Poverties, Not Poverty

Solutions, Not SolutionWISCAP Poverty Conference 2015

Overall Presentation Outline

• Poverties• Current Context of Poverties• Causes of Poverties• Solutions

Some Roadmap Poverty Points: 2014

• 318.9 million: Total US Population• 46.7 Million: In Poverty• 75.1 million: 150% of Poverty and Below

*Poverty Income Family of 3: $20,900 in 2015; $19,790 in 2014

Many Possible Definitions

• Official Poverty• Supplemental Poverty Measure• Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) • Columbia Alternative• Heritage Foundation: Things Most Poor Have• $1.25 Per Day• $2.00 Per Day

Polar Perceptions of the Poor

One view• The 47% who don’t produce• Not like me, e.g. irresponsible, immoral, criminal, not care, don’t want to

work, want to be on the dole• But there “deserving poor”: widows, orphans, persons with disabilities,

older adults, children, injured (while working)The Other View• 47% helped somewhat by social programs • Just like me but ___• Disadvantaged through the operations of the social and economic systems

Poverties

Some First Distinctions

• Degree

• Duration

• Concentration

Poverties

• 20.8 million: Income Less than 70% of poverty• 9.9 million: Long Term in Poverty (36 months continuous)• 24.8 million: Ongoing Poverty (12 months continuous)• 13.5 million: Entered Poverty• 12.6 million: Left Poverty• 5.7 months: Median Time In Poverty• 23 million in Concentrated Poverty Areas

More Distinctions:Hard Data

• Age• Stage of Life• Sex• Race• Household Living Arrangement• Educational Level• Work Status• Region

• State• Metro/Rural• Concentration• Intergenerational• Physical Health• Mental Health

More Distinctions: “Soft” Data

• Aspiration Level• Persistence/Determination/Perseverance• Social Support Network e.g.:

FamilySchoolMentors“Neighborhood” Institutions

A Little More on Race & Isolation

• Consistent Racial Disparities PatternIncome, wealth, prison, drop out, single parent

• Why?InferiorityCultureDiscriminationOther Societal Factors

• Isolation: physical, political, governmental, economic

The Context of Poverty

• Demography, Jobs, Income and Wealth• US Capitalism/Mixed Economy

PersonPropertyCompeteWin/Lose—ongoing destruction

• GlobalizationStructure: MultinationalsFinancialization: Money Rules and Sets Up the RulesTechnology

The Context (contd.)

• CultureAmerican DreamWork is the (?) Good and RewardedConsumption: Things You Should Have

• PoliticsRepublicanDemocratic

• IdeologyLiberalConservative

Correlates and Causes

• Easily Confused• Confusion of Addressing the Immediate Situation and Prevention

(Possible) Causes of Poverty

• SocietalCultural/SubculturalSocial and Economic StructuresMini-Environments

• PersonalResponsibility Persistence

• Luck

Solutions—Not A Solution

Why Do Something to Reduce Poverty:

The Value Rationale

• The Economic: Human Capital Development, economic growth• The Social Order: Riot and Protest or Tranquility• The Moral/Ideological: The Right Thing to do

• But What About Harm

Those who oppose any action argue:

• Successful actors outperform unsuccessful one without violating their rights.• Subsidies for those at the “bottom” with payments from the “top” will

blunt economic activities’ of the top and decrease incentives at the lower end.• Additional taxes will be required so that pools of wealth are destroyed

and initiatives to create wealth and grow the economy are dulled. • Inequality is not a dominative factor in society; rather what is critical is

“being treated fairly in accordance with procedurally fair, neutral rules.”

Those who oppose any action argue: (Contd)

• The is ever present governmental overextension and over involvement in life. Where will distribution stop? Government will rearrange economic outcomes.• There is no standard to judge what good distribution is.• Why should the discussion be only about the least advantaged and

what they need? • Inequalities should be addressed through charity rather than through

social interventions that pose threats to the economy.

Those seeking interventions argue:

• Lack of action to provide opportunity and decrease inequality will undermine the economy.• Enhancing the skills of all will promote economic growth and avoid

the wasting of human capital.• More equal opportunity incentivizes people.• Failure to act will fray or destroy the basic social order.• Extreme inequality will lead to the loss of governmental legitimacy.• Equality is critical to the functioning of a democracy.• It’s the “right thing to do”.

