#poverty America

[lilithism1848]

[garudabluffs]

"The United States, the richest country on earth, has more poverty than any other advanced democracy. Why? Why does this land of plenty allow one in every eight of its children to go without basic necessities, permit scores of its citizens to live and die on the streets, and authorize its corporations to pay poverty wages?

In this landmark book, acclaimed sociologist Matthew Desmond draws on history, research, and original reporting to show how affluent Americans knowingly and unknowingly keep poor people poor. Those of us who are financially secure exploit the poor, driving down their wages while forcing them to overpay for housing and access to cash and credit. We prioritize the subsidization of our wealth over the alleviation of poverty, designing a welfare state that gives the most to those who need the least. And we stockpile opportunity in exclusive communities, creating zones of concentrated riches alongside those of concentrated despair. Some lives are made small so that others may grow.

Elegantly written and fiercely argued, this compassionate book gives us new ways of thinking about a morally urgent problem. It also helps us imagine solutions. Desmond builds a startlingly original and ambitious case for ending poverty. He calls on us all to become poverty abolitionists, engaged in a politics of collective belonging to usher in a new age of shared prosperity and, at last, true freedom."

Why even brilliant scholars misunderstand poverty in America

"To come up with a poverty measure, one generally needs two things: a threshold at which a household becomes “poor” and a definition of income."

"The case for relative measures is that poverty is socially defined, and “being in poverty” is usually thought of as people not being able to exist with the level of comfort that is normal in the society in which they live."

"Looked at in relative terms, poverty hasn’t fallen in the US in recent decades. It’s stagnated"

READ MORE https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2023/3/10/23632910/poverty-official-supplemental-relative-absolute-measure-desmond

How America Manufactures Poverty

The sociologist Matthew Desmond identifies specific practices and policies that consign tens of millions to destitution.

March 13, 2023 LISTEN 26:49

"... an observation of James Baldwin’s to this point: “Anyone who has ever struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.”

READ MORE https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/03/20/matthew-desmond-poverty-by-america-book-review

[mapsontheweb]

Extreme poverty in South America

by brasilemmapas

[charliejaneanders]

In 2008, so many people thought that Obama’s election would usher us into a post-racial America. It was laughable then, and it is even more laughable now. My view is that racism is still the most intractable issue in this country. There are so many issues that one can put on the list of intractability—climate change and poverty. It seems America no longer has the will, even if we have the skill to do the hard things. Wrestling with climate change is hard. Wrestling with poverty and economic immobility is hard. Wrestling with the history and persistence of racism in this country is incredibly hard.

Tavis Smiley Is “Increasingly Concerned About the Monopolized America We Live In” (Washington Monthly)

[nando161mando]

The Supreme Court must love private prisons, making homelessness a crime will cost us more money than simply helping them. Senseless unnecessary and expensive cruelty

[datura-tea]

still thinking about filipinos in the fallout wasteland, but now in the context of my headcanon that fallout america annexed the philippines in 1946 instead of granting the nation its independence.

what made me think of this headcanon? the timeline between our world and the fallout world splits at about that period, and, well, there's precedent for the annexation: in real life, there were 50 years of american occupation, and there's ongoing american intereference in our politics, economy, and culture (essentially making the philippines an american neo-colony, but i digress), and considering how fallout america is just america turned up to 11, these things will just be magnified, and so: the philippine annexation of 1946.

now, there's nothing in fallout canon about the philippines except for a brief off-hand comment from the newscaster at the beginning of fallout 4 about american troops in mambajao (an island in camiguin) but this already tells me that, by 2077, if american military presence in the philippines has managed to reach that part of mindanao, the american occupation has intensified.

that little nugget already paints such a vivid picture of what's happening in fallout philippines - an american military base in mindanao tells me that more indigenous communities were displaced (real life example: the aeta and ibaloi communities in luzon, who still, to this day, cannot return to their ancestral lands), that sexual exploitation of women and children was rampant (irl: the sex industry in angeles city, among other areas), that american soldiers were free to enact violence on filipinos without facing any consequences (irl: jennifer laude's murder at the hands of joseph pemberton), that american imperialism is thriving in the archipelago, and that the sino-american war is serious and ramping up.

but let's see what the newscaster actually says:

"It would also appear our troops stationed overseas are experiencing some unusual weather, as well. On the Island of Mambajao the nights are cold. Unseasonably so for Southeast Asia. But for the 5th Infantry, that's as comfortable as an Autumn jamboree. All the easier for our mechanized hellcats to drive any screaming Commie meanies right into the Bohol Sea."

