Brittany Floyd's Blog Post #1

1.     What is the central idea or premise of the book thus far?

a.     I believe the central idea of this book thus far is: Poverty does not look like one type of person or family, and poverty is not strictly the end result of one person’s wrongdoing. Poverty is a bigger picture than someone being “lazy”. There a lot of stigmas attached to what poverty looks like, and many of them, simply, are just not true.

2.     What evidence does Abramsky use to support his ideas?

a.     One of my favorite parts of this book, thus far, are the personal stories attributed from certain family member’s that have experienced a form of poverty. Abramsky uses these stories not only as supplemental material, but also as evidence to support his ideas.  These stories are from real people who have, unfortunately, experienced real loss whether its from unemployment, personal illness, or job employment, which in turn results in families no longer qualifying for certain programs.

3.     Have any specific passages from the book have struck you so far? Which one?

a.     At the beginning of the book, Abramsky talks about Ginny Wallace’s story as a food pantry manager in Pennsylvania. Ginny said, “Three ears earlier, the rooms were filled to bursting with good. Then the economy tanked; demand for the free food soared; and at the same time, locals’ ability to donate to the pantry crumbled”. This stuck out to me. I had never really thought about it before. Not only does poverty affect those going to a pantry to receive donated items. Poverty also affects the people donating the food to give to those visiting the pantry. Poverty, unfortunately, has a domino affect.

4.     On page 51, Abramsky wrote “There is, after all, a reason Swedes…. tolerate far higher taxes than Americans do” What does Abramsky mean by this?

a.     Abramsky points out the answer to this when he states “Swedes receive quality education, healthcare, childcare, vacation times, and pensions courtesy of their government”.  Swedes understand where their taxes are going. They can see it. They live it. In this particular circumstance, they aren’t at a loss by paying higher taxes.  We, as Americans, often do not see where our taxes go, and if we do, we aren’t benefitted personally by paying higher taxes.