Poverty

The World Bank Needs To Understand Poverty And What It Actually Costs A Family To Live On

August 12, 2019 By Sharan Burrow, Ipsnews.net Educate! Inequality, Poverty, World Bank

The World Bank’s extreme poverty line of US$1.90 a day is in fact not based on real estimates of people’s cost of living within countries. This explains why it fails to capture the desperation experienced by so many. As soon as we focus on people’s lived experience, the picture becomes more stark. At a most intuitive level, we know that poverty is determined by a person’s inability to meet their material needs. Perhaps the most basic of these needs is food. The UN’s 2018 figures on hunger show that it is on the rise globally. It estimates that 821 million people are currently going hungry.

The Exploitation Time Bomb

July 29, 2019 Jayati Ghosh, Project Syndicate. Educate! Green New Deal, Poverty, Taxes, wealth inequality

New Delhi – Since reducing inequality became an official goal of the international community, income disparities have widened. This trend, typically blamed on trade liberalization and technological advances that have weakened the bargaining power of labor vis-à-viscapital, has generated a political backlash in many countries, with voters blaming their economic plight on “others” rather than on national policies. And such sentiments of course merely aggravate social tensions without addressing the root causes of worsening inequality. But in an important new article, University of Cambridge economist José Gabriel Palma argues that national income distributions are the result not of impersonal global forces, but rather of policy choices that reflect the control and lobbying power of the rich.

Retirement Shouldn’t Mean Poverty

July 26, 2019 By Katherine Newman, Otherwords.org Educate! Inequality, Poverty, Retirement

Vivian Majors spent her life cleaning houses while her husband, Martin, worked as a carpenter. Their bodies broke down in their 60s. Martin now lives in a nursing home and has Parkinson’s disease. Vivian, now 71, lives on her own and ekes by on a $960 in social security, plus $50 in food stamps. Hardened by years of physically taxing work that left her hovering around the poverty line, Majors, now retired, is girding herself for more years of financial hardship.

In Record US Expansion, Rich Get Richer And Others Not So Much

July 5, 2019 Trevor Hunnicutt, Reuters. Educate! Finance and the Economy, New Economy, Poverty, wealth inequality

New York - Last month Pink Floyd frontman David Gilmour sold his guitar collection for $21.5 million, including one piece - his famed “Black Strat” Fender Stratocaster - that went for nearly $4 million to the owner of the U.S. National Football League’s Indianapolis Colts. The “Money” singer set a musical instrument sales record in the charity auction, marking yet another milestone for a booming market just weeks after New York-based art dealer Sotheby’s Holdings (BID.N), auctioned Claude Monet’s “Meules” for $110.7 million, the most ever for an Impressionist painting. And it is not just instruments or paintings in high demand among the world’s billionaire set.

Man Builds Pantry Outside His Home To Feed The Hungry

July 4, 2019 Mayukh Saha, Activist Post. Create! Food and Agriculture, Hunger, Mutual Aid, Poverty

To all those people claiming humanity is in shambles and moral values are dead — you have no idea what you are talking about. Yes, humanity has certainly taken some hits to the chest, but it is still very much out there. People still believe in kindness, and people still engage in civility. This is a true event from Watertown, New York, where a citizen named Roman Espinoza has built a ‘blessing box’ — essentially a pantry for people to pick up and food at any point of the day. The box is built in the lawn facing their house; and just like Little free libraries, there are no restrictions for these either. The concept is extremely simple — the box contains food that people donate — the same food others might want. To put it even more simply, the box was simply a donation box where the poor ate, and the not-so-poor donated.

Poor Neighborhoods Need More Than ‘Investment’

June 6, 2019 By Amadi Anene, Otherwords.org Create! Development, Inequality, Poverty

Low-income neighborhoods need employee-owned businesses anchored to their communities, not investors looking to make a quick buck. Where some of us see distressed neighborhoods — where families endure poverty and homes fall into disrepair — others see dollar signs. In fact, the Trump administration now brands them “opportunity zones,” offering tax breaks to investors who invest capital there. What remains unclear is this: Opportunity for whom? Big investors may stand to cash in, but many communities are saying they’re not getting the benefits they were promised.

How Inequality Makes US Poorer

May 29, 2019 Staff, Stumblingandmumbling.typepad.com Educate! Inequality, New Economy, Poverty

My chart shows the point. It shows the 20-year annualized rate of growth in GDP per worker-hour. It’s clear that this was much stronger during the relatively egalitarian period from 1945 to the mid-70s than it was before or since, when inequality was higher. This might, of course, be coincidence: maybe WWII caused both a backlog of investment and innovation which allowed a subsequent growth spurt and a desire for greater equality. Or it might not. This is not the only evidence for the possibility that inequality is bad for growth.

