The Already-Wealthy Really Do Owe the Poor

I was reading the Sunday edition of the New York Times yesterday when I ran across this article:

Things We Learned in 2016

It listed 45 different items that readers of the newspaper might have learned in the last year. I thought number 22 very instructing and insightful:

Sixth graders in the richest school districts are four grade levels ahead of children in the poorest districts.

It was from this article:

Money, Race and Success: 

How Your School District Compares

This statement/fact has so many ramifications for people, individually, but for societies as a whole, it's difficult to know where to begin or end but I'll try.

First, it proves the idea of noblesse oblige quickly, firmly and completely. The idea that the wealthy, the already-wealthy have an obligation to help those with less is driven home here totally. The formal definition is 

"the inferred responsibility of privileged people to act with generosity and nobility toward those less privileged."

Since those "privileged" or again, wealthy have much, they rather "owe it" to the "less privileged" to assist. Part of that is just due to quantities---quantities of wealthy, of money, in our modern societies. If a person is "loaded" and has more than they could possibly spend, it seems easy, obvious and incumbent on them to help those who are of small means and struggling. This is especially true, it would seem clear, if that "struggling" includes being homeless, starving, sick or what have you.

This also seems easy and true if the person is both wealthy and either a moralist--as I'd think we all should be--or, more, a Christian or Jew or of any religion that believes in helping the poor. Sure, again, this seems easy and obvious.

But it's more than that. It's much more than that.

What becomes true, just from that one, brief sentence and fact is that the already-wealthy have many, many advantages--financial, social, educational, etc.--given to them, and from birth up, that if they didn't assist the less fortunate, the poor or what have you, it would only perpetuate horribly the divisions between the two groups of people, those "haves" and "have nots." This seems self-evident, too.

This makes it easy to see why those with money keep piling on more and more, frequently, if not usually, while those of lesser means get less, to begin with, but then also are able to save and keep less, over time. It's what makes the "1%" of a nation, of a society, grow and grow their wealth.

Offers and possibilities snowball up for the wealthy by virtue of money and education and contacts, at least, while the costs of being less fortunate snowball against "the little guy." It's a system built to go for the wealthy and against the poor. And sure, to an extent it's just human nature but it's not right and we need to acknowledge it and correct for it, each of us, let alone as a people, as a nation, again, as societies.

This isn't about the poor mooching off the wealthy or not pulling their own weight or their expecting, demanding easy things from those that have, either. As the old saying goes, if only work made people wealthy, African women would be the wealthiest of the world.

One of the great things about all this, though, about the fortunate helping the unfortunate is that, besides making one feel good, besides the fact that it is, as just one example, the "Christian thing to do", it also helps the society, too. Any person who is helped with some food, say, might well avoid going to a hospital later or, in another example, might not steal--and risk getting caught and arrested. They may not try to rob a store and should that happen, things get much worse for all involved right there.

Then there's helping a person with education. Or a job. Both certainly help the area, the town, the city, the region, the state, the nation. They help with the person's health, their expenses. Heck, they help the different government's tax coffers. The benefits here snowball upward, positively, as well.

So there's every reason in the world why the already wealthy should help the unfortunate, the poor, the sick. It's good for that person and their family, sure.  But it's also great for the society and those benefits come back to that wealthy person. The healthier, wealthier and stronger our societies are, the better it even is for the wealthy. Their own companies will likely do better. Their own city, county, state and nation will do better.  That, in fact, then is the "rising tides help all boats." Not tax cuts for the already-wealthy. That does nothing but make the rich, richer.

So, yeah, the rich owe the poor. Don't ever think they don't.  

They owe it to themselves to help.

Links:

It's expensive to be poor | The Economist

8 Ways Being Poor Is Wildly Expensive in America

It's getting more expensive to be poor - The Washington Post

It Is Expensive to Be Poor - The Atlantic

​The high cost of being poor - CBS News

How Expensive It Is to Be Poor - The New York Times

Being Poor Is Too Expensive - Lifehacker

Shockingly small 'crimes' that can land you in jail

Quote of the Day -- Sunday Edition

Think about it.  Then let's maybe do some things about it. All of it.

World Homeless Day

Yes sir, today is World Homeless Day. From today's New York Times:

Started in 2010, the day seeks to bring attention to homelessness, a problem that affects tens of millions of people worldwide, according to the United Nations.

