On page 51 of 'The American Way of Poverty', Abramsky says, "There is, after all, a reason Swedes... tolerate far higher taxes than Americans do", and the reason he says this is because people in Sweden get their money's worth when paying taxes. People in Sweden get better education, healthcare, childcare, vacation times, and pensions than Americans do. That is why he says that people in Sweden tolerate higher taxes than Americans do.
In the section called, 'Walling off the Poor', Abramsky is discussing people who think that people who live in poorer communities and poorer communities themselves should be cut off from the rest of society, because it's not something that people want in their lives. People are scared by these communities or they think they are a burden to have near them. These people do not want these communities to exist in their perfect world and the fact that they do upsets them.
Most poor individuals and families are concentrated in the southern part of the country, because it's very rural. When a place is very rural, it's harder for people to find employment, because there isn't a lot of places for these people to find work. Katrina and other natural disasters is also a big factor. When Katrina hit, many people lost their homes and everything else they owned, so they have to live in shelters or on the street. Their places of employment were also destroyed by Katrina, so these people also lost their jobs.
Overall, this book has been very eye-opening so far. There are things in this book that I never knew about and things that I will remember for the future.
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