Medical Madness: A Mother’s Choice Between A Child’s Care And Bankruptcy

May 16, 2019 By Sarah Kliff, Portside.org Educate! Health Care, Mothers, Poverty

Two years ago, 36-year-old Lindsay Clark was facing a terrible decision. Her 2-year-old daughter Lily had gotten into a small bottle of the anti-nausea drug Dramamine. “It had a child lock on it, but I caught her sitting there with a bunch of white stuff in her mouth,” Clark says. “I immediately swept her mouth with my finger, but I wasn’t sure how many pills she ate.” Clark had to decide: Should she take Lily to the emergency room?

What States Can Do to Reduce Poverty And Inequality Through Tax Policy

March 4, 2019 By Sarah Anderson and Chuck Collins, Inequality.org Strategize! Inequality, New Economy, Policy, Poverty, Taxes

States have an opportunity to act to close the loopholes that hide and protect the wealth of the top 1%, remedy the impact of the new federal tax law that lowers taxes on the wealthy, and make critical investments in infrastructure, energy systems, and programs that create broader opportunity and shared prosperity. Concentrations of wealth are distorting our economy and undermining our democracy and civic health. State administrations and state legislatures can act to close the loopholes, put a brake on economic inequality and concentrations of wealth, and generate significant revenue.

What States Can Do To Reduce Poverty And Inequality Through Tax Policy

February 26, 2019 By Sarah Anderson and Chuck Collins, Inequality.org Create! Inequality, Poverty, Taxes

How A Free Meal Program Affected Federal Poverty Stats

February 24, 2019 Jill Barshay, Hechinger Report. Educate! Education, Food and Agriculture, Poverty

In 2014, schools had a new way to give students free breakfast and lunch, paid for by Uncle Sam. Instead of asking low-income families to apply for the meals, a school district could opt to give everyone free food if at least 40 percent of the student population was already on other forms of public assistance or fell into a needy category, such as being homeless or in foster care. This new “community eligibility” option was a policy change by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which administers the school lunch program, and was intended to reduce paperwork and make it easier for schools to feed hungry kids.

Low-Income Medical Marijuana Patient Evicted For Doctor Recommended Therapy

February 24, 2019 By Kevin Mahmalji, NORML. Educate! Health Care, Housing, Marijuana, Poverty

Up until a few years ago low-income housing that received federal subsidies were required to maintain a “drug-free” environment. This meant that if anyone living in subsidized housing was caught possessing and/or consuming marijuana onsite, everyone living in the property was at risk of being evicted. Fortunately, in 2014 the Obama Administration amended this policy to no longer mandate evictions which provided some discretion to housing management. As a result, the decision is now left to property management so they can insist on a “drug-free” environment, but are not required by law to impose such restrictive policies.

By the Best Definition, The Poverty Rate Should Be Tripled

January 10, 2019 By Paul Buchheit, Commondreams.org Educate! Inequality, New Economy, Poverty

The World Bank defines poverty as "pronounced deprivation in well-being," not only of material needs but also of health and education and security and public voice and the "opportunity to better one's life" and the "capability of the individual to function in society." Surveys of tens of thousands of people throughout the world found that "the poor did not focus on their material need; rather, they alluded to social and psychological aspects of poverty." The United Nations calls poverty the "denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity." It's not just a lack of money, but also the "lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society."

Over Half Of Americans Delay Or Don’t Get Health Care Because They Can’t Afford It—These 3 Treatments Get Put Off Most

January 1, 2019 Shawn M. Carter, Cnbc.com Educate! Health Care, Inequality, Poverty

A nurse listens to a client's chest at the Spanish Catholic Center agency of the Diocese of Washington Catholic Charities. With open enrollment for many medical plans in full swing, health care is top of mind for millions of Americans. But health care is still too expensive for most: A majority of U.S. adults have to delay getting the care they need, or put it off completely, because they can't afford it, data from financial website Earnin shows.

Kentucky Is Making The Poorest Of The Poor Pay For Healthcare In 2019

December 29, 2018 By Nick Martin, Splinternews.com Educate! Health Care, Inequality, Kentucky, Poverty

Merry Christmas, happy New Year, and if you live in Kentucky, good luck going to the doctor. Starting Jan. 1, Kentucky will require all patients to make a copay when visiting the doctor, regardless of income or financial status. The mandate is part of the new set of state healthcare rules, an overhaul championed by Republican Gov. Matt Bevin. As detailed in a piece from the Louisville Courier-Journal, while most managed care companies waived copays for Medicaid patients in the past, Bevin’s new rules will forbid it.

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