Author Archives: jgoldstein

You can play around on the Census website for current data on poverty in the US…

See Snapshots archive.

Snapshot for January 31, 2007.

Minimum wage increasingly lags poverty line

by Liana Fox

The recently released 2007 federal poverty guideline highlights the severe and growing inadequacy of the minimum wage. Currently, a full-time minimum wage worker (40 hours/week, 52 weeks/year) would earn $10,712 a year, falling nearly 40% below the $17,170 poverty level for a family of three. Even after factoring in the earned income tax credit, which was designed to bring low-wage workers up to the poverty line, this worker would still fall short of the poverty line.¹

The minimum wage is at its lowest real value in over 50 years and has not been raised since 1997. This is the longest stretch of federal inaction since the minimum wage was first instated in 1938. As the basic income required to support a family has grown with inflation,² the minimum wage has not kept pace with the rising costs of goods. As a result, federal inaction leaves minimum wage workers in an increasingly dire situation.

So this is the 2007 poverty line. What do you think about it? Is it realistic? How much lower or higher would it have to be to actually delineate who is or is not poor? Or is that even possible with one set of numbers?

I saw this article on cnn.com and thought the chart was particularly helpful.  Disclosure: I do not know if people generally consider cnn.com or The Tax Policy Center are especially aligned with certain parties or ideologies.  Also, this article is from June 11, 2008, so there might have been revisions.  But I thought it would be helpful. – Rob  I have only copied the beginning of the article, the full article is here.

from CNNMoney.com article (click to enlarge)

By Jeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.com Senior Writer, June 11, 2008:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — John McCain and Barack Obama have starkly different philosophies about tax policy – how to raise the revenue needed to support government programs, spur growth and ensure economic fairness.

But voters really want to know one thing: How would the presidential candidates’ views trickle down to their tax bills? A report released Wednesday by a nonpartisan policy group in Washington, D.C., takes a big first step toward answering that question.

According to the Tax Policy Center’s findings, the common assumptions most people make about the plans of McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee, and Obama, the Democrats’ pick, are not wildly off-base.

McCain: The average taxpayer in every income group would see a lower tax bill, but high-income taxpayers would benefit more than everyone else.

Obama: High-income taxpayers would pay more in taxes, while everyone else’s tax bill would be reduced. Those who benefit the most – in terms of reducing their taxes as a percentage of after-tax income – are in the lowest income groups.

Under both plans, all American taxpayers could pay a price for their tax cuts: a bigger deficit. The Tax Policy Center estimates that over 10 years, McCain’s tax proposals could increase the national debt by as much as $4.5 trillion with interest, while Obama’s could add as much as $3.3 trillion.

Over the course of the term we will be talking about all of the negative stereotypes attached to poor mothers and the ways in which welfare/workfare programs establish a norm against which everyone is to be measured.  In many ways, Sarah Palin is that norm – the supermom who is able to work and run a family all by herself.  As you keep reading about her in the media, consider how she is being framed and think about all of the ways that she plays into ideas about “personal responsibility”.

One really interesting thing to think about is the difference between how the republicans talk about Palin as a mother vs the ways in which Hilary Clinton is discussed as a mother.

This is one piece from the NYTimes today.

Here’s a summary of how people responded to the question of “what is my welfare?” I think its good to start with something Soleil wrote – she really tried to emphasize how individual welfare is – which is important for us all to remember (and comes up in the diversity of answers that people offered). She writes, “To me, welfare in MY SITUATION consists of MY well being according to MY needs to help ME work my way up until I’m able to build or accomplish MY goals. (I added the emphasis)

So here are some of the ideas that people wrote down about what things are important to their welfare:

Good education

A job that I like, a good job (one that pays well)

family, friends, a significant other,

happiness, Being surrounded by positive people, peace, health, healthy mentality

shelter/house, food, water, clothes

security – financial (savings), “money to survive” “a secure future” “not struggling to make ends meet” “financial independence”

Mobility, living with my family

success in my life, prosperity for my family and friends

cell phone, laptop, tv, computer, car, luxuries that I can afford – “my lifestlye and how I am able to maintain it” “It is to have all the necessary things and some luxury things for living” “I like things that only capitalism can buy. I almost feel guilty saying that but its very true.”
Feel free to comment or to add more things in the comments!

Hello everyone – this is the blog for our Fall 2008 course, social welfare institutions.  We are going to use the blog throughout the term, so hopefully you will grow comfortable with it.  One important role for the blog will be to share web resources with one another – each person in the class is going to have a research topic that you are responsible for educating the rest of us about – and when you find interesting links, you can post them to the blog for the rest of us to access. So the first link is to the bookstore where you can get your books for the class – it is called Bluestockings and is in the Lower East side. (If you click on the word “Bluestockings” it will open the bookstore’s webpage in a new window)  Thats all for now!

Bluestockings

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