A New Measure for Poverty?
July 29, 2008
My friend Fisher Humphreys sent me a link last week, taking me to a news story from New York City, It seems the mayor of NYC, Michael Bloomberg, has been working for a year on a new way to measure poverty in his city. The mayor’s been working on this for a year or so, recognizing that the current method of determining poverty thresholds is inadequate.
Politically interesting, and otherwise of interest too, is that the new measure means that those counted as living in poverty in that great metropolis, goes from 19 percent to 23 percent.
I’ll not go into detail about the new method here, leaving you the chance to read for yourself. Here are several articles that report and/or comment on Mr. Bloomberg’s initiative:
Here’s a report from the Washington Post. Note that this article indicates that the House Ways and Means subcommittee had planned two weeks ago to have a hearing on a new poverty measure. In fact, the subcommittee announced last summer that it would hold such hearings. I’ve not yet located a report concerning such a meeting, and no transcript is available, but here’s the web page on which such a report may yet appear. Click on the list of witnesses to see their testimonies to the committee.
This article gives a little more detail and includes a link to the mayor’s speech that he intended to give to the NAACP convention. He was unable to do that because of weather that kept him from flying to Cincinnati.
Here’s one from America, a Catholic publication. I think it’s important to hear from the faith community on this. This one makes some good observations about Bloomberg himself and the moral issues at work.
The New York Times weighs in too, with commentary that Bloomberg’s offering should serve as a model for other cities and for the federal government too.
To be sure, the forty-year-old method of determining poverty thresholds is woefully out of date and inadequate. Bloomberg hopes that his efforts will at least create new conversation over the matter. I hope so too.
So What About Alabama?
For Alabamians this might be more than a little interesting. The Birmingham News recently reported that the income disparity between rich and poor in our state is the second-highest gap in the country. Second to whom? Well, New York, as a matter of fact.
The News reports: “The 20 percent of families at the top of the state's income scale have average incomes 8.5 times higher than those in the lowest 20 percent, a gap second only to New York's 8.7 times difference.” Incomes for those in the lowest 20 percent of income decreased, while those at the top 20 percent gained almost ten percent.
What To Do About These Things?
Well, the mission of the Alabama Poverty Project is to educate folks about such things as this. Our hope is that, with accurate information, we’ll work together to find solutions for those who struggle most.
But I’ve begun to wonder if it will take more than information to bring about change. If we are honest, we have to admit that change usually comes as a result of the efforts of those who most need things to change – civil rights for African-Americans, or equal rights for women, for instance.
The current economic downturn may just present an unexpected opportunity in that regard.
I’ve wondered for a while what it would take to get all those good people in the middle to take notice of unfair tax policy – and other issues related to poverty – in the state. It’s not just those with the least income for whom it is unfair; those in the middle bear a disproportionate part of the tax burden as well.
Here are a couple of articles that get to what I’m writing about. Both come from the online version of the Utne Reader. And both address the experience of the middle class and how that makes a difference for poverty.
This first one actually asks if the shrinking of America’s middle class will cause us to be more attentive to poverty. The writing here pretty well blends with my thinking, that when the struggle for housing, food, and health care extends deeper into the middle class, we are likely to see more interest and activity from the middle to address needs that are becoming more broadly based.
This second article takes an overview of the status of the middle class and how that group may come to redefine itself and its expectations. Read to the end about “category X,” those who no longer define themselves to accepted class conventions. But note also what is said about change accompanying discomfort.
I still believe that the people of Alabama are fair-minded and that accurate, meaningful knowledge will move us toward change. But if one positive byproduct of today’s financial struggles is a deeper reexamination of Alabama’s economic policies, I will be one who welcomes it.
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