Most poor people are not black or brown. Most poor people are white. They are disproportionately young, female and single. Most of them are not on welfare. They work every day that they can -- but they still cannot lift their families out of poverty.

An analysis of 2005 census figures by Tony Pugh for McClatchy Newspapers revealed almost 16 million Americans living in "deep or severe poverty," with the percentage of the poor living in severe poverty reaching a 32-year high. Our rich are getting richer and our poor, poorer.

Severe poverty is defined as half the federal poverty line, or an annual income of less than about $10,000 for a family of four, and about $5,000 for an individual. With food stamps, tax credits and food and clothing banks, the extremely poor can survive -- but not much more than that.

Poverty is not a popular subject in American politics these days. Both Democrats and Republicans appeal to the plight of the middle class, where the great bulk of voters reside. Republicans offer them tax cuts; Democrats offer help on kitchen table concerns -- health care, retirement security, educating their children. Small middle-class tax cuts were used to cover the massive Bush giveaways to the wealthy in his tax plan. Mortgage deductions for middle-income and wealthy donors cost the government far more than subsidies or vouchers for housing the poor.

America is said to be suffering from poverty fatigue. Reagan's "welfare queen" has been supplanted by the "illegal immigrant" supposedly living on the dole, avoiding taxes and consuming services. When John Edwards made poverty a centerpiece of his presidential campaign -- opening it in New Orleans -- most political pundits thought he was making a mistake. Americans, they believe, are too hard-pressed to have much patience with a politician saying that we must do more to lift up the poor, or to give every child a fair and healthy start.

The result is unconscionable. America ranks at or near the bottom of 31 industrial nations for poverty and childhood poverty, according to the Luxembourg Income Study cited by Pugh. The numbers will surprise even those who work in America's cities. Research by University of Wisconsin professor Mark Rank concludes that a majority of Americans -- 58 percent -- between the ages of 20 and 75 will spend at least one year in poverty. A full year in extreme poverty will afflict one in three Americans in his or her adult life. These estimates apply only to native-born Americans. The numbers would be worse if undocumented workers were factored in.

We spend a smaller percentage of our resources on federal anti-poverty programs than other industrial nations. Only Russia and Mexico do a worse job of reducing poverty through government intervention.

Americans are a generous, not a mean, people. We support private charities, particularly in the wake of human catastrophes like Hurricane Katrina. But this conservative era has taught many to disdain government and to be suspicious of any program of support for the poor. Somehow the billion-dollar subsidies to big oil companies enjoying record profits do not generate the anger that is sparked by programs to lift poor mothers and children out of poverty.

Racial divides no doubt play a part. In Sweden or Finland, the poor are not distinguished by color or race. It is easier, perhaps, for citizens of those countries to think that there, but for the grace of God, go I. In the United States, most poor people are white, but most images and reporting on the poor centers on black and brown people in our inner cities. It is easier to think these people are undeserving, alien and unworthy of support.

So the numbers of the desperately poor grow, the level of support declines, and the gulf between rich and poor yawns ever wider. We are a better country than that. Or at least we'd like to think so.

© Copyright 2007 Sun-Times News Group

Discuss This Article

click here...

 

###