Waging a Living Wage - Podcast

Campaigns are starting across the country to raise wages so that people who do work can sustain their families.   Living wages is a political hot potato because many businesses oppose being forced to raise the wages of their workers (since they don't want their costs to increase) and these same businesses have strong ties with politicians.

But as Madeline Janis-Aparicio, an individual leading campaigns to pay a living wage in Los Angeles points out, imagine what people's lives are like who are making $5.15 an hour.  They can't buy food.  They can't pay rent.  They can't pay their electric bills.  They have to live part of the times...in their cars.

The Podcast link on Living Wages (click on the link on the right of this page) talks about various efforts to induce companies to pay a living wage.  Minimum wages could become Living Wages if businesses were to just raise prices by 1 percent and pass this benefit to their workers.

Source:  Goodman, Amy, "Perspectives on a Living Wage."  25 Aug. 2006, http://www.pbs.org/pov/pov2006/wagingaliving/special_goodman_la.html.

Putting a Face on Poverty - Videos

I have included several videos on this blog, some of which are intended to put a face on poverty and others of which are discussions about possible solutions.

Poverty is largely hidden.  The places where we allow poverty is where you can't see it.   If people acknowledge there is a poverty problem,  perhaps there will be a greater will to do something about it.  But you can't acknowledge what you don't see - and that is likely why little has been done during the last 40 years when President Lyndon Johnson first pledged to end poverty in the United States.

The panel discussions largely focus of creating more and better paying jobs as well as a safety net of services for people who are very poor and don't have anything or anyone to lean on.  For this to happen in a meaningful way, there needs to be political will.  However, poverty doesn't make it as a national priority goal because our poor people are hidden where you can't see them and they are unlikely voters - unfortunately, they are less visible than the residents of Bagdhad.

Sources:

"Poverty in America - Healthcare."  15 Nov. 2007. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8267066399851303004&q=poverty+in+america&hl=en.

Wholey, Dennis.  "Poverty in America (Part 1)."  This is America Show.  17 May 2006. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8622463747024825563&q=poverty+in+america&hl=en.

 

"CCUSA Campaign to Reduce Poverty in America Launch:  Highlights of Congressional Hearing."  10 Jan. 2007.  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7573547532093132168&q=poverty+in_ameria&hl=en.

"Child Poverty in America."  Dreams Innovation Production.  1985. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=976814404625130571&q=poverty+in+america&hl=en.

Step 2 to Tackling Poverty – A Living Wage Job

As John Edwards stated, "Every American should have the change to work their way out of poverty."

Jobs require training and preparation. Jobs also require a commitment to invest local and national resources to provide incentives to create new jobs and provide oportunities for our disadvantaged poor people. Adult education and literacy services are also needed to help build skills required to secure living wage jobs.

Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (or BOSS) is one local organization dedicated to helping homeless families and individuals obtain jobs, housing, and heath care in Berkeley. For instance, the Boss Clean City Program is a partnership with the City of Berkeley that helps employ the homeless in public works jobs throughout Berkeley. 

How do we create one million jobs? We provide significant incentives for employers to create jobs and require our cities to provide jobs for the poorest members of our community.

Sources:

"A National Goal: End Poverty Within 30 Years." 2008. http://www.johnedwards.com/issues/poverty/.

"Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency." 2007. http://www.self-sufficiency.org

Poverty Reduces Lifespan by 15 Years

A report released last Thursday by the Alameda County Public Health Department exposes a widening gap between the poor and the rest of in our community.  A black child living in West Oakland can expect to die 15 years earlier than a white child in the Oakland Hills.  This difference is not a result of differences in murder rates between these areas.  The dramatic difference in lifespan is driven by access to health care, nutritious food, exercise, pollution, and other factors.

The fact that poor don't live as long as wealthy people is not surprising.  The fact the the difference in lifespan could be 15 years is shocking.  Poverty is a profound issue for our community - but one that seems to get little attention.  

Source:  Fernandez, Elizabeth, "Study Spotlights Bleak Effects of Poverty."  San Francisco Chronicle  18 Apr. 2008: A1.

Help the Poor - As Long As They Stay Out of My Neighborhood!

