World Hunger and Poverty

A recent Black Star Editorial explores the relationship between crime and poverty. I include an excerpt:

There is a perfect correlation between crime and poverty. Much has been written about the recent brutal murders of three college students and the wounding of one other in Newark, New Jersey, by a gunman or gunmen.

While some suspects have now been arrested initially it was believed by many –and this in itself is a revelation of bias – that the suspects were young African American males; following a pattern we have seen in many distressed urban areas primarily populated by African Americans.

All the articles we have so far seen focus on the need for “better parenting” and the need to “take back the streets,” and the need to “get in touch with our spirituality.” All these are well and good; but they amount to mere flagellation without tackling the root of most vices—poverty. This isn’t to say that those who commit violent crimes should not be punished; yet, at the same time, we must face the reality of the conditions that produce such depraved murderers.

A parent can only “parent” to the extent that he or she can provide, at a minimum, the basic needs –health, food, drink, or nourishment, education, clothing, housing- of the child. The minute a child becomes aware that the parent is not in a position to provide these needs, there is no “parenting.” Similarly, it is difficult to “connect with spirituality” when one is surrounded with poverty and despair. Cynicism and anti-social behavior, including violence, become the norm.

The editorial goes on to point out how the Bush administration spends billions a day rebuilding Iraq, instead of working on U.S. cities.

I agree that the Bush administration’s policies help contribute to poverty. However, I see it as futile to try and change the federal government. Instead of wasting our resources futilely appealing to the government, I suggest we use those resources to solve problems ourselves.

Unfortunately, we have little power to stop the Bush administration from wasting trillions of dollars in Iraq. I suggest we boycott taxes, and put our money towards our needs.

Barb Kucera recently wrote an article, in which she points out that the higher minimum wage won’t eliminate working poor. I include an excerpt:

On July 24, the federal minimum wage rose from $5.15 to $5.85 an hour, with subsequent increases to $6.55 in 2008 and $7.25 in 2009. Minimum wage workers in Minnesota and 28 other states won’t see an immediate increase because their pay is already $1 more than the federal minimum, but they will enjoy increases in future years.

Even so, the minimum wage remains far below what it should be – and doesn’t do anything to address rising health insurance and other costs, advocates said Tuesday at a news conference at the state Capitol.

For the last 10 years, American workers earning the minimum wage made $10,712 annually – “nearly $6,000 below the poverty level for a family of three,” said John Noonan of Americans United for Change, the group that organized the celebratory news conference. Similar events were held in 35 states and Washington, D.C.

The minimum wage does little to combat poverty. People who earn the minimum wage still live in poverty, for one. More importantly, minimum wages and other government intrusions on the free-market end up causing more damage then they fix. A hefty minimum wage would hinder small businesses and raise unemployment, for example.

A minimum wage ignores the underlying problem. We need to change our society so that we do not need a minimum wage (or any form of government assistance). We need to eliminate the causes of insufficiently salaried employment.

First, we need to make sure every child receives quality education, and that no child gets denied any education simply because they come from poor families or live in poor neighborhoods. Beyond that, we need to make sure every student has access to stuffiness food, clothes, shelter, and healthcare throughout their education, because we cannot reasonably expect a student to learn properly if the student suffers from hunger, homelessness, or illnesses. Additionally, the education must include job training and job placement.

If we make sure every person has access to student loans that cover all the costs of the requirements mentioned above, then ever person can get a job (or start a business) that pays enough to cover the future living expenses as well as pay off their student loans. In this way, we can end poverty for free.

In addition to educating and sufficiently employing everyone, we need to eliminate socioeconomic corruption. Namely, we have to stop megacorporations from using government to steal the wealth and labor of the masses, and otherwise exercise their selfish wills with the coercive power of government. For example, we have to stop companies like Halliburton from stealing tax-payer dollars through government-contracts by manipulating government policy.

