poverty as moral failing, not to be encouraged by providing for those who couldn’t so for themselves). Our federal structure leaves the states to administer welfare programs, leading to marked regional disparities. We have no viable Socialist or Labor parties, as in Europe. Programs that are enacted are subject to being whittled away or repealed with new elections. Tax policy increasingly favors corporations and people who already have means. Unions have been “dramatically weakened.” Part of it is due to our diversity, when people in power lack empathy for those different from themselves.
Abramsky, and many others, say that the persistence of poverty is the result of policy choices, not the personal failings or bad luck of those affected. Part 2 outlines many feasible solutions, such as public works to repair infrastructure, eliminating the ceiling on payroll contributions to Social Security, different methods of reforming welfare and Medicaid, eliminating “three strikes” laws. We need more coordination between government agencies to treat poverty holistically, and we should be giving people incentives to work their way up the ladder without losing needed benefits or having to divest themselves of the few assets they may have. “We know what to do” to ameliorate poverty, says Abramsky, but the political will is lacking.
We are already paying the long-term costs of our short-sighted policies. Depriving people of adequate nutrition and healthcare cause or contribute to chronic diseases and people flooding hospital emergency rooms. Cut funding for public schools and businesses can’t find qualified workers, while people with no skills depend on vanishing unemployment benefits; some turn to crime. The annual cost of keeping a person incarcerated in some places equals the cost of a year at an Ivy League college. We have money but are allocating it wrong.
So much for the summary. As a reading experience, this is a difficult book. Besides the sadness for people living on the edge, it is heavy with facts, figures, and dates that dulled my mind after a while. I also have no head for policy so while I got the gist, I could not quote any specifics about actions to take. And the most discouraging thing is that in the current political climate, nothing will be done despite the occasional demonstrations by the 99 percent. How bad do things have to get and how far behind does the U.S. have to fall before enough people recognize the need for change so that something happens?
Many factors contribute to the U.S.’s lack of a social safety net like those in most European countries. It is partly a heritage of the British system in effect when the U.S. was settled (poverty as moral failing, not to be encouraged by providing for those who couldn’t so for themselves). Our federal structure leaves the states to administer welfare programs, leading to marked regional disparities. We have no viable Socialist or Labor parties, as in Europe. Programs that are enacted are subject to being whittled away or repealed with new elections. Tax policy increasingly favors corporations and people who already have means. Unions have been “dramatically weakened.” Part of it is due to our diversity, when people in power lack empathy for those different from themselves.
Abramsky, and many others, say that the persistence of poverty is the result of policy choices, not the personal failings or bad luck of those affected. Part 2 outlines many feasible solutions, such as public works to repair infrastructure, eliminating the ceiling on payroll contributions to Social Security, different methods of reforming welfare and Medicaid, eliminating “three strikes” laws. We need more coordination between government agencies to treat poverty holistically, and we should be giving people incentives to work their way up the ladder without losing needed benefits or having to divest themselves of the few assets they may have. “We know what to do” to ameliorate poverty, says Abramsky, but the political will is lacking.
We are already paying the long-term costs of our short-sighted policies. Depriving people of adequate nutrition and healthcare cause or contribute to chronic diseases and people flooding hospital emergency rooms. Cut funding for public schools and businesses can’t find qualified workers, while people with no skills depend on vanishing unemployment benefits; some turn to crime. The annual cost of keeping a person incarcerated in some places equals the cost of a year at an Ivy League college. We have money but are allocating it wrong.
So much for the summary. As a reading experience, this is a difficult book. Besides the sadness for people living on the edge, it is heavy with facts, figures, and dates that dulled my mind after a while. I also have no head for policy so while I got the gist, I could not quote any specifics about actions to take. And the most discouraging thing is that in the current political climate, nothing will be done despite the occasional demonstrations by the 99 percent. How bad do things have to get and how far behind does the U.S. have to fall before enough people recognize the need for change so that something happens?
June 30, 2014
The basic premise is the scale of poverty in this country is a preventable scandal of our own design and one that endangers us all. The first half of the book does an excellent job of spelling out the consequences of our economic and governmental public policies on continually eroding the economic stability of a large portion of our population. The bottom line question is why do we continually support policies that endanger our present and future economic viability?
Likely because the issue is so complex and involves everything from market regulation, taxation, and entitlement programs to policies around incarceration, addiction, education, immigration, foster care, housing, healthcare, wage disparities, job creation, pension reform, and so much more, the second half of the book proposing possible solutions is all over the place. Plus some of the proposed solutions seem both futile and inequitable. There is little likelihood that some of the proposed spending programs will be approved in a political climate where all government assistance programs are under attack. Incentives for better access to affordable healthcare, housing, college education, and jobs in growth sectors need to be available to the population as a whole, not just those in immediate need. Still, many of the proposed solutions highlight the tax revenues we are already wasting, many times because we’re approaching problems punitively rather than constructively, such as our policies around incarceration for non-violent offences and addiction issues. Also raises a lot of good questions around the roles of government vs businesses vs community and other organizations and how best to leverage the strengths of each to ensure more stability for all.
An excellent response to those who insanely think poverty is not really a problem in our affluent society, that it could never happen to them, or think poverty is the consequence of individual personal failures and that the poor should be left to sink or swim on their own. A strong argument for realizing that poverty, like physical illness, is the manifestation of the ill-health and bad practices of our overall society. Making economic well-being for all a priority will strengthen our overall body politic. How we deal with poverty is truly a matter of national security.
Likely because the issue is so complex and involves everything from market regulation, taxation, and entitlement programs to policies around incarceration, addiction, education, immigration, foster care, housing, healthcare, wage disparities, job creation, pension reform, and so much more, the second half of the book proposing possible solutions is all over the place. Plus some of the proposed solutions seem both futile and inequitable. There is little likelihood that some of the proposed spending programs will be approved in a political climate where all government assistance programs are under attack. Incentives for better access to affordable healthcare, housing, college education, and jobs in growth sectors need to be available to the population as a whole, not just those in immediate need. Still, many of the proposed solutions highlight the tax revenues we are already wasting, many times because we’re approaching problems punitively rather than constructively, such as our policies around incarceration for non-violent offences and addiction issues. Also raises a lot of good questions around the roles of government vs businesses vs community and other organizations and how best to leverage the strengths of each to ensure more stability for all.
An excellent response to those who insanely think poverty is not really a problem in our affluent society, that it could never happen to them, or think poverty is the consequence of individual personal failures and that the poor should be left to sink or swim on their own. A strong argument for realizing that poverty, like physical illness, is the manifestation of the ill-health and bad practices of our overall society. Making economic well-being for all a priority will strengthen our overall body politic. How we deal with poverty is truly a matter of national security.
May 5, 2015
To anyone who agrees, the author is stating the obvious. To anyone who disagrees, well, they are unlikely to read this book in the first place.
September 25, 2017
Abransky focuses on the problem that's so ubiquitous that it's invisible: poverty. Whether it's the folks pushing the shopping carts or those living in cars or the kids who wear the same things to school or the folks who are quietly hiding in their houses, waiting for the lenders to come, "clues" about the phenomenal number of people who are living on the margins are everywhere.
The first part of the book is a portrait of Americans who are impoverished, but Abramsky's point is that this is not an individual problem, but rather a systemic problem. There are ways in which America's economy and society are structured to create poverty while overwhelmingly rewarding those who happened to miss its pitfalls. The second half of the book looks directly at the current economic/social system to find ways in which the system might be changed so that no one goes hungry, no one is forced to live without shelter, no one is forced to choose between feeding children and heating the house.
The subtitle of the book is "how the other half still lives," and, in this age of screaming and ranting and demanding that "big government" disappear, this book brings clear focus onto the fact that we're all Americans and we're all interconnected. "Government" is the way that our group takes care of all of us…and we must act. It's simply immoral for the richest nation in the world to allow people to have to live in such dire straits. Abramsky makes a raft of logical reasonable suggestions, none of which would solve all of the problems, but all of which, if enacted, would allow us all to take pride in our country once again.
