By Joseph Martinez and Walen Ngo, United Way of Greater Los Angeles The EITC, or Earned Income Tax Credit, has been known for over thirty years to be one of the more successful anti-poverty programs in the nation. The tax relief program is geared toward only workers earning income below a certain income threshold andContinue reading “What Tax Time can do for the Working Poor”
Tag Archives: Poverty
New Homeless Numbers for L.A. What did we expect?
We’ve been suffering through the worst economic recession since the Great Depression over the past year, leading many of us to assume that social conditions have been worsening. Poverty and unemployment, and foreclosures have clearly been on the rise, and certainly we’ve expected that homelessness – the most extreme expression of poverty and insecurity –Continue reading “New Homeless Numbers for L.A. What did we expect?”
Rise in Poverty in the U.S.
The U.S. Census Bureau released new data on income, poverty and health insurance today and as expected the new isn’t very good. The number of people living in poverty rose from 37.3 million in 2007 to 39.8 million in 2008, and the poverty rate rose from 12.5% to 13.2%, the highest level in eleven years.Continue reading “Rise in Poverty in the U.S.”
Criminalizing poverty
A recent op-ed by Barbara Ehrenreich asks, “Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor?” In her engaging style, Ehrenreich tells the story of how a man who is “an ordained minister and does not drink, do drugs or curse in front of ladies” was arrested taken from a homeless shelter and put in jailContinue reading “Criminalizing poverty”
Inequality and insecurity, Latin American style
I am currently visiting family and friends in Ecuador, where I cannot help but be confronted daily with poverty and inequality. Having lived here in the early 1990s and returning at least every couple years since then, I’ve been able to observe the changes occurring – some positive but many negative – in this countryContinue reading “Inequality and insecurity, Latin American style”
Humanizing homelessness
The Los Angeles Times is largely a shell of its former self, part of an overall downturn in the quantity and quality of newspapers. However, the paper is developing quite a niche in reporting on homelessness (which I guess makes sense because Los Angeles is home to more homeless persons than any other city inContinue reading “Humanizing homelessness”
Trends in LA and CA over the next few years
A common problem in trying to discern trends in poverty and inequality is that the data that we often have at hand are usually not particularly recent. The lag between when data are collected and publicly available can be significant, especially in a rapidly changing economy like we’ve been in over last several months. Also,Continue reading “Trends in LA and CA over the next few years”
The New and Already Poor
Barbara Ehrenreich is perhaps the best popular writer on issues of poverty, inequality and increasing financial insecurity in the U.S., chiefly through books such as Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America and Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream. In a recent New York Times op-ed, “Too Poor toContinue reading “The New and Already Poor”
The high cost of poverty
The Washington Post ran an article by DeNeen Brown last month that began with the seemingly contradictory statement, “you have to be rich to be poor.” How can that be? As the article explains, the poor often pay higher prices for goods and services in their neighborhoods, and, perhaps more importantly, they pay much moreContinue reading “The high cost of poverty”
Who are the most generous among us?
There was an interesting article in the Philadelphia Inquirer today reporting on analysis of the 2007 BLS Consumer Expenditure Survey that shows that the poor are in some respects the most generous in charitable giving. The poorest fifth of America’s households (and we’re talking here about households with an average income of less than $11,000)Continue reading “Who are the most generous among us?”
Bill Pitkin 