Have the Anti-Poverty Programs Failed?

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The growing consensus is that the war on poverty has not failed once you use more appropriate measures, according to John Cassidy in the New Yorker. To see the article: Click Here.

He shows a chart using the official poverty measure. The official poverty measure was created in 1963 based on a multiple of a thrifty meal plan.  It has long been regarded as an inaccurate measure in terms of actually measuring what people need to meet basic costs of living (technical term: it lacks content validity). However, it has the benefit of being reliable because it is the same measure merely adjusted for inflation, so it is an apples-to-apples comparison.

Poverty different measures Cassidy

 

Other measures have been proposed, and he shows how the data looks using a revised measure created by the Census Bureau and used by researchers to do a more accurate analysis. Cassidy writes about the solid red line: “It represents the Columbia researchers’ estimate of historical poverty rates according to a new and more comprehensive measure of need that the Census Bureau created in 2011, known as the supplemental poverty measure (S.P.M.). According to this revised metric, the poverty rate in 1967 was as high as twenty-six per cent. It has since fallen dramatically, to sixteen per cent in 2012; in the period immediately before the Great Recession, it fell below fifteen per cent.” Continue reading »

Assessing the War on Poverty

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erase povertyNicholas Kristof wrote an OpEd piece in the NY Times (january 8, 2104) looking at the efforts by the federal government to end poverty.  Find is article:Click Here

He notes:

“A Columbia University study suggests that without government benefits, the poverty rate would have soared to 31 percent in 2012. Indeed, an average of 27 million people were lifted annually out of poverty by social programs between 1968 and 2012, according to the White House Council of Economic Advisers.

The best example of how government antipoverty programs can succeed involves the elderly. In 1960, about 35 percent of older Americans were poor. In 2012, 9 percent were. That’s because senior citizens vote, so politicians listened to them and buttressed programs like Social Security and Medicare.

In contrast, children are voiceless, so they are the age group most likely to be poor today. That’s a practical and moral failure.”

He points to a new book:  “Legacies of the War on Poverty,”

He concludes:

“Critics are right that antipoverty work is difficult and that dependency can be a problem. But the premise of so much of today’s opposition to food stamps and other benefits — that government assistance inevitably fails — is just wrong. And child poverty is as unconscionable in a rich nation today as it was half a century ago.”

Continue reading »

The War on Poverty: 50 Year View

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The Center  on Budget and Policy Priorities has prepared a report that looks at the war on poverty advocated by President Lyndon Johnson and passed by the U.S. Congress 50 years ago. Other programs have been added over time, but it has been tough going. Over 20 percent of all children in America live in poverty.
cbpp poverty rate 2014

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The debate continues–not only about whether the war on poverty has worked but how to measure poverty. The CBPP provides an overview of the issues along with its perspective that the programs have worked to reduce poverty but there is still way too much poverty and that it has impacted some groups more than others. To read more Click Here

The New York Times has also published an interactive map of poverty in America. Clearly, some areas have much higher rates of poverty–well over 30 percent. To check it out:Click Here

Of course, some of the programs provide supports and services to lessen the impact of poverty, such as Head Start and Medicaid. Neither of those programs reduce poverty, although certainly there is great hope that Head Start will provide children with early skills that will enable them to be successful in school and go on to college. Medicaid provides health care so poor children have access to services that their families can not afford.  Measuring the impact is certainly challenging, but only the most hardened Scrooges among us would be unwilling to grant that without these programs, far more people would live in poverty and would suffer far more deleterious effects if no safety net was in place.

Changing the Minimum Wage

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Center on Budget and Policy Priorities posted a story on movement in the Senate to change the minimum wage. When the minimum wage is standardized to 2013 dollars, it is clear that the minimum wage has not kept pace with inflation. The dollar is worth less.Minimum Wage over time
They write:
“The Senate is soon expected to consider a proposal to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 in three annual increments and then index it to inflation. The proposal — the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013 (FMWA), introduced by Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) — also would raise the subminimum wage paid to those who also receive tips, which has been frozen at $2.13 for over two decades. The FMWA would provide low-wage workers with a much-needed boost to their paychecks: today’s minimum wage is 22 percent below its late 1960s peak, after adjusting for inflation. It also would help offset some of the unfavorable trends facing low-wage workers, including stagnant or falling real wages, too little upward mobility, and a deep deficit of bargaining power that leaves them solidly on the “have-not” side of the inequality divide.”

Read the article: Click Here

Calculating the Minimum Wage

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From Poverty In America’s living wage calculator:
“The original calculator was modeled after the Economic Policy Institute’s metropolitan living wage tool. Users should know there are many researchers contributing tools and resources to the movement to achieve living wages. Diana Pearce at the University of Washington, Seattle is an important contributor to the living wage movement. Her work provides an alternative calculator.”