Really…how can we let this continue? How did we become so awfully selfish?
The first part of the book is a portrait of Americans who are impoverished, but Abramsky's point is that this is not an individual problem, but rather a systemic problem. There are ways in which America's economy and society are structured to create poverty while overwhelmingly rewarding those who happened to miss its pitfalls. The second half of the book looks directly at the current economic/social system to find ways in which the system might be changed so that no one goes hungry, no one is forced to live without shelter, no one is forced to choose between feeding children and heating the house.
The subtitle of the book is "how the other half still lives," and, in this age of screaming and ranting and demanding that "big government" disappear, this book brings clear focus onto the fact that we're all Americans and we're all interconnected. "Government" is the way that our group takes care of all of us…and we must act. It's simply immoral for the richest nation in the world to allow people to have to live in such dire straits. Abramsky makes a raft of logical reasonable suggestions, none of which would solve all of the problems, but all of which, if enacted, would allow us all to take pride in our country once again.
Really…how can we let this continue? How did we become so awfully selfish?
September 4, 2014
Is the war on poverty lost? Are the poor responsible for their own poverty or is that debate besides the point? Are there public policy solutions that would address poverty?
Abramsky takes a decided liberal view of the issue of poverty. For him, it is a societal disaster and human tragedy. Is is a problem that needs active government policy to address. He makes his case in acknowledgement of the current political gridlock and fierce conservative opposition to anything the government might do to solve the problem.
Yes Abramsky presses on with the case. The first half of the book is about the problem itself. It breaks no new ground, but it does capture the scope of the challenge. The second half is the more interesting piece, with a number of proposals that are worthy of consideration - if you think that the government should be doing anything at all. Of course, there are price tags for the solutions and Abramsky has no problem arguing that the wealthy should be paying more.
There are gratuitous swipes at the other side and some tangents, but the book is certainly thought provoking.
Abramsky takes a decided liberal view of the issue of poverty. For him, it is a societal disaster and human tragedy. Is is a problem that needs active government policy to address. He makes his case in acknowledgement of the current political gridlock and fierce conservative opposition to anything the government might do to solve the problem.
Yes Abramsky presses on with the case. The first half of the book is about the problem itself. It breaks no new ground, but it does capture the scope of the challenge. The second half is the more interesting piece, with a number of proposals that are worthy of consideration - if you think that the government should be doing anything at all. Of course, there are price tags for the solutions and Abramsky has no problem arguing that the wealthy should be paying more.
There are gratuitous swipes at the other side and some tangents, but the book is certainly thought provoking.
April 12, 2014
That I would classify this book as demoralizing is not the fault of the author. Abramsky cogently and clearly makes that case for how "[a]s a community,, we strengthen ourselves when we find ways to protect our most vulnerable" (317). The verb "strengthen" is not merely abstract; it is tangible, verifiable, and material. The dispiriting effect of the book lies in the comprehensive portrait of its subject, which documents the depth and breadth of poverty in this country, poverty that has been made worse by the systematic erosion of the already-porous social safety net that took place at very moment the economy was tanking. From a standpoint of affordability, Abramsky's solutions, such as The Basic Income Guarantee or education endowments for every newborn, are not far-fetched or onerous in terms of tax increases. What makes these solutions depressing is knowing that until the U.S. has some shift in basic thinking, until we stop thinking of poverty as crime and punishment at once, his solutions have no chance of making it off the page.
November 19, 2013
I have read numerous books this year on the subjects of poverty and income inequality. As Abramsky stated in this book, the ideas are there the political will is not. That the idea of a financial transactions tax is currently not even being discussed from what I can see in the mainstream media is disheartening. That most Americans actually agree that the wealthier amongst us should be paying their fair share in taxes shows that politicians are not representing the majority but a tiny minority who hold vast amounts of money and thus power. Aramsky's idea of the Educational Opportunity Fund was just one of many ideas outlined in this book that I agree would lead to more economic equality and true opportunity for all Americans. A great read if you're at all interested in the current state of our nation and the innovative solutions that should be on the table for returning it to greatness.
November 14, 2013
I’m glad I read it. I was impressed by both halves of the book. The first half was his look into the realities, the data, of poverty in America today. The second half of the book are his prescriptions. While I do not cast my lot with his prescriptions - I thought they were very well argued and they made me think about what I think is both realistic and helpful. I am going to New York City next week and I think I’ll write to him and see if he’ll give me a little bit of time to talk. Many of his prescriptions involve some forms of tax increases (particularly on the wealthiest). That seems politically untenable - even as he makes the compelling argument that they are economically sustainable. His way of thinking about these things in holistic rather than ideological terms (though all may not agree with that characterization) I found helpful.
November 7, 2014
The American Way of Poverty by Sasha Abramsky
The first two-thirds of this book is excellent. He discusses in detail the most common causes of poverty--job loss, early childbearing, poor education, living in areas of economic depression, mental illness, and drug and alcohol abuse--and interviews in-depth people living in abject poverty from these causes. It is written with both wide-eyed clarity and compassion.
Then we come to the last one-third of the book which deals with solutions. There he loses me with the pie-in-the-sky, not a snowball's chance in Hades of happening solutions. I am not saying that implementation of any of them wouldn't help, just that they are not going to pass Congress to be implemented. So it leaves me frustrated that all I can do is make a donation to my local food bank.
The first two-thirds of this book is excellent. He discusses in detail the most common causes of poverty--job loss, early childbearing, poor education, living in areas of economic depression, mental illness, and drug and alcohol abuse--and interviews in-depth people living in abject poverty from these causes. It is written with both wide-eyed clarity and compassion.
Then we come to the last one-third of the book which deals with solutions. There he loses me with the pie-in-the-sky, not a snowball's chance in Hades of happening solutions. I am not saying that implementation of any of them wouldn't help, just that they are not going to pass Congress to be implemented. So it leaves me frustrated that all I can do is make a donation to my local food bank.
October 1, 2013
I appreciated that the author was able to tell the real stories of poverty in America. For too long I have had to battle stereotypes and biases during discussions on poverty, systems, and policy. I think that poverty, and all that goes with it, is such a frighteningly real subject that people instinctively protect themselves by going into denial mode. This book helps make denial impossible. Here is the reality, and here are a few things we can do about it. A very well balanced and honest depiction.
February 22, 2015
I had high hopes for this book as it's certainly a topic in which I am interested however I found it difficult to wade through. The book is divided into two parts - the first is basically the stories of those in poverty and the second part focuses on ideas for improvement & potential solutions. I felt like the first part would have been stronger if it had focused more on one or two stories vs lots of very brief anecdotes. I felt like the second part would have been stronger if it had offered more ideas besides tax increases. All in all, a bit of a tough read!
November 28, 2013
Jesus Christ, now I have to review this thing.
September 30, 2018
I read this book out of a need to understand poverty better. It should be required reading for Social Workers and SW students. This book is divided into two sections: firsthand depictions of people in deep poverty situations all across the country, and practical policy suggestions for lifting people out of poverty.
I found the first half of the book to be intriguing. Intriguing in that the ways in which people who have nothing have found ways to subsist. Like the couple "camping" on Hawaii's big island in their home which only has electricity for a couple hours a day....via a generator that they use, when they have gas money. Or the people living in North Las Vegas in tents and boxes within a square mile of the second largest high school in Las Vegas and yet who have never been to see the sights on Las Vegas' famed strip. People living in storage shelters and foreclosed homes and tents and anything you could possibly think to live in (and a few you haven't). The policy part was, dare I say it, hopeful. See, this book was written in 2013, just after President Obama was re-elected, when some of us still had hopes for this country. Before some of us elected a racist, xenophobic reality star who put children in cages and voted himself major tax breaks. The author has a lot of good ideas for policies, and backs up his ideas with the facts and figures. Like a half cent payroll tax to fund an educational opportunity fund for every child when they are born. Like infusing Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security with millions of dollars. Like reworking TANF so that time limits don't apply during recessions or times of national crises. Like instituting a major overhaul of the minimum wage.
