Welcher-Miner Blog 1

The central idea of Sasha Ambrasky’s The American Way of Poverty is to bring light to the tragic situation surrounding poverty in the United States.  He speaks of the diversity in poverty created by the ever-growing gap in economic inequality.  Both long-term and newly impoverish individuals suffer; those young and old feel the pains of trying to keep their heads above water.  I appreciate the political stance Ambrasky takes, placing “blame” where it is due… in the hands of the government, for their long term neglect of economic disparity.  He doesn’t just speak out of opinion either, utilizing historical fact, government programs and policy, and numerical statistics to support his stance.   

I gathered that the attitudes of the general public surrounding poverty began to shift during the Reagan Era of the 1980’s.  If political leaders are being ignorant or inconsiderate towards a situation, many will likely follow without doing their own research first.  Ambrasky wrote that President Reagan would refer to individuals as “welfare queens” giving the assumption that all those in poverty were and are to blame for their situations.  The trend continued in the 1990’s with President Clinton and his welfare reform.  Fast-forward to the 2000’s and both President Bush and President Obama have only increased the great divide among economic classes.   Although the unemployment rates have seen a steady decrease, the numbers do not tell the true story as poverty rates are the highest they have been in years.

The economic inequality that exists in the United States is most apparent in the disparities of those living in the South versus the North.  On page 70 Ambrasky referenced an old notion:

“Give money to the poor and you encourage indolence, dependency, and ultimately social chaos”.

He goes on to say that South continues to hold this attitude of antipathy toward welfare leaving many residents with low-wage jobs and little access to healthcare. Dating back to the “Old South”, creating a safety net for the Southern states has remained nearly impossible due to racial stratification and anti-tax sentiments.  This resistance has lead to more than 40% of the nations poor living in the Southern States.    

Many stories from the impoverished persons Ambrasky interviewed struck me.  The incidences that put people in a tight spot are often those they have no control over.  I liked Ambrasky’s point in the prologue that these people that most define as lazy are in fact the exact opposite.  Although there are people that fit the stereotype, Ambrasky spoke of those in poverty as driven and resilient (p. 6).  Instead of a war on poverty, our society has created a war on the poor, placing blame instead of offering assistance. 

Questions Addressed:  1, 2, 6, 8