“Our tool is designed to provide a minimum estimate of the cost of living for low wage families. The estimates do not reflect a middle class standard of living. The realism of the estimates depend on the type of community under study. Metropolitan counties are typically locations of high cost. In such cases, the calculator is likely to underestimate costs such as housing and child care. Consider the results a minimum cost threshold that serves as a benchmark, but only that. Users can substitute local data when available to generate more nuanced estimates. Adjustments to account for local conditions will provide greater realism and potentially increase the accuracy of the tool. As developed, the tool is meant to provide one perspective on the cost of living in America.”

“The living wage shown is the hourly rate that an individual must earn to support their family, if they are the sole provider and are working full-time (2080 hours per year). The state minimum wage is the same for all individuals, regardless of how many dependents they may have. The poverty rate is typically quoted as gross annual income. We have converted it to an hourly wage for the sake of comparison. Wages that are less than the living wage are shown in red.”
Living Wage Calculator Click Here
 

 

How Much Money Do People Need to Live?

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A new study looks at Washington state.  It provides estimates for various family configurations and provides this analysis.

washington living wage

Read the report:Click Here

The report does not state how it came up with these figures. Nor does it take into account regional differences.

The chart would have been better if the taxes were shown on a monthly basis, so that it addes to the gross income needed monthly.

The taxes seem high for this group, especially for federal income tax. Federal income tax might be deducted, but this income group should get refunds, and some might get the EITC. But they would still have to pay social security tax and medicare. Washington has a sales tax but no income tax, so figuring out that might be tricky.

While there might be some ways to cut spending–single people might opt for co-housing, for example–still, it takes quite a bit to cover basic living costs. Looking at the hourly wage, it seems clear that the $9 minimum wage in Washington is not going to be sufficient.

At the national level, the minimum wage has not kept up the rising living costs over time.  It is time for a major adjustment.

Public Agrees on Obesity’s Impact, Not Government’s Role

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PEW just published survey results on views about the government’s role in reducing obesity. Basically, the PEW survey found that people opined that obesity has an impact on society, but did not see much of role for government action. PEW summed it up: Yes to Calories on Menus, No to Soda Limits.

PEW writes: “Most Americans (69%) see obesity as a very serious public health problem, substantially more than the percentages viewing alcohol abuse, cigarette smoking and AIDS in the same terms. In addition, a broad majority believes that obesity is not just a problem that affects individuals: 63% say obesity has consequences for society beyond the personal impact on individuals. Just 31% say it impacts the individuals who are obese but not society more broadly.”

Read the story: Click Here
PEw obesity views

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continue reading »

Link Between Antibiotics and Obesity?

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Mother Jones printed an article today by Kiera Butler and Jaeah Lee looking at the link between antibiotics and obesity.
(The Mysterious Link Between Antibiotics and Obesity:States where doctors prescribe more antibiotics also have the highest obesity rates. Why?)

The authors write: “Lately, I’ve been fascinated by a study on antibiotic prescription rates across the United States that was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine. The researchers found a surprisingly wide variation among the states, and the rates—expressed in terms of prescriptions per 1,000 people—seemed to follow a geographical pattern: The Southeast had the highest rates, while the West’s were lower. West Virginia had the most prescriptions, and Alaska had the fewest. The rest of the country fell somewhere in between.”
Here’s a map of the findings:

antibiotics-map-01

 

Continue reading »

Health: Racial Disparities

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The Harvard School of Public Health held an expert panel to discuss racial disparities.
They note: “Each speaker acknowledged that racial minorities have made significant gains over the past half-century, but said there is much more work still to do. They cited statistics providing stark evidence of continuing disparities in health, wealth, education, income, arrest and incarceration rates, foreclosure rates, and poverty. Coleman called the data “disconcerting; in some cases, alarming.”
Click here to see their report

“Health care disparities are troubling, Coleman said. One study found that doctors recommended coronary revascularization—bypass surgery that replaces blocked blood vessels with new ones—among white patients with heart disease 50% of the time, but just 23% of the time for blacks. Black women are less likely to be given a bone marrow density test than white women, even when it’s known they’ve had prior fractures. And the black infant mortality rate is 2.3 times higher than that of non-Hispanic whites.”
 

This Is Your Brain on Toxins–Op Ed

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Today’s New York Times has an op-ed by Nicholas Kristof about the toxins in our world.
His article begins:
“Lead helps to guard your health.” That was the marketing line that the former National Lead Company used decades ago to sell lead-based household paints. Yet we now know that lead was poisoning millions of children and permanently damaging their brains. Tens of thousands of children died, and countless millions were left mentally impaired.”

He takes on the endocrine disruptors, and the politics of lobbying and regulation. He uses anecdotes and some data–but clearly, this is a big issue.  It is worth reading: Click Here