Opinion: Poverty affects us all; when children don't succeed as adults, society suffers
Why is poverty so common in America, despite many antipoverty programs? The underlying reason, according to two new books, is us. America has a dysfunctional way of thinking about poverty. To make progress, this must change. The books are "Poverty, by America" by Matthew Desmond and "The Poverty Paradox" by Mark Robert Rank.
These books paint a dismal picture of the face of poverty in today’s America, yet both give hope that a clear and accurate understanding of the problem can lead to successful strategies to reduce poverty in the future. Although the books differ in style, their arguments are quite similar.
Poverty and near-poverty is common
In 2022, about a third of Americans, more than 100 million, were poor or near-poor. This percentage is unchanged since 1970. By age 75, an astounding 76% of our population will have spent at least one year in poverty or near-poverty. Poverty is more common in younger than older Americans, among women than men, and among Black people than white people. But poverty and near-poverty are common among all groups and across all areas in our country, much more so than other Western democracies. And this hasn’t changed in 50 years.
Poverty is bad for those who are poor
Poverty is more than a lack of money. All aspects of life are diminished. Those who are poor have less access to adequate education, health care, nutrition and housing. Children who are poor are exposed to more violence and family disruption and have fewer role models for success. Life expectancy for poor people is lower. In our society, those who are poor have less freedom, less opportunity to get a well-paying job, less control over their own lives. Most of the adults today who are poor were once children who never had a chance.
Poverty is bad for all of us
Poverty affects us all. When children do not succeed as adults, all of society pays the price. Businesses are unable to find good workers, consumers pay more, teachers spend more time on remediation, health care workers must treat more preventable illnesses, private residents feel less safe, there are more domestic violence cases and more children die unnecessarily.
More: Opinion: Federal SNAP program is not always enough to feed or uplift families
Anti-poverty programs fail because our dysfunctional thinking leads us to dysfunctional program designs
The design of our anti-poverty programs follows directly from our way of thinking about those who are poor. For many of us, poverty is a result of a personal failing. They are undeserving, people who are lazy, made bad choices, drunk too much alcohol or become addicted to drugs. Thus, we design anti-poverty programs using incentives to change individual behavior. Yet most of these people are caught in a hole they can’t get out of. Most are employed in low-paying jobs, forced to pay for expensive housing, caring for children when child care is expensive.
Compared with other Western democracies, our social safety net is full of holes, designed to help as few as possible, using the philosophy of “tough love” rather than giving a “hand-up.” Over the past 50 years, we have persistently reduced benefits for our assistance programs, increased eligibility requirements, and made the application process more complex. At the same time, we have reduced taxes and increased tax loopholes for the well-to-do. When we say we can’t afford a more generous safety net, we are actually saying our priority is to assist the affluent to become more affluent rather than reduce poverty. In fact, we give more assistance to the well-off than to the poor.
More: Opinion: Large middle class needed to prevent poverty and raise all standards of living
We know how to do better, if only we could think differently
These two books have policy suggestions for reducing poverty. These involve increasing opportunity and reducing bias toward those who are poor as well as enhancing the social safety net. Without these changes, many low income people will remain in their hole, one crisis away from falling into homelessness. These policies will not just help those who are poor, they will help us all.
The books emphasize that change depends on our first coming to think of those who are poor in a different way. They are people who were born into disadvantage. Our society has given them little opportunity to succeed but has never given them the hand-up the rest of us got. As contemporary philosopher Michael Sandel has written: “There but for the grace of God, the accident of birth, or the mystery of fate, go I.“
Russell Harris, MD, MPH is a retired professor of medicine and public health at UNC-Chapel Hill, currently living in Weaverville, with long family ties to Asheville.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Opinion: Poverty affects us all; many need a hand up and opportunities
