Carl B. Visser writes that the working poor need help to beat poverty:
People work hard to get out of poverty. To stay out, some families need the kinds of strategies and supports that will make a long-term impact on their ability to get to the next level and continuously closer to true self-sufficiency. Individuals and families come into poverty at various stages of life. A one-time trauma like a job loss, death of a spouse, medical emergency or divorce often requires an emergency response and a high level of intervention.
Last year, 5.4 million more Americans slipped below the poverty line. Yet, they are not a story of the unemployed or the destitute. Most have jobs. Many have two. Seventy percent of people who apply for Low-Income Energy Assistance Program are employed.
How can I contain my anger? What kind of world do we live in, where hard-working people live in poverty and non-working tyrants live in luxury?
While the working poor suffer the worst, the entire working class needs to realize that the non-meritocratic and unfair status quo victimizes the entire working class, which does not get the full fruits of their labor. Then, we can all work together for social change, and put an end hunger, poverty, & homeless.