More Than Money

Townhall.com ^ | March 20, 2020 | Jackie Gingrich Cushman

[Kaslin]

Our country spends over a trillion dollars a year on anti-poverty programs. We address the symptoms, providing food, shelter, health care. But it's time to face the fact that many of these programs are not working. Our poverty rate hasn't changed in half a century.

Money does not appear to be the solution. Sure, it helps, and no, we should not just cut the programs to zero. But it's time for us to face the fact that, while we've made living in poverty easier, we have not made it easier for individuals and families to move out of poverty; the solution will take more than money.

Over 38 million Americans (11.8%) are living below the poverty line, according to a 2018 report by the U.S. Census Bureau. The National Center for Children in Poverty says 20% of American children live below the poverty line.

According to a Rasmussen Report issued Monday, over half of us believe that our nation is on the wrong track (a national telephone survey of 2,500 likely voters from March 1-5, 2020, with a 95% confidence level and margin of error at +/- 2 points.)

While some believe that more government control and more money would break the cycle of poverty, veteran documentary filmmaker Christopher F. Rufo has a different take. "Real change doesn't happen from the top down; it happens from the inside out," said Rufo, who is also a research fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center on Wealth, Poverty and Morality.

He reached that conclusion after spending five years filming in Youngstown, Ohio; Memphis, Tennessee; and Stockton, California, for his documentary "America Lost."

What does this mean? That we can't outsource to the government the job of solving our national problems. Our nation "of the people, by the people, for the people," as former President Abraham Lincoln stated in the Gettysburg Address, can solve our societal problems only through the people.

The first of the three cities featured, Youngstown, has abandoned homes burned by vagrants, and scrap metal is often salvaged to be sold. High unemployment, alcoholism and poverty are all too visible. But the economic collapse is just the beginning, according to "America Lost."

"At heart, the crisis in America's forgotten cities is a crisis of meaning," Rufo said in the documentary. "All of the old structures that once provided a solid foundation -- faith, family, work and community -- have slowly fallen apart. The real problem is not just economic but deeply personal, human, even spiritual."

Stockton is "a post-racial city -- a quarter white, a quarter black, a quarter Latino and a quarter Asian. And it's a post-familial city," according to the documentary. "In some Section 8 housing complexes, 100% of all children are born to single mothers." There are "countless young men who survive on a combination of the drug trade, violence and the generosity of girlfriends" in central Stockton.

Memphis used to have a thriving black middle class, where "90% of black men held down jobs and supported families." According to the documentary, it is no longer recognizable. Today, "46% of black men are unemployed or out of the labor force. Seventy-seven percent of black children are born to single mothers. And more than 21,000 black men in Memphis have disappeared altogether through incarceration or early death."

In South Memphis, "93% of all family households are headed by a single mother. Seventy-eight percent of all families are on public assistance. And only 20% of all working-age men are employed full time throughout the year. Out of nearly 6,000 total residents, there are only 10 nuclear families."

If these numbers and statistics from the documentary shock you, then good.

While our government has attempted to help with programs that send money through a bureaucracy, there are two problems. First, we lose money to an inefficient and often corrupt bureaucracy. According to the Government Accountability Office, in fiscal year 2019, the federal government made $175 billion in payments that should not have been made, a 15% increase from the year before.

The other problem is that money cannot fill our deeper human needs. This has to be done person by person through connection with family, faith, purpose and community.

The real problem with bureaucratic programs is that "they fail to acknowledge or cultivate the innate abilities and knowledge of those who are currently entrenched in the problem," according to the documentary, "helping them discover fulfillment and meaning in their lives." This can only be done by working person to person in community.

So, while we might wish to outsource this poverty problem to the government, doing so is neither an efficient nor effective solution. Instead, if we want to solve poverty, it must be done by the people, for the people. It's up to us.

[KarlInOhio]

One question I have never been able to find an answer for is how are cash and non cash welfare payments counted in poverty calculations? If you are $1000 below the poverty line and you get $500 in cash, $1000 in food stamps and $2000 in rent subsidies do you still count as below the poverty line or have you been raised above it?

If those benefits don't count, then of course welfare doesn't cure poverty. In fact it might make the statistics worse as people make sure their on the books pay doesn't interfere with their free money so they either work less or strictly off the books.

[PeterPrinciple]

It’s up to us.

---

but that it hard work and nasty, that is why we let the government do it......................

and very few of us run a business that we can use to help them and there is so much bureaucracy and litigation, none of us can afford to run a business.

[I want the USA back]

When they give money to the ‘poor’ that money is not counted as income, and the ‘poor’ are still considered poor. The value of the welfare is not added to his income. The value of welfare has been put at $40,000, if someone gets everything that is available. That 40,000 is not taxable.

When a hard working sucker goes to work, gets a salary, let’s say $50,000, about 25 thousand is confiscated for taxes. The sucker is still counted as having an income of $50,000.

That’s why there are more and more ‘poor’ and fewer and fewer producers.

[reg45]

Poverty is defined as the lowest quintile (20%) of incomes, therefore 20% of the population will ALWAYS be in poverty.

[VanShuyten]

One truth is that a certain percentage of people will never get their stuff together.

Do we just give them more money, do we do forced guidance, or should we just forget about them? A trillion dollars is a lot of money.

[webheart]

The one thing that could be done and actually make a difference will never be done. Too many people think that eliminating drug laws would result in an apocalypse of new drug users going crazy all over the place. The fact that there already is an apocalypse of spent drug users makes no impression. Eliminating drug laws would take all profit out of illegal drugs and would allow drug users to be able to support themselves and their habits at the same time.

[Brian Griffin]

Drug communes might allowed to be formed if they have a economic plan for self-sufficiency.

San Francisco is an example of a drug liberalization scheme. The dopes spend their money on dope instead of housing.

[Brian Griffin]

My Proposal for Federal Housing Voucher Caps

It is silly for Uncle Sam to pay glamour city rents so people can be idle in expensive cities like San Francisco and New York.

I would cap a housing voucher for a housing unit at
$250 for a first US citizen adult (age 21+) in the unit, plus
$150 for a second US citizen adult (age 21+) in the unit, plus
$200 if there is a male child aged three to fifteen (or in high school and under age 19) in the unit, plus
$200 if there is a female child aged three to fifteen (or in high school and under age 19) in the unit, plus
$100 for any number of the above

disabled adult -> $350 cap (1-bedroom unit)
[the federal government pays about $700/month in disability benefits too]
mom+newborn -> $350 cap (1-bedroom unit)
mom+newborn+dad -> $500 cap (1-bedroom unit)
mom+4-year old son -> $550 cap (2-bedroom unit)
mom+dad+five-year old son-> $700 cap (2-bedroom unit)
mom+dad+3-year daughter+6-year old son -> $900 cap (3-bedroom unit)

My proposal would generally make it wise for mom and dad to stay together and greatly reduce the welfare state incentive to ditch the daddy.

My proposal would crimp the incentive to make another baby to get more federal money since there would be a three-year waiting period.

My proposal would mainly impact Democrats in expensive blue cities and their suburbs in blue states.

[Pelham]

Paying people to make living in poverty easier. What could possibly go wrong?

[Sergio]

I have noticed that many of our “poor” have tattoos. Some have multiple tattoos. Below is what Google says tattoos cost on average;

Tattoo Cost Estimator
Location Average Cost
Full-Back Tattoo $1,000 – $5,000
Chest Tattoo $250 – $1,200
Ankle Tattoo $60 – $200
Shoulder Tattoo $700 – $900

So if you have anywhere from $60 to $5000 spare dollars that allow you to get a tattoo, why are you getting money from working folks?