Some General Goals

• Increase the number of individuals can financially take care of themselves, i.e. have enough income for themselves and their families to place them above the poverty level and hopefully move toward middle class.• Ameliorate the conditions and status of poverty for some

America’s Current Solutions

Total Annual US Federal Social Welfare Expenditures: $2 Trillion, $370 Billion

Private Charity: $335.17 billion

• Social Expenditures: $2 Trillion, $500 BillionNo Means Test: 1 trillion, $700 Billion

Social Security: Survivors, Disability, SSI (2016) $997 billionMedicare $583 BillionVeterans $104 Billion

Mean Tested: $750 Billion

• Tax Expenditures: $1 trillion, $400 Billion• Charity: $335 Billion

$41.451 billion, slightly more than 10% for human services

• Total US budget About $3.43 Trillion

Where Does the Money Go

• Income (cash) primarily for the elderly• Health the other major cost• Overall focused on the elder population

• Not focused on the poor• Not focused on the very poor• Not so much $ to young and middle age• Not so much $ to employment and education

Primary Recipients*

• 53% of benefits go to the elderly 65 and older• 20% of benefits go to non-elderly disabled• 18% of benefits go to non-elderly working households• 9% goes to non-working, non-elderly households

*Center for Budget and Policy Priorities

Tax Expenditures

• Number of tax expenditures, 200. Income not taxed for some reason.• Approximately $1,375,000,000 ($1.37 trillion) in 2013. • Slightly over 50% of tax expenditures benefit those in the highest

income quintile, About 39% of benefits accrue to those in the top 10% of income.• Those in the lowest 20% of income get approximately 8% of tax

expenditure benefits.

At Least 67 Proposed:New or Expanded

SolutionsSome Examples

Solutions: Pre Natal and Early Childhood

• Free and extensive pre-natal health care and maternal nutrition• Increased early childhood nutrition• Ongoing medical exams and treatment• Universal (free) early, quality childhood education

Solutions: Pre-Teen and Teen

• Improve Public Schools; Voucher and Charter Establishment• Increase School Attendance• Increase Parental Involvement in schools• Improve personal behavior• Take Increased responsibility for personal behaviors and for one’s family and children• Have great aspirations• Delay immediate gratification to achieve longer term goals• Increase persistence and determination• Increased investment in public schools or establishment of voucher or charter schools• Increase availability of extracurricular activities• Increase summer (and year-round) youth employment and internships• Reduce teen pregnancy• Increase abstinence• Provide additional family planning services and/or promote abstinence• Offer birth control to reduce teen pregnancy• Provide free long-acting reversible contraceptives to teens and low income women

Solutions: Late Teens/Early Adulthood

• Don’t Marry Early• Don’t Have Children Until Married• Universal Free Technical College• Universal free or minimal cost college

Solutions: Adult Households

Wages• Increase the minimum wage• Increase/expand EITC• Implement a living wage• Reduce executive compensation• Extend unemployment benefits• Increase work requirements for means tested programs, e.g. food share and public housing• Increase job skills through funding of job skills programs• Provide micro loans to support of having their own businesses Work Place Improvements• Paid family leave• Paid sick leave• Stronger labor laws• Increase Unionization

Solutions: Adult Households (contd.

Taxes• Lower all tax rates• Raise tax rates on those with higher incomes• Increase Child Allowance• Increase Child Care tax credit Federal Programs• Increase federal spending on means tested programs, e.g. food share, rent subsidies

housing assistance programs• Decrease federal spending on means tested programs such as food share and rent

assistance• Provide free health care for all• Change/eliminate Obama care

Solutions: Adult Households (contd.)