In the U.S., more than a half-million people live on the streets or in shelters for temporary stays.

But national statistics show that homelessness is declining. And Salt Lake City has been held up as a model.

The city’s approach is simple: Before tackling the problems that led someone to become homeless, those in need first receive a place to live. The program is credited with reducing the number of chronically homeless people across the state by 91 percent since 2005.

Lloyd Pendleton, who leads Utah’s homeless task force, initially doubted the plan. “I get probably two to five calls a week now,” he said in an interview last year, “wanting to know how we did it.”

For information on how you can help, the National Alliance to End Homelessnessand the National Coalition for the Homeless offer resources.

PBS' Rick Steves........ On Baltimore?

Yes, THAT Rick Steves. The travel guy from PBS.

Calling Gwyenth Paltrow

An open lesson for and to Gwyneth Paltrow on her now-failed attempt to take on the "Food Stamp Challenge."  That is, living on $29 per week.

Gwyneth Paltrow flubs $29 food stamp dare

A not particularly shamefaced Gwyneth Paltrow has admitted she failed to survive for seven days on $29 (20 quid) for food as part of the #FoodBankNYCChallenge, which invites participants "to walk in the shoes of 1.7 million New Yorkers who rely on SNAP (formerly Food Stamps)."

So here's the thing. Here's what Ms. Paltrow should have done if she wanted to survive on a paltry $29 per week worth of food.

First thing?

Consult someone who does it.

That is, get with some man or woman---likely a woman?--who's been doing it. They could tell you how.

Second?

Throw all the ideas about elitism or freshness and fresh vegetables and gourmet and/or healthy this or that out the window. It just isn't going to work.

Here, then, is what you do in order to make a $29 budget work for one person for one week.

Step one:

Go to a "box store." Preferably not Walmart but pick one. Aldi's or Food for Less (also known as "Fight for Food") or wherever. Pick one. Again, if you don't know where to go, ask the person already doing it.

Step two:

Buy fourteen of these:

Yes, that's right. TV dinners.

They can be had for 98 cents each. That's just about 14 precious dollars total. That covers every lunch and dinner for all 7 days. That's making it work. And they have this, of course, with a turkey dinner and a salisbury "steak" dinner and spaghetti with meatballs and all kinds of things so you can get some variety. Again, it's not gourmet--or fresh--but that's not what you get on $29/week, is it? No, it's not.

Step three:

Buy 7 bananas and a half gallon of orange juice. The bananas will set you back about one dollar, give or take and the orange juice, $2.00.

The total? 

$17

So you still have $12 left for week.

You could buy some coffee and filters---again, not the gourmet variety but coffee--and/or other things, to make it work.

So you see, Ms. Paltrow? 

It can be done.

You just have to try.

America: We're Number One!

Quote of the day -- on our world's priorities

"The world produces more food than we can consume. Our manufacturing productivity is at levels never before seen, there is plenty of land for all. What has changed is that the bosses are now taking all of the new profits from productivity gains for themselves. Not sharing with workers or with taxing authorities, it's greed, through and through."

--Booth Martin

Quote of the day -- Right out of the Republican Party pllatform

To recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less. 

--Oscar Wilde, "The Soul of Man Under Socialism"

The food stamp president?

Quote of the day--Sunday edition

"Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well-warmed, and well-fed." 


--Herman Melville


We do love to hate the poor.

And, if not hate them, then at least judge them and/or blame them for their poverty.



Enjoy your Sunday, y'all.

Quote of the day --here's your "wealth distribution" for you

A locally poignant note

Poignant since they're only a stone's throw away, in Northern Arkansas



I imagine they think of themselves as very Christian, too, don't you?

Is this that complicated?

Whatever happened to being moral in business?

People on food stamps are the problem?

Some facts and one moral truth:

It's not the poor man that's the problem with our nation or debt or deficits, ladies and gentlemen.

On Native Americans

And how they live and what we've done to them:



More Americans need to know.

More Americans need to know how Native Americans live.

Because we put them there.

Literally.

We took away their land. We took away their religion. We took away their clothing. We took away their language. We took away their culture.

Then, to fill things in---actually, to make great, big, ugly profits---we gave them alcohol and weapons.

And this, above, is the result, all these hundreds of years later.

Uh, see any correlations?