"screaming commie meanies" tells me that there's a significant communist presence in the philippines, which i am taking to mean that the communist party of the philippines and the new people's army are alive and well and fighting against the american occupation. i really don't think there'd be many chinese communist spies in the philippines at this time since filipino communists are against chinese imperialism as well, but tbh this part isn't solidified in my brain as much... anyway

essentially, fallout philippines has the problems of current, real life philippines, just amplified. american occupation on one hand, chinese imperialism on the other, unusual cold weather (which tells me that climate change was also a problem in the fallout universe), the threat of nuclear war... all with ordinary filipinos in the middle. would it be a stretch to say that a lot of them fled to america and established their own communities there? that those communities would have thrived and retained our creativity and sense of community/pagkakapwa abroad? that those communities would have survived the bombs and banded together and kept themselves and their culture alive, in the apocalypse?

[kafkasapartment]

Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California (variant, more than one version), 1936. Dorthea Lange, 1895-1965. Silver print.

Rural areas in the 1930s: While not as drastically affected by unemployment as cities , rural poverty remained high. Estimates suggest over 60% of rural households and 80% of farm families were impoverished. Food insecurity was widespread, leading to malnutrition and related health problems, like stunted growth, weakened immune systems, and increased vulnerability to diseases.

[runbulletproof]

Friends, there's something really wrong with my cat's hip/leg and we really need to get him a vet appointment. After rent and bills we don't have enough to take him. If anyone wants a bone or pendulum reading, please let me know!! I'm so so worried about him. I can't sleep knowing he's in so much pain 😭 Thank you so much for reading 💖

Cashapp • Paypal

[bisexualseraphim]

USAmericans will literally live in a trailer working 3 jobs for $7 an hour surviving off gas station food and still call themselves ‘middle class.’

Here in the UK if you’re middle class you’re probably a neurosurgeon with a stable-barn and a mansion big enough to have its own name. US middle class is our working class.

Not got owt to say about it, just really fuckin weird innit. I’ve had a few USAmericans describe me as middle class and I’m like mate… I make half of what you do lol

EDIT: I have since been corrected on this!!! Please stop reblogging this without checking the notes first, I was quite wrong!!!

[awesomecooperlove]

🇺🇸🥁❤️

[tododeku-or-bust]

"Most states still allow restaurant and other service workers to be paid a subminimum wage, which is a meager $2.13 an hour at the federal level, forcing nearly 5 million workers to survive on tips.

(Where did the concept of subminimum wage come from? It's a vestige of slavery. After emancipation, restaurant owners hired formerly enslaved Black workers for free. They had to rely on customers' charity.)"

Poverty, by America, Chapter 8: Empower the Poor, by Matthew Desmond (2023)

[yearningforunity]

The slum area Puente Nayero is home to more than 1,200 families, of which an estimated 95% have been forcibly displaced from their homes due to the conflict. With nearly 6 million displaced people, Colombia is one of the countries with most displacements in the world. The slum areas are dominated by paramilitary gangs who extort and oppress the local population. The citizens of Puento Nayero recently found the courage to kick the paramilitaries out and declare their neighbourhood a humanitarian zone. With the support from NGOs and a government program they are now striving to keep it safe. - 2018

Photograph: Mads Nissen/Politiken

[urlocalhovel]

i see a lot of posts about poverty on this site and they always pertain to injustices, stats, laws and like... i always catch myself wondering, are the people posting these just good people wanting change, or have they been through it themselves?

then i wonder where all the personal stories are apart from the mix of statistics... are people who have truly suffered poverty just not on here...???

i want to swap horror stories/heartwarming ones, see other people's experiences that are similar to my own-

i wanna connect on the feeling of hunger, talk about how that first taste of food zaps your tongue after days of not being able to eat...

wanna hear the warm memories amongst the struggle- for example, my mother wrapping me & my baby siblings in thick blankets on our living room floor so all she could see was our eyes peeking out above our tall, cone-shaped nests and treating it as a game, though she was just making sure we survived another night without heat while going through yet another brutal winter atop our barren mountain...

though i wanna connect on all the battle stories of what it was like to grow up/be in poverty, i really wanna see people talk about what strength, happiness and morals can come out of such despair:

you get used to having nothing and are able to get by, when normal people would have a literal mental breakdown over such things

you take joy in the littlest of things, appreciate so many things people take for granted

you gain a concrete kindness, a deep type of empathy for others you see even having a flicker of the struggle you did/are

you end up informing people of the stats and information that the posts i mentioned above include, advocate for the people less fortunate

i moved away into a wealthy Canadian city where you don't easily see poverty/interact with people going through it unless you venture into very specific pockets of the city and i kinda miss interacting with others that are of my kind- i'll never forget someone sheepishly telling me about how a bottle depot works and realizing that im assumed to be part of the people who have never experienced what its like to rely on such a thing to make the rent and get a day's meal...