The last little chapter is the sobering part. The part that nearly made me cry reading it: "We can't say we didn't know." Something must be done for the impoverished, and it should go without saying that it should not come from the poor. "Unless someone [like you] cares a whole awful lot, nothing's going to get better. It's not."-- Dr. Seuss, The Lorax. You should really read this book. Especially if you're thinking of voting Republican next time.
I found the first half of the book to be intriguing. Intriguing in that the ways in which people who have nothing have found ways to subsist. Like the couple "camping" on Hawaii's big island in their home which only has electricity for a couple hours a day....via a generator that they use, when they have gas money. Or the people living in North Las Vegas in tents and boxes within a square mile of the second largest high school in Las Vegas and yet who have never been to see the sights on Las Vegas' famed strip. People living in storage shelters and foreclosed homes and tents and anything you could possibly think to live in (and a few you haven't). The policy part was, dare I say it, hopeful. See, this book was written in 2013, just after President Obama was re-elected, when some of us still had hopes for this country. Before some of us elected a racist, xenophobic reality star who put children in cages and voted himself major tax breaks. The author has a lot of good ideas for policies, and backs up his ideas with the facts and figures. Like a half cent payroll tax to fund an educational opportunity fund for every child when they are born. Like infusing Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security with millions of dollars. Like reworking TANF so that time limits don't apply during recessions or times of national crises. Like instituting a major overhaul of the minimum wage.
The last little chapter is the sobering part. The part that nearly made me cry reading it: "We can't say we didn't know." Something must be done for the impoverished, and it should go without saying that it should not come from the poor. "Unless someone [like you] cares a whole awful lot, nothing's going to get better. It's not."-- Dr. Seuss, The Lorax. You should really read this book. Especially if you're thinking of voting Republican next time.
January 1, 2020
This is the last book that I'm going to complete this decade. I think it's only fitting that it should be one that affected me as much, and is as important, as this one.
I picked this up on a whim while browsing through the my collection of library ebook offerings via the Libby app. I have been reading a lot of nonfiction this year, with a focus on social justice for a good chunk of it, and this was right up my alley. I was dismayed to find that it was not compatible with my kindle, though, so I had to read it on my Libby app on my phone. This is not my favorite thing... but it was something of a blessing, because I often needed to take a break from this book.
If you have followed me for a while, you might've heard of my overactive empathy gland. It was doing overtime (pun intended?) while I read this book, because the stories recounted here were soul-crushingly heartbreaking, and the sheer hopelessness of the situations that so many people are living with every. single. day. was too much for me to take. The ridiculous ease with which people, who one day were solidly middle class and doing well for themselves could literally fall off of a financial cliff the next day - whether that was from a medical emergency, a car accident, or some little thing like the 2008 housing bubble bursting - was traumatizing. And anxiety inducing. There were several times that I literally had to walk away from this book to just breathe and try to avoid the onset of a panic attack... because that's how terrifying and cruel and soul-crushing the prospect of the kind of poverty depicted here is.
I have had so many people (my husband, my mother, a couple real-life friends, and several Goodreads friends) tell me that I should just not read it if it affects me that much. Why put myself through that? One of my friends on GR here tells me often that she doesn't know how I read the depressing and disturbing stuff that I do. (Hey, L!) I always try to justify and explain, but I don't really think that I do a good job at it. It's hard, because outside of my brain, it really doesn't make much sense to do it: I'm already progressive, and already instinctively gravitate toward those that represent my values, so I shouldn't need to go through the trauma of reading something like this, right? I'm not the audience that "needs" this book, right?
But inside of my brain, it just feels like I SHOULD. I feel like I should SEE it, so I can know and understand the nuances and intricacies of the issue, and how it's so interconnected with so many other aspects of society, and that together, knowing and seeing this helps me to clarify my position and support for people in a position to make a positive change. Poverty is one of those things that is so easy to overlook, or paint with this broad brush of "other people's failings" and not OUR failings, SOCIETY'S failings. And I want to see how society can and should do better for the most vulnerable within it. I want to know so that I can talk to people about it, and maybe help them see that the problem isn't a failure of individuals to become successful, and thus is an individual choice... it's a systemic, multifaceted undermining of our social compact. Ours is supposed to be a "government of the people, by the people, for the people" - and yet it's leaving millions to fall through the cracks of destitution and desperation.
We are a culture of soundbites, and a culture of the squeaky wheel gets the grease. When those combine, it's all too easy to trust what the "experts" say about personal responsibility and pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps... And let's not forget the demonization of those who take advantage of social safety net programs - the welfare queens and the baby machines and the Lexus-driving food stamp fraudsters. You hear all the anecdotal "evidence" from the people who buy into these bits - the grocery store checkout clerk who just KNOWS that the woman buying milk and eggs and bread with WIC checks doesn't deserve to get "free" food. The armchair expert who thinks that people who literally don't know when or where or if they'll eat until payday CHOOSE to live that way so they can keep mooching off the system.
Sure. Totally checks out. I'll keep an eye out for your research paper presenting your study results.
So, yeah. This book was tough to read. Even harder to stomach now, considering that this was written between Obama's first term and his second, and it's only gotten exponentially worse since Obama left office and the current infestation moved in. His gleeful band of gutter trash have done everything that they can to strip protections and regulations and funding from literally anything that they can find. The staggering amount of damage they've done is beyond comprehension.
The ONLY positive thing that I can hope for is that this sentence will end with a lot of people galvanized to vote for the values that we claim to hold dear. And I think that, I HOPE that, the tide is shifting that way. The support shown for people like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who have radical and progressive ideas, is heartening.
The second half of this book throws out a lot of really great ideas and proposals that aren't NEARLY as radical as what Bernie or Elizabeth are putting out there. I am in favor of any or all of them that move us toward lowering (or ideally eliminating) the amount of people scraping by with nothing at all.
In the richest country on Earth, that shouldn't be such a daunting, divisive ask.
I picked this up on a whim while browsing through the my collection of library ebook offerings via the Libby app. I have been reading a lot of nonfiction this year, with a focus on social justice for a good chunk of it, and this was right up my alley. I was dismayed to find that it was not compatible with my kindle, though, so I had to read it on my Libby app on my phone. This is not my favorite thing... but it was something of a blessing, because I often needed to take a break from this book.
If you have followed me for a while, you might've heard of my overactive empathy gland. It was doing overtime (pun intended?) while I read this book, because the stories recounted here were soul-crushingly heartbreaking, and the sheer hopelessness of the situations that so many people are living with every. single. day. was too much for me to take. The ridiculous ease with which people, who one day were solidly middle class and doing well for themselves could literally fall off of a financial cliff the next day - whether that was from a medical emergency, a car accident, or some little thing like the 2008 housing bubble bursting - was traumatizing. And anxiety inducing. There were several times that I literally had to walk away from this book to just breathe and try to avoid the onset of a panic attack... because that's how terrifying and cruel and soul-crushing the prospect of the kind of poverty depicted here is.
I have had so many people (my husband, my mother, a couple real-life friends, and several Goodreads friends) tell me that I should just not read it if it affects me that much. Why put myself through that? One of my friends on GR here tells me often that she doesn't know how I read the depressing and disturbing stuff that I do. (Hey, L!) I always try to justify and explain, but I don't really think that I do a good job at it. It's hard, because outside of my brain, it really doesn't make much sense to do it: I'm already progressive, and already instinctively gravitate toward those that represent my values, so I shouldn't need to go through the trauma of reading something like this, right? I'm not the audience that "needs" this book, right?
