New York Times: Poverty in the United States

Mark R. Rank, a professor of social welfare at Washington University in St. Louis writes an excellent summary of people in poverty in the US.  The story appears in the New York Times on November 2nd, 2013.  The piece is here(NYT). The article refuts many of the myths around people in poverty.

Some of the highight include...

Poverty is much more widespread than people realize.  More than half of all people in the US will experience a year in or near the poverty level. The poverty level is about $11,000 for an individual and $23,000 for a family of four.

The number of people in long term poverty is also small. To paraphrase the story, "People experience a year to two in poverty, then a longer period above the poverty line, then slip back again."

Most people in poverty are white.  About two thirds of people in poverty are white. The figure has remained the same "for several decades"

Finally, the author notes that people in poverty are motivated to work.  They have the same attitudes and behaviors as the rest of the country.

The sad part of Professor Rank's article is that curing poverty requires the will of the people and government which does not seem to care.

NYT: Poverty in America is Mainstream

Some links for Corporate Social Responsibilty (This stuff smells a lot like PR)

Once again, we can't believe how mis informed and uncaring the average US consumer is when making purchases.

And we also can't believe how disingenous big companies are when it come to corporate responsibility.  In fact they call the field "Reputation Management" not social responsibility.

One of our longer term ideas for an Apps that gives a social responsibility score for companies.



Here are some links in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility


Reputation Insititute

Article from NK Warikoo and C Fuhr: Legitimating status: Perceiptions of meritocracy .... at Oxford

Here is a very interesting article about how the elite view meritocracy and equality. The article, called "Legitimating Status: perceptions of meritocracy and inequality among undergraduates at an elite British university" appears in the British Educational Reseach Journal. Here is the link.

The researchers interviwed 46 students at Oxford University.

We got a tip from the BBC program "Thinking allowed" which intervied Ms. Warikoo who is an assistant professor at Harvard School of Education.  Here is the link to the thinking allowed program.

Here are some highlights:

80% believe admissions were based on merit alone.

40% believe there is some truth to inequlaity in schools which affects the admissions process.

Students ignored family background. They also had a general conservative view of the whole process.

Students were against postive discrimination in general.

The discussion on "Thinking Allowed" noted that 75% of US students fvor special help for working class students while only 33% of UK students thought such help was needed.

From the Washington Post. Low skilled immigrants: Economic burden or boom ?

Here's the link: Low skilled immigrants: Economic burden or boom ?

The Washington post published a story on the impact low-skilled immigrants on low skill US born citizens.

The article at least acknowledges a well known fact in the Black community: that immigrants take jobs from black people, depress wages for poor people and control businesses in black neighborhoods. final reports the impact immigrants are having on the Black community.

The issue we have is that WAPO and the press in general tries to cover an issue that really hurts poor people with fake objectivity.

Almost everyone agrees that some immigration in general is good for the country.  People will also admit, grudging, that poor immigration hurts the existing US poor. And a lot of poor people are black. A lot of us also benefit from immigration: we get cheap food, all night convienice stores, and low cost landscaping and construction labor.

Our solution:  We should switch our model to rich immigration: Doctors, lawyers, dentists and CEO should be allowed to immigrate freely.  Limits should be placed on poor immigration.

Center for American Progress: Polorization of Job Opportunities in the US Labor Market

We have all known about the lack of good paying jobs for more than 30 years.  But it is not official until an economist publishes a paper about it.  So here is that paper.

The Center for American Progress and the Hamilton Project have publish a study by David Autor of MIT called "The Polorization of Job Opportunities in the US Labor Market".

Oxfam America Survey: Low wage workers have it very difficult in the US

Oxfam America, part of the Oxfam International, anti-poverty group, published a survey called "Hard Work, Hard Lives", which details the experiences of 804 low-wage workers in the United States.

Workers in the survey made less than $14.00 per hour and most had a family income of less than $40,000 per year.

Here are some highlights:

Fifty nine percent (59%) of respondants said they "Barely meet" or "Don't have enough to meet" their basic living expenses.

Low wage workers worry most about saving for retirement and unaffordable health expenses. They use food stamps and financial support from friends and family to survive.

Yet, 62% of of low wage workers believe hard work will get them ahead and 94% blieve performing your job well is important or extremely important.

Sadly, 76% of low-payed workers think that people are falling out of the middle class while only 12% are rising into the middle class from the lower class.


The report of the survey is here: "Hard Work; Hard Lives".

Fast Food Workers Strike for Better Wages

The Assocaited Press as carried by  USA Today has the story of the fast food workers strike.

USA Today: Fast Food wrokers stage strikes



The workers are asking for $15 dollar wage. The strike was support by SEIU - the service wrokers union. The strike seemed to be a tool to general publicity and favorable news coverge.