[shego1142]

I know yall probably know about poverty and generational poverty and what not but I just want to vent….

Because like… the things people don’t like know about generational poverty unless they’re experiencing it is just how… trapped you feel… weighed down by absolutely everything.

See I honestly think something may be up with our gas line

Which is a terrifying thought.

Now, idk if it’s a leak per se (though we’ve got the windows cracked just in case) but if we turn on our stove the gas smell is really strong, the flame flairs out of the sides of the stove, etc.

Shit that shouldn’t be happening.

Shit that is really fucking dangerous.

We know this is dangerous, we’re not stupid.

We know we should get it fixed.

But here’s the thing, okay?

The floors are just base boards, they’re falling in and there’s holes everywhere.

There’s rats that we’ve tried every trick in the book to get rid of, short of hiring an exterminator. We’ve borrowed traps, had traps “gifted” to us, tried poisons that friends and family have bought for us, etc. It cuts them down but they come back.

All of our food is in thick sealed plastic containers and yet they’ve eaten some of the containers open. They even ate our soap and makeup and cleaning supplies and that didn’t seem to stop them. (Our soap and cleaning supplies are now in plastic containers too but idk how long it will deter them, and the makeup is thrown away)

We have shoddy wiring in the house, done by my own grandpa back in the 70’s when they first bought this place.

Our roof has cracks in it that have failing patches, done by a family friend.

Our AC doesn’t exactly work very well and it’s been reaching 100°F weather (with 70% humidity no less) and to fix it we’d need $10k at least, but we’d also need new flooring, so it would likely be more than that…

Etc.

And like, it’s not that the house is dirty, but that it’s falling apart.

And here’s the deal… calling someone who knows what’s what about houses to check the stove means calling someone who is going to inspect the whole house, someone who’s going to say:

“hey uh, your gas is messed up and your electricity is messed up and so’s your plumbing… Your floors are bad… we have to condemn this house and if you can’t pay to fix it up then you’re going to lose it.”

And it’s not like we got this house and destroyed it by a lack of maintenance, this house is like, 50+ years old, and has been my home since I was born.

My grandma and I couldn’t take care of everything because my grandpa had Alzheimer’s and he was going downhill and it was me and her caring for him.

My health is really bad and I can’t work a regular day job because of it, but I haven’t been able to hire a lawyer to apply for disability, so we’re living off one income and whatever side gigs I can do from time to time.

We don’t have the money to pay the mortgage, buy groceries, pay the home insurance, the gas bill, pay medical bills, buy pet food, etc and also then pay for our house to be inspected and potentially condemned for things I didn’t even do in the first place, things that came before I inherited this house…

My whole family has been poor my whole life, from my great great grandparents to my parents, etc.

It was always “you don’t pay for a professional to fix it, you either fix it yourself or get a family member or a friend of a friend to fix it”

Which means that if we ask a building inspector to tell us what’s wrong with the house… well… it’s going to probably be everything. Because this house has never been “professionally” fixed, it’s only ever had family members and friends of family members slap duct tape over glaring issues and say they’ll only charge you a glass of sweet tea.

Which means it’ll probably cost nearly the entire value of the house to fix tbh.

I just feel like I’m on a ship that’s sinking and way more water is coming in than I could ever manage to get out. I keep trying to patch the leaks but the materials just not available, and besides, if I stop bailing out the water for even a second to go and try and patch the leak, I’ll go fully underwater.

And you know, it’s not fair. It’s not right that it’s like this. This is our home and we love it. This has been my home for years and we love this house, this land, the trees and plants that grow, everything here is loved. It’s cared for. We try to take pride in it.

But you wouldn’t know that because we’re too busy trying to bail out that sinking ship. We’re too busy from constantly working and cleaning and repairing.