But inside of my brain, it just feels like I SHOULD. I feel like I should SEE it, so I can know and understand the nuances and intricacies of the issue, and how it's so interconnected with so many other aspects of society, and that together, knowing and seeing this helps me to clarify my position and support for people in a position to make a positive change. Poverty is one of those things that is so easy to overlook, or paint with this broad brush of "other people's failings" and not OUR failings, SOCIETY'S failings. And I want to see how society can and should do better for the most vulnerable within it. I want to know so that I can talk to people about it, and maybe help them see that the problem isn't a failure of individuals to become successful, and thus is an individual choice... it's a systemic, multifaceted undermining of our social compact. Ours is supposed to be a "government of the people, by the people, for the people" - and yet it's leaving millions to fall through the cracks of destitution and desperation.
We are a culture of soundbites, and a culture of the squeaky wheel gets the grease. When those combine, it's all too easy to trust what the "experts" say about personal responsibility and pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps... And let's not forget the demonization of those who take advantage of social safety net programs - the welfare queens and the baby machines and the Lexus-driving food stamp fraudsters. You hear all the anecdotal "evidence" from the people who buy into these bits - the grocery store checkout clerk who just KNOWS that the woman buying milk and eggs and bread with WIC checks doesn't deserve to get "free" food. The armchair expert who thinks that people who literally don't know when or where or if they'll eat until payday CHOOSE to live that way so they can keep mooching off the system.
Sure. Totally checks out. I'll keep an eye out for your research paper presenting your study results.
So, yeah. This book was tough to read. Even harder to stomach now, considering that this was written between Obama's first term and his second, and it's only gotten exponentially worse since Obama left office and the current infestation moved in. His gleeful band of gutter trash have done everything that they can to strip protections and regulations and funding from literally anything that they can find. The staggering amount of damage they've done is beyond comprehension.
The ONLY positive thing that I can hope for is that this sentence will end with a lot of people galvanized to vote for the values that we claim to hold dear. And I think that, I HOPE that, the tide is shifting that way. The support shown for people like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, who have radical and progressive ideas, is heartening.
The second half of this book throws out a lot of really great ideas and proposals that aren't NEARLY as radical as what Bernie or Elizabeth are putting out there. I am in favor of any or all of them that move us toward lowering (or ideally eliminating) the amount of people scraping by with nothing at all.
In the richest country on Earth, that shouldn't be such a daunting, divisive ask.
September 13, 2016
The first half of this book was rough to read. It consisted of stories of people and places dealing with extreme poverty. Some of the cases presented were people who'd grown up in poverty, lived in poverty still, and had never had options to rise out of poverty or to raise their kids out of poverty. Other stories were of people who lost everything either through the housing collapse of 2008, or through massive medical bills and the like. There was so much there that didn't really shock me, but confirmed what I suspected in regards to how increasing numbers of our population "live."
The second half of the book was a challenge to meet the realities of poverty head-on, and an exploration of the ways we might do so. Not to pretend it doesn't exist, not to act like the people living in poverty deserve what they've got, not to give them a hand-out, but to extend a hand UP to all who face poverty. To recognize that a child living in poverty, even if it IS through a parent's neglectful behavior, deserves better than that themselves. That people living without the basics of adequate shelter, electricity, food, water, and plumbing are so far behind the national average that it's near impossible to even get TO the national average, much less achieve a so called "American Dream." When one is constantly trying to play catch-up, the thought of actually getting beyond that is actually something impossible to conceive. As the author put it, it's like putting a bunch of people in a foot-race. Some of the competitors are given an unimpeded open lane to run in, others are given a series of hurdles they must jump over. There is really no contest between the two categories of runners. Until we remove the hurdles, the race is rigged. And, we're seeing more and more rigging in our country due to ever-expanding tax cuts upon the uppermost financial tier, and tax increases through city and state sales taxes that increasingly hit the lowest financial tiers ever harder. The author proposes such things as a minute .5% income tax that could be put toward an educational fund accessible to ALL who want to use it for continued education. He proposes means by which we can secure Social Security for the next generations who will need it, as well as Medicaid.
And unfortunately, he proposed all this 4 years ago.... We're past even the point now, I'd wager, where some of the mitigation might be possible. We've already got a Republican-led Congress who spend more time OFF work than AT work, and what time they spend AT work is spent in trying to find further financial relief for those at the top, while pulling more relief from those at the bottom. We've seen that very Republican-led Congress twice in the last 4 years actually strike when they thought they might not be able to push through their cuts against those at the bottom of the financial tier. The Author of this book was worried about what our country might look like, how it might survive, if we didn't act immediately upon the need to return our country to a solid financial footing by reinstating taxes that were done away with by George Bush and by George W Bush, if we don't act to restore some equality to our country. 4 years on, I see the extreme unease in our country over these very inequalities, and I hope that we are not past the point where mitigation and relief can be made to work.
This should be required reading in ALL High School Econ classes, I think. I don't think it's necessary to agree with the author completely, but it provides a solid look at what poverty in our country looks like, and what might be done to help reduce the poverty levels substantially. And therefore, as a conversational prompt, I think every high school in the country should be reading this book with the next generation of voters.
The second half of the book was a challenge to meet the realities of poverty head-on, and an exploration of the ways we might do so. Not to pretend it doesn't exist, not to act like the people living in poverty deserve what they've got, not to give them a hand-out, but to extend a hand UP to all who face poverty. To recognize that a child living in poverty, even if it IS through a parent's neglectful behavior, deserves better than that themselves. That people living without the basics of adequate shelter, electricity, food, water, and plumbing are so far behind the national average that it's near impossible to even get TO the national average, much less achieve a so called "American Dream." When one is constantly trying to play catch-up, the thought of actually getting beyond that is actually something impossible to conceive. As the author put it, it's like putting a bunch of people in a foot-race. Some of the competitors are given an unimpeded open lane to run in, others are given a series of hurdles they must jump over. There is really no contest between the two categories of runners. Until we remove the hurdles, the race is rigged. And, we're seeing more and more rigging in our country due to ever-expanding tax cuts upon the uppermost financial tier, and tax increases through city and state sales taxes that increasingly hit the lowest financial tiers ever harder. The author proposes such things as a minute .5% income tax that could be put toward an educational fund accessible to ALL who want to use it for continued education. He proposes means by which we can secure Social Security for the next generations who will need it, as well as Medicaid.
And unfortunately, he proposed all this 4 years ago.... We're past even the point now, I'd wager, where some of the mitigation might be possible. We've already got a Republican-led Congress who spend more time OFF work than AT work, and what time they spend AT work is spent in trying to find further financial relief for those at the top, while pulling more relief from those at the bottom. We've seen that very Republican-led Congress twice in the last 4 years actually strike when they thought they might not be able to push through their cuts against those at the bottom of the financial tier. The Author of this book was worried about what our country might look like, how it might survive, if we didn't act immediately upon the need to return our country to a solid financial footing by reinstating taxes that were done away with by George Bush and by George W Bush, if we don't act to restore some equality to our country. 4 years on, I see the extreme unease in our country over these very inequalities, and I hope that we are not past the point where mitigation and relief can be made to work.
This should be required reading in ALL High School Econ classes, I think. I don't think it's necessary to agree with the author completely, but it provides a solid look at what poverty in our country looks like, and what might be done to help reduce the poverty levels substantially. And therefore, as a conversational prompt, I think every high school in the country should be reading this book with the next generation of voters.
May 21, 2023
The American Way of Poverty by Sasha Abramsky
Written during an optimistic time at the second inauguration of Obama, when it was hoped, financial crisis controlled, that there would be the will to address the problems that are outlined so well by Harrington 50 years ago, and by Abramsky, 10 years ago.
But the 4 awful years of Trump were not anticipated, and the current gridlock of Trump running for office, McCarthy titularly in charge at the House of Representatives, a bunch of elderly persons in the Senate who can’t let go such as our own Senator Feinstein, and the Octogenarian in the White House, with no leader n sight who wants to address these issues.