Changes in the criminal justice system• Eliminate cash required bail• Decriminalize marijuana• Establish special drug courts• Decrease/eliminate mandatory/three strikes sentencing• Increase training for those who are incarcerated• Provide increased support after releaseSome Others • Advance of men (JD Vance: “marriage crisis… is as much about the inadequacies of American men as it

is about family values or economic incentives.”• Increase two parent households• Remove all marriage penalties• Increased child support amounts and improved collection

Solutions: Reduce racial discrimination

• Integrate neighborhoods• Integrate schools• Provide special assistance to minority groups, especially Black,

Hispanic, and Native American• Pay reparations to minority groups, especially Black and Native

Americans• Enforce affirmative action requirements• Create more venues for interracial dialog

Solutions: Potpourri

• Provide Increased quality public transportation• Turn poverty programs over to the states or strengthen federal role in program

delivery and requirements• Decrease spending on social program• Eliminate regulations that present obstacles to business startups or expansions• Develop assets• Create Savings Accounts

Family Children

• Provide Micro loans to help individuals start their business• Increase the number of governmental infra-structure projects

Assumptions About Effective Solutions

• Strategies, Not Individual Actions• Complex, yet targeted• Long Term• Support Continued American Economic Growth • Fit with American Dream• Promote Individual Initiative and Responsibility• Recognize the Best You Can Do is Improve the Odds (Personal,

Structural, Ideological)• Based on the Best Information; Not Deny any Reality

46 Million Divided Into Households

Number (Millions) Percent• 9,310 families 31,530 70%

3.3 Couples (11,400 37%)4.6 in female headed (15,885 51%)1.0 in male headed (3, 500 12%)

• 13,181 Unrelated Individuals 13,181 29%

• 608 Unrelated subfamilies 608 1%

Some Target Poverties’ Populations

• “Adult” HouseholdsFamily HouseholdsSingle Person Households

• Persons 14 to 25 years of age: An important and difficult subset• Elderly and Severely Disabled

Target Population Subsets

• Deep, Continuous, Concentrated• Near 100%, Episodic, Dispersed

Family Households:Financial and Moral

Elements

• Structural• “Mini” Social Environment• Individual

Family Households: Structural

• CashEITCMinimum Wage/”Living” WageTransitional Job/Guaranteed EmploymentGuaranteed Income/Negative Income Tax

• Access to Reasonable Interest Short Term Loans• “Equalization” of School Aids• Free Technical College (New GI Bill)• Child Support• Maintain Efforts at the National Level

Family Households: “Mini” Social Environment

• Literacy training for adults• Visiting Nurses• Long Term Mentors• Books for homes• Broad cultural exposure• Collaborative community network

Family Households: Personal

• Read to children• Constantly promote the future and aspirations• Provide incentives if child does better; impose sanctions for

inappropriate behavior• Participate in school activities

Some Special Messages

• ParentsManage your personal and family resources. Spend time with your kids. Love them. Encourage them. Discipline them. We need to do all of these things, not just discipline. Help them to believe in themselves and a positive future.• Young PeopleGo to school and learn. You may not be assured of success if you do this, but you can be very sure that if you do not, you will not be successful. Treat all others with respect• TeachersDon’t give up on any child. (I know that this request requires major, herculean efforts on your part. But students can and will learn if they are encouraged and supported.)• Community Service Professionals and LeadersBe positive and hopeful. Continue to offer options, encouragement and opportunities.

Persons 14 to 25 years of age:Economic, Moral, and Social

Order

• Contraception: Permanent Reversible• Payment for grades and attendance• Free two years of college with living expenses• National Service for all (?)

The Separated & Isolated: Discrimination

• Over and above what is needed by families and young people 15 to 24• Opposition to “race only” remedies (?)• Long term investment• Long term building of networks

Elderly and Severely Disabled Households:Moral Argument

• Provide Income Supplements• The moral argument

Summary

1. Poverty is complex; we are really dealing with poverties. 2. Both poverties, it causes and any potential solutions must be analyzed in the

context of the current general demographic, economic, political and cultural context in America.

3. Solutions to poverty must focus on poverties, not on poverty. There is no single silver bullet approach that will be effective. Strategies are needed.

4. The solutions to poverty must address both social and individual factors. Changes in social policy and individual behavior are both required to have any major effect.

5. Any solutions and benefits will require resources.6. Any significant solutions will take time, the quick and dirty will not work.7. The value of potential results will need to shown to be great enough to justify the

cost.

A Few Words on Power

• Ideological• Economic• Political • Physical force

I Didn’t Say It Would Be Easy

Contact Information: George Gerharz; (414) 303-7450; ggerharz@aol.com