Poverties, Not Poverty

Solutions, Not Solution

WISCAP 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 dont produce
Not like me, e.g. irresponsible, immoral, criminal, not care, dont 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 State
Stage of Life Metro/Rural
Sex Concentration
Race Intergenerational
Household Living Arrangement Physical Health
Educational Level Mental Health
Work Status
Region
 More Distinctions:
Soft Data
Aspiration Level
Persistence/Determination/Perseverance
Social Support Network e.g.:
Family
School
Mentors
Neighborhood Institutions
 A Little More on Race & Isolation
Consistent Racial Disparities Pattern
Income, wealth, prison, drop out, single parent
Why?
Inferiority
Culture
Discrimination
Other Societal Factors
Isolation: physical, political, governmental, economic
 The Context of Poverty
Demography, Jobs, Income and Wealth
US Capitalism/Mixed Economy
Person
Property
Compete
Win/Loseongoing destruction
Globalization
Structure: Multinationals
Financialization: Money Rules and Sets Up the Rules
Technology
 The Context (contd.)
Culture
American Dream
Work is the (?) Good and Rewarded
Consumption: Things You Should Have
Politics
Republican
Democratic
Ideology
Liberal
Conservative
 Correlates and Causes
Easily Confused
Confusion of Addressing the Immediate Situation and Prevention
 (Possible) Causes of Poverty

Societal
Cultural/Subcultural
Social and Economic Structures
Mini-Environments
Personal
Responsibility
Persistence
Luck
SolutionsNot 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.
Its 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
Americas Current Solutions
 Total Annual US Federal Social Welfare
Expenditures: $2 Trillion, $370 Billion
Private Charity: $335.17 billion
Social Expenditures: $2 Trillion, $500 Billion
No Means Test: 1 trillion, $700 Billion
Social Security: Survivors, Disability, SSI (2016) $997 billion
Medicare $583 Billion
Veterans $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 Solutions
Some 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 ones 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

Dont Marry Early

Dont 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 release
Some 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 Households
Family Households
Single 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
Cash
EITC
Minimum Wage/Living Wage
Transitional Job/Guaranteed Employment
Guaranteed 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
Parents
Manage 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 People
Go 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
Teachers
Dont 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 Leaders
Be 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 Didnt Say It Would Be Easy

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