Issues that are the same since 2012:
1. Citizens’ United allowing the Koch brothers et al to pay for the right wing tilt in much of the Republican electoral program…
2. The blame game, starting with Nixon, increased with Reagan, continued with Sarah Palin and her ilk…if you are poor, it is no doubt your laziness responsible
3. Structural racism that continues
4. No real improvement in access to medical care for Medicaid or worse, no insurance… and worsening access to primary care for most people
New problems since 2012 include:
1. Three years of COVID and the weariness of a public un accustomed to thiking about the public welfare
2. Election denying authoritarians elected president in the US and many other places and now trying to get reelected
3. War pursued by Russian in Ukraine for the past 10 years, and escalated in 2022.
4. Worsening world migration issues, and especially immigration pressure to the US and Western Europe
5. Continued heating up of the planet, resultant higher rising sea levels
6. Continuing population growth in Africa beyond all possibility of economic support for same, with civil wars there and here.
7. Continuing alcohol abuse and increasing substance abuse, and plenty of encouragement of gaming to a fault in casinos and on line
Even when there was “welfare” it was often done from less than “high” motives; example, providing food relief’s ulterior motive was subsidizing farmers, with disproportionate political representation.
There was hope as late as 1965-7, withe Johnson’s war on poverty, civil rights platform, the initiation of Medicare… and then came the war in Vietnam, the war on crime and the mass incarceration, and the assassinations of the best of the leaders who wanted to battle with poverty (MLK and RFK)!
Free market capitalism, unregulated does not protect the most vulnerable; the amount of compassion for them has diminished as well, with Trumpers et al having very little.
“There are “caught at the intersection of politics and economic malfunction, millions of American families are now almost totally excluded from the cash economy.!”
But there are those, mostly on the right who applaud the unregulated economy with Social Darwinism, and reward to the (deserving) few with risk relegated from the corporation to the individual.
Abramsky is convinced that Bush Jr. at the onset of the financial crisis was no better than Herbert Hoover at the onset of the Great Depression 80 years earlier.
How bad was the economics just before Obama was elected? Pretty bad! To wit, oil at $150/barrel! a foreclosure crisis!
The rate of deficit financing of the federal US budget over all the years since the economy of the Clintons is one of the issues not mentioned, although in the proffered solutions at least a more legitimate (and more sufficient) tax burden will be suggested, I am sure!
Abramsky’s agenda of 2012. Is largely is addressed due to both to the lack of the development of the empathy for which he calls, as well as the inability of our institutions to address:
1. Immigration reform
2. Fair taxation policies at the state or federal levels
3. Vested interests in the incarceration industry
4. Vested interests in the current awful way medical care is currently financed
5. Lack of willingness of many to address the role that current energy usage contributes to climate change, and to not kick the can down the road
6. Specific issue including managing the mentally ill, the foster kids, the homeless, and particularly hard hit or chronically economically unwell regions of the country, and addressing the war on crime and criminal justice.
In addition some politicians prefer to stir the pot to get themselves into power, and there is a great deal of money out there to support the status quo, not to mention the structural problems over-representing rural interests, and under representing urban ones in our state legislatures, and consequently in our national one. Not to mention the recent deck stacking in our courts by right wing Republicans.
Pie in the sky proposals: good ones, but little chance of enactment
1/2 % employee payroll tax + 1/2 % employer payroll tax to finance $5,000 per year of scholarship money (18 years later) for those people born next year who when they finish high school are interested in more education. Or added Social Security payout if not used….
And another 1% set of payroll taxes for Public Works…during the next recession…. (Rather than printing money as we do now).
Proposes transaction taxes (stocks etc) and energy profits taxes .. (assuming there are energy profits…for low-income-student’ schools.
More credit to the poor and more National Infrastructure (like the Interstate project ofof the 50’s and 60’s).
Better, safer pension fund support. Support for sunbelt states with lots of underwater mortgages and rustbelt states with abandoned real estate and factories
Better minimum wage floors.
More worker owned companies….. as an alternative to bankruptcy?????
New programs analagous to Boulder Dam and TVA.
He also wanted to redo the welfare system and safety net.
And incidentally, redefine how Poverty is measured, based on food, clothing, shelter and utilities usage perhaps also adding transport costs.
He proposed calculating poverty rates by subtracting out of pocket medical expenses from income!
To accomplish any portion of this, without the continuation of the movement that gave us Obama, forget about it…..
In the chapter with proposals for breaking the cycle of poverty he also mentions issues related to banking and labor markets (I think that means minimum wage rules….) But huge income inequalities seem to also directly relate to the cycle of poverty…. so says Sasha!
Social assistance for the poor, the young, and the elderly is …. [what is needed] rather than … the new plutocracy- which as spent the past several decades fattening itself at the public’s expense; insulating its monies for taxation; and ensuring the uninterrupted transfer of wealth, privilege , and power down the generations.
Written during an optimistic time at the second inauguration of Obama, when it was hoped, financial crisis controlled, that there would be the will to address the problems that are outlined so well by Harrington 50 years ago, and by Abramsky, 10 years ago.
But the 4 awful years of Trump were not anticipated, and the current gridlock of Trump running for office, McCarthy titularly in charge at the House of Representatives, a bunch of elderly persons in the Senate who can’t let go such as our own Senator Feinstein, and the Octogenarian in the White House, with no leader n sight who wants to address these issues.
Issues that are the same since 2012:
1. Citizens’ United allowing the Koch brothers et al to pay for the right wing tilt in much of the Republican electoral program…
2. The blame game, starting with Nixon, increased with Reagan, continued with Sarah Palin and her ilk…if you are poor, it is no doubt your laziness responsible
3. Structural racism that continues
4. No real improvement in access to medical care for Medicaid or worse, no insurance… and worsening access to primary care for most people
New problems since 2012 include:
1. Three years of COVID and the weariness of a public un accustomed to thiking about the public welfare
2. Election denying authoritarians elected president in the US and many other places and now trying to get reelected
3. War pursued by Russian in Ukraine for the past 10 years, and escalated in 2022.
4. Worsening world migration issues, and especially immigration pressure to the US and Western Europe
5. Continued heating up of the planet, resultant higher rising sea levels
6. Continuing population growth in Africa beyond all possibility of economic support for same, with civil wars there and here.
7. Continuing alcohol abuse and increasing substance abuse, and plenty of encouragement of gaming to a fault in casinos and on line
Even when there was “welfare” it was often done from less than “high” motives; example, providing food relief’s ulterior motive was subsidizing farmers, with disproportionate political representation.
There was hope as late as 1965-7, withe Johnson’s war on poverty, civil rights platform, the initiation of Medicare… and then came the war in Vietnam, the war on crime and the mass incarceration, and the assassinations of the best of the leaders who wanted to battle with poverty (MLK and RFK)!
Free market capitalism, unregulated does not protect the most vulnerable; the amount of compassion for them has diminished as well, with Trumpers et al having very little.
“There are “caught at the intersection of politics and economic malfunction, millions of American families are now almost totally excluded from the cash economy.!”
But there are those, mostly on the right who applaud the unregulated economy with Social Darwinism, and reward to the (deserving) few with risk relegated from the corporation to the individual.
Abramsky is convinced that Bush Jr. at the onset of the financial crisis was no better than Herbert Hoover at the onset of the Great Depression 80 years earlier.
How bad was the economics just before Obama was elected? Pretty bad! To wit, oil at $150/barrel! a foreclosure crisis!
The rate of deficit financing of the federal US budget over all the years since the economy of the Clintons is one of the issues not mentioned, although in the proffered solutions at least a more legitimate (and more sufficient) tax burden will be suggested, I am sure!
Abramsky’s agenda of 2012. Is largely is addressed due to both to the lack of the development of the empathy for which he calls, as well as the inability of our institutions to address:
1. Immigration reform
2. Fair taxation policies at the state or federal levels
3. Vested interests in the incarceration industry
4. Vested interests in the current awful way medical care is currently financed
5. Lack of willingness of many to address the role that current energy usage contributes to climate change, and to not kick the can down the road
6. Specific issue including managing the mentally ill, the foster kids, the homeless, and particularly hard hit or chronically economically unwell regions of the country, and addressing the war on crime and criminal justice.
