So Rich, So Poor by Peter Edelman

Author:Peter Edelman
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781595588043
Publisher: The New Press

ATTACKING DEEP POVERTY

Every other wealthy industrialized country has a guarantee of a baseline income, at least for families with children—“family allowances” or “children’s allowances” are the usual names for it. These are generally provided to everyone regardless of their income, and then recouped from upper-income people through taxes. The payment is modest and is typically the ground floor of a triplex system. The next level is an income-support scheme for those without work, rather like what our welfare system used to be, except with national standards that set the level of the payment. Finally, there is a wage supplement like our EITC.

We have backed into having a baseline of sorts—SNAP—but at a very low level, barely enough to pay for food. How can we do better? The first step is public awareness, I think. I like to believe that if more people knew how many people have incomes so low that the word “incredible” is not an exaggeration, there would be more of an outcry.

There is a disconnect between our private generosity and our espousal of public policy. 60 Minutes had a segment about a family with three children that had lost all its income in the recession. They had enough money for one room in an inexpensive motel, but their savings were dwindling fast. All five took to the street with a sign saying they were willing to work doing anything. A local community college hired the father, although even then they did not have enough income to get housing. When the segment aired on 60 Minutes, contributions poured in and the father got a better job. 60 Minutes aired the segment a second time as a summer rerun and reported that the family is back on its feet.

There are thousands upon thousands of families who aren’t so fortunate. Still, there are additional thousands—although fewer in number—who have also been helped by private charity. But even in this terrible recession—and even with so many people who are brand-new to the ranks of the poor—the willingness to support public policy beyond unemployment compensation is limited (and even unemployment compensation is still not available to very low-wage and part-time workers). And the willingness to support continuance of extended unemployment benefits to those who do qualify is wearing thin.

Perhaps the best argument for a more satisfactory baseline income is new research in brain development and family dynamics that evidences a clear tie between childhood poverty—especially poverty in early childhood—and deleterious outcomes down the road. Research cited by the preeminent researcher Greg Duncan and his colleague Katherine Magnuson shows higher educational performance and better employment outcomes when low-income families receive even modest increases in income. They cite research that a sustained $3,000 increase in the income of families with young children who have incomes below $25,000 is associated with a 17 percent increase in adult earnings. In the early years of a child’s schooling, such an income increase is associated with an advance in achievement of 20 percent of a school year.14

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