Douglas J. Besharov recently wrote about measuring poverty in America. I include an excerpt:

Each year, the Census Bureau reports on the nation’s poverty rate, based on the number of people with incomes below the official poverty line, adjusted annually for inflation. In 2005, the poverty line, which varies by family size, was $15,577 for a family of three, and $19,971 for a family of four. By this measure, in 2005, about 12.6 percent of the population, or about 37 million people, were reported as poor, including 17.6 percent of children and 10.1 percent of the elderly. That’s essentially the same as the 1968 rate of 12.8 percent–which is a big reason why people think so little progress has been made against poverty.

While a 12.6% poverty rate seems bad enough, it drastically underrates the problem. Honestly, what kind of family of four could live off less than $5,000 each? You could barely afford shelter for that much, let alone food, clothes, healthcare, education, transportation, and everything else required to survive self-sufficiently in America.

The poverty line has so many problems. For one, it only considers people’s immediate needs. If a person makes enough this year to pay for a years worth of expenses, then the government does not count them as poor. However, a person can only work for about half their life. The person also has to pay for any debt accrued while growing up and going to school. Additionally, a person has to pay for their retirement. Among so many other unincluded factors, we have to include student loans and retirement costs in the cost of living when determining the poverty line.

Additionally, the poverty rate doesn’t appear to include needs such as healthcare. For example, the government says that only 35.9 million people in the United States live in poverty, even though 41 million people do not have health coverage.

If a child does not get quality healthcare and quality education, then let’s consider that child poor and recognize that that child does not have the same odds of success as a privileged child–which is not only unfair in and of itself, but also leads to more non-meritocratic inequality.

Often times in this field, we hear ignorant comments about poor people. I stopped counting how many times someone has told me that the poor or homeless should just get jobs.

It comes from the myth of meritocracy–the false belief that rich people have earned their wealth via work and production and that poor people have caused their own poverty through laziness or stupidity.

In reality, the few rich and powerful people use their wealth and power to manipulate the government and social structure to leach off the labor of the working class. As a result, working class people struggle to pay the cost of living despite their long and hard hours of labor. Bluntly, simply getting a job won’t keep a person out of poverty. Statistics demonstrate this:

Depending on who counts, the number of working poor in the United States is between 7.8 million and 28 million.

The low number comes from a report by the U.S. Department of Labor and the higher number comes from a report by Business Week. Either way, we can all agree that millions of working people live in poverty in the United States.

George E Curry recently wrote an article about hunger in America. I include an excerpt:

Hunger in America is real. And, everyone asking for help on the street is not interested in conning the public or is headed to the nearest liquor store when someone gives them spare change.

Those of us who live in the most affluent country on earth, tend to overlook hunger and poverty among us. When we think of hunger, we conjure up images of famine in Africa or India. Indeed, hunger is a global issue, with 852 million people in the world going hungry, according to Bread for the World. In developing countries, six million children die each year, mostly from hunger-related causes. Sub-Sahara Africa is the only region in the world where hunger is on the rise, with 204 million hungry.

Even with safety net programs in place for the poor, such as free school breakfast and lunch programs, hunger is also a problem in the U.S.

According to USDA, 35.1 million people-including 12.4 million children-live in households that frequently experience hunger or risk hunger. This means 11 percent of all U.S. households fall into this category. Almost 11 million people- including 606,000 children- live in U.S. households that frequently skip meals, consume an inadequate supply of food or don’t eat for an entire day.

The hunger problem involves more than food. The U.S. has the highest wage inequity in the industrialized world. That means that even when people have jobs, often the pay is too low for them to properly feed their families. This country must provide well-paying jobs and expanded opportunities for the poor if it really wants to address the issue. Until we do that, we’ll continue to see people eating out of garbage receptacles.

Read entire article by George E Curry.

I recommend you read the full article by following the above link. In the article, Curry also recites personal anecdotes to which we can all relate. He includes one story in which a 10-year-old girl restores his humanity.

I like the article because he quickly dismisses some myths about hunger in America, such as the myth that all homeless people just waste their money on alcohol and the myth that one only needs employment to dispel hunger.

In fact, millions of working people live in poverty in the United States. We call them the working poor. Additionally, most homeless people are not old crazy drunkards. The majority are young white women who are either employed or actively seeking employment.