In addition some politicians prefer to stir the pot to get themselves into power, and there is a great deal of money out there to support the status quo, not to mention the structural problems over-representing rural interests, and under representing urban ones in our state legislatures, and consequently in our national one. Not to mention the recent deck stacking in our courts by right wing Republicans.
Pie in the sky proposals: good ones, but little chance of enactment
1/2 % employee payroll tax + 1/2 % employer payroll tax to finance $5,000 per year of scholarship money (18 years later) for those people born next year who when they finish high school are interested in more education. Or added Social Security payout if not used….
And another 1% set of payroll taxes for Public Works…during the next recession…. (Rather than printing money as we do now).
Proposes transaction taxes (stocks etc) and energy profits taxes .. (assuming there are energy profits…for low-income-student’ schools.
More credit to the poor and more National Infrastructure (like the Interstate project ofof the 50’s and 60’s).
Better, safer pension fund support. Support for sunbelt states with lots of underwater mortgages and rustbelt states with abandoned real estate and factories
Better minimum wage floors.
More worker owned companies….. as an alternative to bankruptcy?????
New programs analagous to Boulder Dam and TVA.
He also wanted to redo the welfare system and safety net.
And incidentally, redefine how Poverty is measured, based on food, clothing, shelter and utilities usage perhaps also adding transport costs.
He proposed calculating poverty rates by subtracting out of pocket medical expenses from income!
To accomplish any portion of this, without the continuation of the movement that gave us Obama, forget about it…..
In the chapter with proposals for breaking the cycle of poverty he also mentions issues related to banking and labor markets (I think that means minimum wage rules….) But huge income inequalities seem to also directly relate to the cycle of poverty…. so says Sasha!
Social assistance for the poor, the young, and the elderly is …. [what is needed] rather than … the new plutocracy- which as spent the past several decades fattening itself at the public’s expense; insulating its monies for taxation; and ensuring the uninterrupted transfer of wealth, privilege , and power down the generations.
March 22, 2018
This was very well written and the personal stories of the poor painted a picture better than all the economic jargon can. My only problem with it is that the solutions are appealing to the liberal side of politics and not at all appealing to the conservative side of politics. I feel like a long term solution will be somewhere in the middle or no one will get on board. I am still searching for a book on how I as an individual can make a difference in the lives of those struggling financially.
June 22, 2014
Reading the first part of this book gave me a clear understanding of the harsh and dehumanizing poverty system in America. The second part added necessary rays of hope. Every American voter and polititian should read this book. It would do America alot of good to discover the real side of poverty no ever sees. I really liked the author's big point: poverty doesn't need to happen. It is also easy to read without alot of academic points, footnotes, etc.
November 19, 2014
Heartbreaking personal histories of poverty in America, followed by a couple of long chapters on what can (realistically) be done. I liked the last couple of sections on policy. It shifted the tone of the book from a kind of anthropological study in hopelessness to how American society might tackle the issue head-on and proactively.
September 17, 2017
Part of my continuing self-education. Abramsky is local and a part-time lecturer at UC Davis. This is a good overview, with real life examples, and also offers real solutions--though it is even harder to imagine any of those solutions happening in "Trump's" America.
March 3, 2016
This book shows that the problem of poverty isn't EASY to fix, but it can be done. The real tragedy will be if we do nothing in response.
September 26, 2015
Please read this.
June 13, 2017
Most Americans see the impoverished as lazy, hand-out seekers looking to subsist off federal and state taxpayers. Don't think so, well read what the Secretary of HUD, Ben Carson, said on the subject. (Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/be...)
"I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind," said Carson. "You take somebody who has the right mindset, you can take everything from them and put them on the street and I guarantee you in a little while they'll be right back up there. And you take somebody with the wrong mindset, you can give them everything in the world, they'll work their way right back down to the bottom."
What I find most telling about this quote is that growing up his family DID face deep poverty and DID benefit from the use of government welfare. It would be interesting if he took a step back and analyzed how his life may be different if those basic programs had not existed and what could have been possible if better programs were in place.
The American Way of Poverty is a two part book. The first part explains many of the ways people find themselves in poverty. Most Americans are one lost job, one medical emergency, or one financial misstep away from poverty themselves. When the housing market crashed in 2009 many people found themselves without jobs, with underwater mortgages, and still needing to pay for necessities. Compound students loans and large medical bills on top of that and finding yourself in poverty is not hard to imagine. Throughout the first section the author tells anecdotal stories that back up the statistics related to poverty. While some of the impoverished land there because of a financial downturn, the author does not shy away from the discussion of cyclical poverty either. All forms of poverty, though, have the stigma of being brought on by poor personal choices and are seen as embarrassing failures by those finding themselves in that position. More often then not poverty is hard to avoid and is brought on by a perfect storm of events.
The second section goes through the services that exist and how we should bolster them in order to truly help the impoverished break the cycle of poverty. Many people in our country want to believe that all you need to do is work hard and you can be successful. What is really necessary are programs designed to support the impoverished get back on their feet. Already the current administration has talked about cutting free and reduced lunch programs, head start programs, and other services vital to not only supporting the impoverished now, but also reducing the likelihood that future generations stay in poverty. Throughout the second section ideas on programs to implement, and the statistical evidence that they would work, are given by the author.
Abramsky admits that many won't like the suggestions because it would require an allocation of funds that wouldn't win any favors with politicians. Since poor people often don't carry political clout, the oligarchy currently operating in the United States has no need to cater to them. Political clout is carried by agriculture (see farm subsidies), the 1% (see tax breaks for the rich), and big business (see lobbyists). Anytime discussion of poverty comes up, immediately it is said that we are being divisive and creating class warfare. Also brought up are statistics on rising unemployment and how those in poverty should work harder. Many of those on welfare have a job, or two, but minimum wage jobs leave most still at the poverty level. Wal-mart employees require $6.2 billion dollars in aid because their jobs don't pay enough (Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoco...).
So we are telling people to get jobs and when they do, they still don't earn enough to make ends meet. Bring up raising the minimum wage and you are immediately castigated for class warfare. It is a lose-lose proposition. An idea from the book is that instead of looking at unemployment and deciding that we as a country are doing well, we instead look at food security as our baseline for poverty. The current poverty line is set by standards that were established in the 1960s, so many of the formulas are outdated and incongruous with present day financial systems.
Overall, I would encourage anyone who thinks that those on government assistance are ghetto queens and lazy, Appalachian hillbillies to read this book. Your eyes may be opened to the fact that class warfare is going on, only it is directed at shaming and punishing America's most needy.
"I think poverty to a large extent is also a state of mind," said Carson. "You take somebody who has the right mindset, you can take everything from them and put them on the street and I guarantee you in a little while they'll be right back up there. And you take somebody with the wrong mindset, you can give them everything in the world, they'll work their way right back down to the bottom."
What I find most telling about this quote is that growing up his family DID face deep poverty and DID benefit from the use of government welfare. It would be interesting if he took a step back and analyzed how his life may be different if those basic programs had not existed and what could have been possible if better programs were in place.
The American Way of Poverty is a two part book. The first part explains many of the ways people find themselves in poverty. Most Americans are one lost job, one medical emergency, or one financial misstep away from poverty themselves. When the housing market crashed in 2009 many people found themselves without jobs, with underwater mortgages, and still needing to pay for necessities. Compound students loans and large medical bills on top of that and finding yourself in poverty is not hard to imagine. Throughout the first section the author tells anecdotal stories that back up the statistics related to poverty. While some of the impoverished land there because of a financial downturn, the author does not shy away from the discussion of cyclical poverty either. All forms of poverty, though, have the stigma of being brought on by poor personal choices and are seen as embarrassing failures by those finding themselves in that position. More often then not poverty is hard to avoid and is brought on by a perfect storm of events.