(click on picture to enlarge)

Think there's nothing you (we?) can do to fight poverty?

If you think there's nothing you or I--we--can do to fight poverty, think again.  Here's an even dozen:

This Week in Poverty: Twelve Things You Can Do To Fight Poverty Now

1)  Support an increase in the minimum wage to more than $11 per hour

2)  Tell Publix: Help end sexual harassment, wage theft, and forced labor in the fields—join the Fair Food Program today

Tell Publix Super Markets CEO William Crenshaw to join the fight against human rights abuses in the US tomato industry

3)  Make a Personal Commitment to Helping Homeless Families
You can visit a local shelter, meet a homeless family and see first hand the damage poverty is doing to young mothers and children. Then, become a big brother or sister, a role model for these young families to help them dream again. You are meeting an immediate need while also helping to stem generational poverty.

You can also contact your local department of social services, United Way or religious organization to find out where the need is in your community. Also, speak with the homeless liaison at your local school to see what needs they have identified in your neighborhood. There are many ways that you (and your children) can help families right in your community. Here are a few other ideas.

4)  Fund the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) at the maximum authorized level

Research by Children’s HealthWatch has shown that energy insecurity is associated with poor health, increased hospitalizations and risk of developmental delays in very young children, and that energy assistance can be effective in protecting children’s health. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) provides low-income households with assistance in paying their utility bills—particularly those that must spend higher proportions of their income on home energy. To be eligible for LIHEAP, families must have incomes at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level—less than $35,000 annually for a family of four.

5)  This is a big one: Support of a living wage and basic labor protections for home care workers

6)  Urge Congress to pass the Healthy Families Act (H.R. 1286/S.631) and a national paid leave program
More than 40 million workers in this country—and more than 80 percent of the lowest-wage workers—cannot earn a single paid sick day to use when they get the flu or other common illnesses. Millions more cannot earn paid sick days to use when a child is sick.
Urge members of Congress to support the Healthy Families Act, legislation that would guarantee workers the right to earn paid sick days. And sign this petition calling on Congress to take up the national paid leave program workers and families urgently need.

7)  Increase regulation of private student loans and hold Sallie Mae accountable for its role in the student debt crisis

8)  Support Pathways Back to Work

Even as the economy recovers, too many unemployed workers and individuals with low education and skill levels face a difficult job market. Nearly two in five unemployed workers have been jobless for six months or more; 6.7 million youth are both out of work and out of school.

Subsidized and transitional jobs are a proven way to give unemployed workers the opportunity to earn wages, build skills and connect to the labor market, while also giving businesses an incentive to hire new employees when they might not be able to do so otherwise.

9)  Invest in the Older Americans Act

The Older Americans Act encompasses a range of programs that enable seniors to remain healthy and independent, in their own homes and communities and out of costly institutions. Services include healthy meals, in-home care, transportation, benefits access, caregiver support, chronic disease self-management, job training and placement and elder abuse prevention.

Funding has not kept pace with the growth in need or numbers, and recent cuts before the sequester hit have further eroded investments in key services.

10)  Tell Congress no cuts to Social Security and SSI through the Chained CPI
11)  Tell Congress: Increase, Don’t Cut SNAP (Food Stamp) Benefits

Tell your Representatives and Senators that the right course for the nation is to improve food stamp benefits (and support at least the temporary benefit boost the President has proposed) and that they must oppose any SNAP cuts being considered by the Agriculture Committees in the “Farm Bill.”

12)  Tell Congress to stop harmful cuts to anti-poverty programs now

Send this e-mail to your Representative and Senators and join hundreds of thousands who are fed up that Congress would ignore these problems while fixing just one thing—inconvenient delays at airports. Also, for weekly summaries of the impact of these sequester cuts, click here.

More Actions:

 

Stand With Detroit Workers

DC/MD: Labor Picket Outside of the Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee Spring Ball

______________________________________________

Standing for Communities: ‘The Power of Collective’ (from the Marguerite Casey Foundation via Equal Voice News)

Full, original article here, also, that includes many more links at bottom and supporting documentation: http://www.thenation.com/blog/174273/week-poverty-twelve-things-you-can-do-fight-poverty-now#ixzz2TLBIeAUC

Making it easy for the wealthy in America

"Them that has, gets."

Quote of the day--on the poor

Quote of the day--on poverty