The Concord soup kitchen is being forced to close its door because of community complaints about the program's location.  Neighbors said the poor visiting the kitchen do not behave and loiter in a park nearby a residential area.  The Concord soup kitchen serves 5,000 meals a day to poor people.  Sara Steffens, a staff writer for the Contra Costa Times, interviewed Jayme Hall, a Concord native who worries how she will eat.  Hall lives on $800 a month from government payments, and her rent is $625.  She has no car and walks to the dining hall.

Many people can sympathize with the plight of the poor but, not surprisingly, no one wants poor people loitering in their neighborhood.  Everybody seemingly wants to help the poor, just as long as they don't need to see them!

Source:  Steffens, Sara, "Concord soup kitchen forced to close its doors."  Contra Costa Times 15 Apr. 2008: A1.

Trying to Eat on $3 per Day

So $3 per day is what the average recipient of food stamps receives.

I went to Safeway to try to figure out what you can buy for $3 a day or $21 a week and here is what I came up with -

Cheerios cereal ($3.00) plus a gallon of milk for the week ($3.99).

$7 spent, $14 to go.

Safeway Peanut butter ($2.00), Safeway Grape Jelly ($1.50), White Bread ($1.50)

$5 spent, $9 left.

Mac & Cheese Dinner (.60 cents per serving - 3 nights), Budget Gourmet Frozen Dinners ($1.00 per night - 4 nights)

About $6 spent, $3 left.

Bananas or oranges at 40 cents a piece so we could afford one each day.

You could of course buy a six pack of coke for $2.50 but you would need to give up the fruit.

It isn't easy to live on $3.

Step 1 to Tackling Poverty - Creating a Living Wage

The minimum wage is the lowest amount on an hourly basis that an employer can pay an employee for their work by law.  States may have different minimum wages but they cannot be less than the Federal requirement of $5.85 per hour (scheduled to be raised to $6.55 per hour on July 24, 2008 and then $7.25 per hour on July 24, 2009).

The problem of course is no one can live on $5.85 per hour or $12,168 per year!

We need to pay workings a "living wage", not a minimum wage, and advocacy groups across the country are rising to support this initiative.   

Living wage advocates estimate that a family with TWO working adults and two children should earn about $10.36 an hour PER ADULT of a minimum of $43,076 per year.

Employers fear that paying employees a living rage would hurt their ability to compete with businesses in foreign countries that don't have minimum wages.   

But there are many reasons why a living wage is the RIGHT answer -

-  A Living Wage will decrease the need and cost for government support programs.

-  A Living Wage will create a greater incentive to work.

-  A Living Wage will stimulate the economy by providing money to poor people who necessarily will spend their entire paycheck.

-  A Living Wage will help make ends meet for out poorest people.

A Living Wage is STEP 1 of any poverty solution.

(The Economic Policy Institute has various resources and statistics related to the debate on minimum wage and a Living Wage.  See Links below for more information.)

Living on Food Stamps?

With the economy struggling and unemployment rates increasing, more and more Americans are expected to receive foods stamps - a government program to assist families who can't otherwise afford food.

In Michigan, one in every eight residents is on foods stamps.  In Kentucky, one in every seven residents is on foods stamps.   Approximately 27 million people are on food stamps today.

If you live at or under the poverty line, you are eligible for food stamps.

But don't be fooled by food stamps.  The average family may receive only about $1-- per person per month.  That amounts to only $3.33 per person per day or about $1 per meal.   One thing is for sure - no food stamp recipient will need to diet.

Source:

Copeland, Sarah, "The Reality of Living on Food Stamps."  Associated Content.  22 May 2007. http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/250111/the_reality_of_living_on_food_stamps.html?cat=22.

McCain - Poverty Does Not Make the List?

McCain is the only presidential candidate who DOES NOT highlight the problem of poverty on his campaign website...

In various speeches, he has stated that welfare recipients should be required to work 40 hours per week and he supports block grants of federal funds to states to distribute to low income families, thereby giving states responsibility for welfare programs in local communities.

But poverty DOES NOT make the list of issues he highlights as priorities for America on his web-site!