The second section goes through the services that exist and how we should bolster them in order to truly help the impoverished break the cycle of poverty. Many people in our country want to believe that all you need to do is work hard and you can be successful. What is really necessary are programs designed to support the impoverished get back on their feet. Already the current administration has talked about cutting free and reduced lunch programs, head start programs, and other services vital to not only supporting the impoverished now, but also reducing the likelihood that future generations stay in poverty. Throughout the second section ideas on programs to implement, and the statistical evidence that they would work, are given by the author.
Abramsky admits that many won't like the suggestions because it would require an allocation of funds that wouldn't win any favors with politicians. Since poor people often don't carry political clout, the oligarchy currently operating in the United States has no need to cater to them. Political clout is carried by agriculture (see farm subsidies), the 1% (see tax breaks for the rich), and big business (see lobbyists). Anytime discussion of poverty comes up, immediately it is said that we are being divisive and creating class warfare. Also brought up are statistics on rising unemployment and how those in poverty should work harder. Many of those on welfare have a job, or two, but minimum wage jobs leave most still at the poverty level. Wal-mart employees require $6.2 billion dollars in aid because their jobs don't pay enough (Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoco...).
So we are telling people to get jobs and when they do, they still don't earn enough to make ends meet. Bring up raising the minimum wage and you are immediately castigated for class warfare. It is a lose-lose proposition. An idea from the book is that instead of looking at unemployment and deciding that we as a country are doing well, we instead look at food security as our baseline for poverty. The current poverty line is set by standards that were established in the 1960s, so many of the formulas are outdated and incongruous with present day financial systems.
Overall, I would encourage anyone who thinks that those on government assistance are ghetto queens and lazy, Appalachian hillbillies to read this book. Your eyes may be opened to the fact that class warfare is going on, only it is directed at shaming and punishing America's most needy.
November 6, 2020
Reading this book during the midst of the American election dragging on is confronting. (Note to future readers: in 2020, the results of the American election remained uncertain for days, as the country grappled with the apparently difficult choice between a fascist despot and literally anyone else.) It's a book that reveals a disheartening and well-evidence portrait of poverty in America, and yet conditions have only gotten worse in the seven years since its publication.
To be honest, there's a case for this book to be 3/5 stars. Compared to much of what I've been reading lately (book #47 of 2020), the writing is a little denser and drier than competitors. I found myself struggling a little more to get fully engaged with this - though perhaps that's just the chronic despondency of this historical moment.
Ultimately, though, I think it fits my criteria for a 4/5 star book. It's really two books in one. The first half is dedicated to chronicling the intensity and depravity of poverty in America. It offers confronting vignettes, accompanied by a heavy dose of statistics, that help to illuminate just how precariously a surprisingly large portion of the population lives. It doesn't discriminate in gaze between white poor losing jobs and immigrants grasping for any opportunity to make a living, offering wrenching perspectives of both and highlighting their similarities. The first half of the book is a wakeup call to anyone who is comfortable in the notion of an affluent and equitable America.
The second half of the book is dedicated to the discussion of solutions. This part has aged more significantly, as the Trump presidency has laid bare the agenda of many of his underlings and affirmers. Where the second half of the book is predicated on a fundamental assumption that we agree poverty is worth fighting; that we share a goal of ensuring people have access to opportunity and health and happiness... it's not clear that these are actually tenants held by Trump or his enablers. Where the book seeks to offer pragmatic, bipartisan approaches to fighting the most distressing of poverty, a read in 2020 feels much more fatalistic: what does it matter if the approaches are pragmatic or bipartisan if cruelty is the whole point for the current governing regime?
Part of this, I think, is because the location of action that Abramsky points to is highly federal in his analysis. It's federal programs and investments that have the power to transform the plight of the poor, an assertion that seems much weaker with the lack of progress under Obama and then the entirely destruction-motivated approach to social welfare of Trump, McConnell, and others. With Obama, I think these ideas seemed much more plausible, even if they involved difficult efforts to bring a broad enough coalition together. But, under Trump, they seem laughable, given the inability to get even a national consensus that "the plague that kills hundreds of thousands of Americans in a few months is bad and worth fighting."
In this sense, I found Saunders' Arrival City to be a little more vibrant as a 2020 era solution, in that it creates room for provincial/state, local, and NGO leadership to lead to substantive and meaningful transformation (rather than emphasizing the federal primacy as chief funder of such initiatives). It's not clear to me - by the way - that this is actually the better solution (I'd tend to think there /is/ an important federal role, and I think Abramsky's case is good for it), it just feels somewhat unachievable in this current moment.
All that said, if you're looking for a primer on systemic poverty in America, Abramsky's volume is thorough and meticulous. While it's a little dense, that's because of quality, comprehensiveness, and a variety of perspectives. It's well worth a read if interested in the topic.
To be honest, there's a case for this book to be 3/5 stars. Compared to much of what I've been reading lately (book #47 of 2020), the writing is a little denser and drier than competitors. I found myself struggling a little more to get fully engaged with this - though perhaps that's just the chronic despondency of this historical moment.
Ultimately, though, I think it fits my criteria for a 4/5 star book. It's really two books in one. The first half is dedicated to chronicling the intensity and depravity of poverty in America. It offers confronting vignettes, accompanied by a heavy dose of statistics, that help to illuminate just how precariously a surprisingly large portion of the population lives. It doesn't discriminate in gaze between white poor losing jobs and immigrants grasping for any opportunity to make a living, offering wrenching perspectives of both and highlighting their similarities. The first half of the book is a wakeup call to anyone who is comfortable in the notion of an affluent and equitable America.
The second half of the book is dedicated to the discussion of solutions. This part has aged more significantly, as the Trump presidency has laid bare the agenda of many of his underlings and affirmers. Where the second half of the book is predicated on a fundamental assumption that we agree poverty is worth fighting; that we share a goal of ensuring people have access to opportunity and health and happiness... it's not clear that these are actually tenants held by Trump or his enablers. Where the book seeks to offer pragmatic, bipartisan approaches to fighting the most distressing of poverty, a read in 2020 feels much more fatalistic: what does it matter if the approaches are pragmatic or bipartisan if cruelty is the whole point for the current governing regime?
Part of this, I think, is because the location of action that Abramsky points to is highly federal in his analysis. It's federal programs and investments that have the power to transform the plight of the poor, an assertion that seems much weaker with the lack of progress under Obama and then the entirely destruction-motivated approach to social welfare of Trump, McConnell, and others. With Obama, I think these ideas seemed much more plausible, even if they involved difficult efforts to bring a broad enough coalition together. But, under Trump, they seem laughable, given the inability to get even a national consensus that "the plague that kills hundreds of thousands of Americans in a few months is bad and worth fighting."
In this sense, I found Saunders' Arrival City to be a little more vibrant as a 2020 era solution, in that it creates room for provincial/state, local, and NGO leadership to lead to substantive and meaningful transformation (rather than emphasizing the federal primacy as chief funder of such initiatives). It's not clear to me - by the way - that this is actually the better solution (I'd tend to think there /is/ an important federal role, and I think Abramsky's case is good for it), it just feels somewhat unachievable in this current moment.
All that said, if you're looking for a primer on systemic poverty in America, Abramsky's volume is thorough and meticulous. While it's a little dense, that's because of quality, comprehensiveness, and a variety of perspectives. It's well worth a read if interested in the topic.
July 28, 2023
"The great shift is we've come to accept very high levels of poverty as either inevitable or the way things should be." - UCSB Professor of History Alice O'Connor
"Poverty is when the money that you need isn't there, and you have to make choices that compromise your health or your future or your ability to care for you family. . . Where you don't eat fresh vegetables, go to the emergency room instead of a doctor, cut your medications in half, make choices between heat and eating, and your kids weigh less during the winter. That's poverty" - JoAnn Page, ED of Fortune Society in New York.
Ten years old now - this book is an "update" on the 1962 classic The Other America. In the height of the Civil Rights Movement - this detailed look at poverty in America provoked outrage. In 2013, the poverty worsening and the gap between the increasing poor and the outrageously rich, outrage seems to have disappeared. Instead there is a blame game - with Conservatives blaming the moral lackings of the impoverished themselves, and the Liberals blaming the moral weakness of the government and Neoliberals. This in a country that the UN ranks 31st out of 34 developed countries in child poverty (with only countries like Chile and Costa Rica having higher rates of child poverty - over the 20% the US has).