It’s not okay that it’s set up that way. We need help, we need community. We should be able to call someone and be like “Hey, we love this house, we’ve never been late on a payment, we’ve worked our butts off to try and keep things going, but we need help. Can you look at everything this house needs to function and be in good condition and help us get those things?”

Like, hell a payment plan option would work, wouldn’t it? Why isn’t that the done thing?

I mean, I know why, the more houses that are taken from the poor means the more real estate that’s available for the rich, they’re already trying to make our whole neighbourhood into some corporate venture instead of a residential area. And besides, if they manage to make us homeless they’d be just as happy throwing us in jail for the “crime” of being homeless and poor and making money off free labour.

Like that’s why it’s normal practice not to help anyone keep their home when they actually have a home. The system is set up for you to fail unless your family is at least moderately wealthy.

It’s just such an unforgiving cycle. And I know I’m beating a dead horse with this vent. I know that like over half of America’s population is likely in the same shitty place we’re in.

It’s just… I’m so tired of being in cycles like these.

I’m too sick to work, too poor to afford to get on disability, and both too poor and too exhausted to go to the doctor to get proper treatment, and it’s just a loop.

I’m too exhausted to fix the house, too busy cleaning the house to rest, too exhausted to make money to have professionals help fix the house, rinse and repeat.

The house breaking down is very likely making me more sick, but I’m too sick to be able to get the house fixed.

My grandparents didn’t have money to fix the house, my parents don’t have money to fix theirs, I don’t have money to fix my house.

Every step forward is like ten steps backwards and I genuinely don’t know what the solution to all of this is.

I feel so fucking trapped. I don’t even have the energy to run a gofundme for myself to try and get the help we need, because it takes so so much to to actually get a gofundme up and off the ground, I have tried before and it’s always been a failure because I just literally never have enough energy for it.

We have so many things we’d love to do. We’d love to make this house into an eco-friendly, sustainable home, with solar panels and a huge garden. We want to make a farm stand with fresh eggs and vegetables and fruit and let it operate on an honour system, so anyone who needs food can take what they need and pay what they can, yes even if it’s $0. I want to crochet hats and mittens and set those out too, for sale or just for those who need them…

We want so badly to take care of our community… but it feels like our community isn’t there to support us, not because people don’t want to support one another but because we’re all trapped or are being prevented from supporting one another.

Because having a farm-stand means you need to buy business licenses… building a sustainable home means you need to buy a building permit.

Every step of the way feels like good intentions are wasted, road-blocked.

I can’t even begin to explain how many jobs I’ve applied to, writing, editing, working as a cook or a waiter, data entry, etc.

In school they told me I’d be able to do anything I wanted to. I was a “gifted” straight A student and as I’m sure many people on this site know, that’s not bragging. It’s the opposite. The school system, the system that is supposed to help me be successful in life, told me I would be, and now I would be lucky to make $7.25/an hour while living in a place where the minimum liveable wage is $35/an hour.

It costs $35 an hour for one person to live moderately comfortably in my town. And this isn’t an arbitrary number, it’s literally on our county’s government ran poverty assessment website.

And that’s not a thriving wage it’s a surviving wage. It’s Home, Food, Utilities, Transportation & Clothes.

It leaves no room for medical care, comfort, entertainment, etc.

So what the hell are those of us who are working for anything less than that, or those of us unable to work, supposed to do?!

And like I said, I know I’m preaching to a choir rn, I know everyone is experiencing some version of this. I just… I need to be able to express it from time to time. To talk about how unfair and ridiculous and needlessly cruel this is.

It’s so deeply flawed and evil that we’re unable to have legitimate health concerns inspected because we’re worried about the house being taken away from us.

It’s trash. It’s inhumane.

And if anyone has any like… suggestions or advice that would be great… I’m considering just having our gas service canceled by our gas company and buying a small electric grill instead… but our gas also powers our hot water heater so…

:/

[nando161mando]

There have been efforts to #criminalise people who live on the streets in the #UnitedStates.

Supreme Court judges are due to rule on whether a law that essentially makes being #homeless a crime, is #constitutional.

The ruling could affect the lives of more than half a million people.

Al Jazeera’s Rob Reynolds reports from #LosAngeles.

#WarOnHomeless #Cruelty #Inhumane #HomelessPeople #DontPunishHomeless #HumanRights #fascism #HomelessnessIsNotACrime #USSupremeCourt