Source:

"John McCain 2008, John McCain for President."  4 Apr.  2008. www.johnmccain.com/informing/issues.

Hillary's Detailed Plan for Poverty

Hillary Clinton's proposes the most detailed plan of the current candidates to combat poverty -

1.  Providing affordable healthcare for every American - No One Left Out.

2. Raising the minimum wage to $9.50 per hour by 2011.

3. Keeping families in their homes during the current credit crisis by freezing interest rates for five years and suspending the ability for banks to easily foreclose on homes.

4.  Investing $1 billion in affordable housing.

5.  Proving new job training for 1.5 million at-risk youths

6.  Creating 5 million new "green" jobs.

7.  Ensuring that fathers pay the child support they owe.

8.  Work to reduce homelessness.

9.  Invest $10 billion in early education including a pre-K for all American children

10.Make college more affordable for Americans 

Source:  "Hillary for President."  3 Apr. 2008.  www.hillaryclinton.com/feature/poverty.

Obama's Plan for Poverty

 The Obama plan to reduce poverty -

1.  Create new job opportunities for low-income families such as a "green jobs program."

2. Improve the wages for low income families by raising the minimum hourly wage and reducing taxes for low income workers.

3. Help strengthen families by promoting responsible fatherhood (to ensure fathers who did not live with their children pay for child support) and increase medical care available to low income households.

4.  Provide government support for affordable housing for low income families. 

5.  Tackle concentrated poverty by creating 20 Promise Neighborhoods across the country with extensive government investment in each of these communities.

Source:   "Barack'08."  3 Apr. 2008.  www.barackobama.com/issues/poverty.

Two Americas

John Edwards was the only candidate in 2004 to highlight poverty as a prominent issue in the United States.  His campaign theme was "Two Americas."

What does this mean?

There are 37 million Americans living below the poverty line, an increase of five million since President Bush came to power...

But there are 269 billionaires in America, the highest number in the world.

About 25 percent of African Americans and 22 percent of Hispanics fall below the poverty line...

But about 9 percent for white Americans.

One of the poorest communities in America in the Pine Ridge Indian reservation with unemployment of 80 percent and almost 70 percent of people living in poverty...

And the richest town in America is Rancho Santa Fe in Califronia with average incomes in excess of $100,000 per year.

Sources:  

Harris, Paul, "37 Million Poor Hidden in the Land of Plenty."  19 Feb. 2006.  The Observer. http://www.guardian.com.uk/world/2006/feb/19/usa.paulharris.

The Lumpkins

Candy Lumpkin lives in a trailer at the end of a long, muddy road, strewn with litter.  There is no telephone nor running water (except for water that is collected from a nearby spring).   She lives in an impoverished county in the hills of Kentucky with her daughter Amy who is 5.  Packs of stray dogs run rampant through the area looking for food.  Amy runs around in ragged clothes and without shoes even though it is the dead of winter.  

Excerpted from:

Harris, Paul.  "37 million Poor Hidden in the Land of Plenty."  19 Feb. 2006, The Observer, http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2006/feb/19/usa.paulharris.

A Cold Calculation of Poverty

During the 1960's, Mollie Orshansky, a research analyst for the Social Security Adminstration developed a statistical measure of poverty that is widely used now the U.S. Census Bureau.  Orshansky defined the poverty level by taking the cost of a minimum adequate food plan for a family and multiplying the cost by three to allow for other expenses.   The 2005 poverty threshold was calculated to be $19,971 for a family of four.

Based upon independent research, the United Nations defines the poverty level to be equal to 50 percent of the median household income for a country.  In the United States, this would equate to about $22,000 per year which is close in number to the Orshansky calculation.

In other words, there is a large number of people in the United States than are not able to afford even the basic expense of food or housing.

Sources:

Fisher, Gordon, "Poverty Measurement Studies and Alternative Measures."  Sep. 1997.  U.S. Census Bureau.  www.census.gov/hhes/www/povmeas/papers/orshansky.html.

"Income Climbs, Poverty Stabilizes, Uninsured Rate Increases."  29 Aug. 2006.  U.S. Census Bureau News.  www.census.gov/press-release/www/releases/archives/income_wealth/007419.html.