So what does Abramsky bring to the table? A journalist, he spends several years (and the first half of the book) touring The Other America - interviewing people in the "economic margins." He brings us heart wrenching stories and three things that struck him most. 1) "the sheer loneliness of poverty" - isolated in substandard housing, trailer parks and streets, they cannot afford to "venture out of their communities" and become isolated from former friends and family. 2) "the diversity and complexity of poverty" - yes there are people who have made bad choices who are poor, but there are also people who work long hard hours for substandard wages, who rely on payday loans when things go south, thus trapping them further 3) the sheer resilience of people - they just keep pushing, going to school, going to work, struggling for any source of income.
After introducing us to the struggles of real people, and providing us with horrifying data, Abramsky spends the second half of the book offering solutions. Obviously if the causes of poverty are complex, the solutions will be too. But he offers four solid ideas, and ways to fund them. He does focus on funding through higher high-end inheritance taxes; higher capital gains taxes and higher taxes on very high end earners - in part to start paying down the national deficit. In a country that used to have inheritance tax rates of up to 77% for the very wealthy, we have relatively low inheritance taxes now - creating the widening gap of the 1%. His solutions focus on a public works fund - much like the programs during the New Deal - that would provide jobs and much needed public works; ways to make higher education more accessible and affordable; poverty mitigation funds; and stabilizing social Security and paying down the national debt. For details you'll just have to read the book :-)
This is not an easy read in every sense of the word. It is painful to read about poverty, especially if you are able to do so from a comfortable chair with a full belly. It is also filled with data and evidence - so no quick breezy read. But worth the effort. "Poverty is evidence of a problem; it's not the source of the problem."
"Poverty is when the money that you need isn't there, and you have to make choices that compromise your health or your future or your ability to care for you family. . . Where you don't eat fresh vegetables, go to the emergency room instead of a doctor, cut your medications in half, make choices between heat and eating, and your kids weigh less during the winter. That's poverty" - JoAnn Page, ED of Fortune Society in New York.
Ten years old now - this book is an "update" on the 1962 classic The Other America. In the height of the Civil Rights Movement - this detailed look at poverty in America provoked outrage. In 2013, the poverty worsening and the gap between the increasing poor and the outrageously rich, outrage seems to have disappeared. Instead there is a blame game - with Conservatives blaming the moral lackings of the impoverished themselves, and the Liberals blaming the moral weakness of the government and Neoliberals. This in a country that the UN ranks 31st out of 34 developed countries in child poverty (with only countries like Chile and Costa Rica having higher rates of child poverty - over the 20% the US has).
So what does Abramsky bring to the table? A journalist, he spends several years (and the first half of the book) touring The Other America - interviewing people in the "economic margins." He brings us heart wrenching stories and three things that struck him most. 1) "the sheer loneliness of poverty" - isolated in substandard housing, trailer parks and streets, they cannot afford to "venture out of their communities" and become isolated from former friends and family. 2) "the diversity and complexity of poverty" - yes there are people who have made bad choices who are poor, but there are also people who work long hard hours for substandard wages, who rely on payday loans when things go south, thus trapping them further 3) the sheer resilience of people - they just keep pushing, going to school, going to work, struggling for any source of income.
After introducing us to the struggles of real people, and providing us with horrifying data, Abramsky spends the second half of the book offering solutions. Obviously if the causes of poverty are complex, the solutions will be too. But he offers four solid ideas, and ways to fund them. He does focus on funding through higher high-end inheritance taxes; higher capital gains taxes and higher taxes on very high end earners - in part to start paying down the national deficit. In a country that used to have inheritance tax rates of up to 77% for the very wealthy, we have relatively low inheritance taxes now - creating the widening gap of the 1%. His solutions focus on a public works fund - much like the programs during the New Deal - that would provide jobs and much needed public works; ways to make higher education more accessible and affordable; poverty mitigation funds; and stabilizing social Security and paying down the national debt. For details you'll just have to read the book :-)
This is not an easy read in every sense of the word. It is painful to read about poverty, especially if you are able to do so from a comfortable chair with a full belly. It is also filled with data and evidence - so no quick breezy read. But worth the effort. "Poverty is evidence of a problem; it's not the source of the problem."
March 17, 2018
A great argument that poverty in the richest nation on earth is a societal failing as opposed to an individual moral failing. Yes, people make horrible decisions - this book doesn't downplay the importance of personal responsibility - but with wages stagnant and the costs of housing, health care, and higher education skyrocketing, it's easier than ever for a sick relative, a broken down car, or even a bounced check to send someone into poverty, much less a global economic recession.
He details how programs created under the New Deal and the Great Society helped reduce poverty, particularly among children and the elderly, but over time, politicians have chipped away at them, chocked their funding, and then complained when these programs didn't produce results. Pensions are disappearing, and budgets for infrastructure, education, and unemployment insurance are being slashed.
Abramsky explains how poverty is bound together with so many other issues: failing public schools, crime, foreclosures, declining health, mental health, and incarcerations rates among others. But taken in small steps, there are fixes. For example, he offers some solutions like a tax on stock trades (which apparently America had from the early 1900s to 1964) to fund job training programs, childcare, and public housing; raising minimal wage and tying it to inflation; passing regulations for predatory loans; establishing an earned income tax credit; and supplementing college saving plans.
Obviously, few of these observations and arguments are new. Abramsky frequently refers to Michael Harrington's "The Other America," chronicling the lives of the poor in the mid-Sixties when the post-WWII economy was failing to extend to many Americans. Writing from the midst of the Great Recession, Abramsky explains it's not that we don't know how to ameliorate poverty, we just lack the political will to do so.
I have to praise Abramsky for the hundreds of interviews with everyday Americans waiting in food lines, living in abandoned tenements, or working three jobs without benefits. It puts a human face on a massive problem. However, he repeats certain points a lot and will sometimes dump several pages of statistics and polls, when they should have been spread out more or relegated to an appendix. That said, it's refreshing to have the latter half of the book devoted to finding solutions to combat poverty, even if some of them are a long shot, especially in today's political environment.
Recommended for public teachers, people interested in sociology or current events, and Bernie Bros.
He details how programs created under the New Deal and the Great Society helped reduce poverty, particularly among children and the elderly, but over time, politicians have chipped away at them, chocked their funding, and then complained when these programs didn't produce results. Pensions are disappearing, and budgets for infrastructure, education, and unemployment insurance are being slashed.
Abramsky explains how poverty is bound together with so many other issues: failing public schools, crime, foreclosures, declining health, mental health, and incarcerations rates among others. But taken in small steps, there are fixes. For example, he offers some solutions like a tax on stock trades (which apparently America had from the early 1900s to 1964) to fund job training programs, childcare, and public housing; raising minimal wage and tying it to inflation; passing regulations for predatory loans; establishing an earned income tax credit; and supplementing college saving plans.
Obviously, few of these observations and arguments are new. Abramsky frequently refers to Michael Harrington's "The Other America," chronicling the lives of the poor in the mid-Sixties when the post-WWII economy was failing to extend to many Americans. Writing from the midst of the Great Recession, Abramsky explains it's not that we don't know how to ameliorate poverty, we just lack the political will to do so.
I have to praise Abramsky for the hundreds of interviews with everyday Americans waiting in food lines, living in abandoned tenements, or working three jobs without benefits. It puts a human face on a massive problem. However, he repeats certain points a lot and will sometimes dump several pages of statistics and polls, when they should have been spread out more or relegated to an appendix. That said, it's refreshing to have the latter half of the book devoted to finding solutions to combat poverty, even if some of them are a long shot, especially in today's political environment.
Recommended for public teachers, people interested in sociology or current events, and Bernie Bros.
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