Crystal Edwards Blog Post#2

Carrots, Sticks, and Piss Tests for the Poor

I really enjoyed this section on the deserving poor vs. the undeserving poor. I am between if we should alcohol and drug test to see if individuals are eligible to receive aid. On one hand I think it is a great idea. I can’t tell you the amount of times, we will have individuals that ask if we take the Medical Card to cover their drug and alcohol evaluations that are required when someone receives a DUI. In these cases and many others is all a matter of what you are willing to spend your money on. Looking at the other hand, if we test individuals to be eligible to receive food and other public aid such as health benefits and they fail, will they be the ones that suffer in the long run? It is my notion that they are not the ones that are going to suffer in the long run. If they are not in the mind-set that they want help and they want to change then they are not going to stop using to pass testing. In the long run I feel it is going to be an innocent child that has no food that is going to be the one we are hurting by implementing testing. It is a question of what is the most likely outcome.

Bubbles and Busts

There are a countless number of aspects surrounding homelessness. No-one is exempt from falling victim to this unfortunate epidemic in our Nation. Individuals and families lose their homes for many reasons. Just a few of the cases might be job losses, medical expenses, domestic violence, and struggling veterans; just to name a few. For the most part homelessness is not a choice and is a hardship that will be extremely difficult to overcome. In my families situation, I don’t know how long we could survive if my husband lost his job. Our savings would not pay our mortgage for very long after that ran out and how long would it take before the bank took over. Just thinking about this situation as a possibility gives me a sense of overwhelming hopelessness. Even if he settled for a temporary job if it did not meet his current salary at the company he has worked for over 11 years, would still leave us struggling.

When the Going Gets Tough the Tough take it out on the Vulnerable

It is incredibly sad that our Nation’s financial crisis has far outreached the point of no-return. Instead of making cuts in areas that would not have that great an impact on the programs they are funding. We have cut areas and increased qualifications for recipients. Such as the single mom that was mentioned on page 218. I know every9one has their opinion and if the government would just listen to what we all had to say then we wouldn’t be facing such a great financial crisis. Bottom line is our system is greatly broken. There are so many individuals that are in desperate need of assistance and for one reason or another they are not eligible. Then there are those that have been able to essentially cheat they system, how is it that we can have such a broken system? 

American Way of Poverty

Tyler Stephens

March 27, 2016

Blog #2

            The first point that stood out to me the most was found in Chapter 5.  The title of this section is called “The Wrong Side of the Track”.  The Wrong Side of the Track focused mostly on education and poverty.  One point that Abramsky made was about students living in areas they are not aware of.  This stood out to me mostly because I am a student that moved to an area I was unaware of.  Coming to Charleston was very different for me because I was used to be in a big city where getting on the bus or the train everywhere was normal.  In Charleston everything is pretty much walking distant.  It also took me some time to get use to the food selection out here.  The city and the country are two total different environments.  In the passage he discussed how they have students that are homeless.  There are schools out there that keep these students together as far as their basic needs hygiene necessities. 

             Another point made was about how people have challenging lives dues to poverty.  While in poverty people definitely turn to drugs and alcohol.  Turning to these drugs make other issues arise in their personal lives.   They start to become weak and society and begins to look down on them.  It can also become a generational thing and get passed down to children.  

            

Reviewer: Marissa Norris Blog 2

Book Title: The American way of poverty: How the other half still lives

Author: Sasha Abramsky

Reviewer: Marissa Norris

Dr. Moyer

I remained captured within the material in The American way of poverty: How the other half still lives. I had a recent discussion with my site supervisor at my internship and I shared how I felt that housing might be the issue within violent households. Her response immediately had my mind full of questions. She shared that the issue of poverty needs to be solved first. I thought to myself why ideas developed always but never acted upon. Could the issue be more than providing resources. Limited resources are available for individuals in need. When you have adequate income to meet the essential basic needs of food ( water), housing, and clothing, could you still be lacking something. The saying “Money does not always buy happiness” , refreshes my memory on Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

“Poverty is, after all, a web of problems enormous in their complexity. It bubbles up because of systemic failure in how the economy and the political process functions and at the same time, it also emerges because of individual choices and behaviours (Ambramsky. p. 199)". The statement "emerges because of individual choices and behaviours" truly grabbed my attention. Choices are acted upon based on how an individual state of mind is. My personal goals include to not depend on the government for physiological needs. I once lived in low-income housing and had SNAP benefits. Depending on anyone can be a personal burden. Many people get comfortable and are ok with getting by. I choose not to do this.

“There will have to be an expansion in the resources available to meet the needs of the long-term unemployed and jobless, as well as resources to keep the short-term unemployment out of poverty and to preserve the assets of the working and middle classes during particularly acute economic downturns (Abramsky. p. 203)”. Resources are slowly becoming limited, rural area citizens are already at an disadvantages compared to urban area citizens for resources. Support is vital to get over a life crisis. Without proper support one may be at risk for developmental delays, trauma, or health issues. How can we look to resources when the government is stripping the needed of what the mission of social services is. Educators in social services may consider new methods to prevent individual choices and behaviors that led to poverty. I have always felt the home structure needs to be examined more. Issues arise from broken homes. Yes, money is a cause. However, when you have enough money to meet the essential basic needs, having love, safety, and high self-esteem are a factor in happiness in life.

“And in 2009, recognizing the severity of the need, and the unavailability of jobs at the depth of the recession, the authors of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) suspended this Requirement for most receptions of snap nationwide. Yet two groups weren’t exempt from the work requirement for most recipients of SNAP nationwide. Yet two groups weren’t exempted from the work requirement: the first was students. Thus a working-class student trying to better him- or herself by enrolling in college after being laid off will have to work 20 hours a week to get food stamps. If that person could not work, he or she will lose the benefits. But if he dropped out of college, still qualify even without fighting work.  It's a catch- 22 poverty trap (Ambrasky. p. 222).” The following point shared by Ambrasky hit home. I am that working-class student trying to better myself by enrolling at Eastern Illinois University. I do not qualify for SNAP because I work more than 20 hours a week. I have had to face hardship to get to my current situation. I found this appalling that working-class student are out under a requirement to receive support not all college students can by on the written way of doing things. I am struggling and have learned to seek other resources while in college. Our government system needs to reconsider this requirement for receptions of snap nationwide

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Cynthia Libby- Blog 2

While reading the next assigned portion of this book, one section that stood out to me was titled, “Running Uphill.” In this section Abramsky discusses how nearly 3 million children live in households in which each person has less than $2.00 per day to spend. As if this statistic is not shocking enough, Abramsky continues on this topic stating that not only does this financial hardship cause temporary problems, but also permanent handicaps. Those who are living in extreme poverty may be faced with extremely poor living conditions that could result in health problems such as food-borne illnesses. For children, this often means they are likely to grow up with poorer health, a lower life expectancy, inadequate education from missing school, and possibly low self-esteem all because they were born into a situation in which they as children had no control. The schools available to those living in deep poverty lack funds and resources for extracurricular activities that would otherwise be available to children in more wealthy families. There is just an overall feeling of unsupportiveness in this kind of environment whether it is between teacher and child or parent and child. Many children who grow up in this environment drop out and according to Gloria Dickerson, they display “generational poverty; the attitudes have been handed down from generation to generation,” meaning they are hopeless and adopt the “I can’t” attitude. The question I thought of while reading this section was, how do we overcome this way of thinking and show people that things can be positive? Can you instill a sense of hope into someone who has lived their entire lives in deep poverty? Personally, I think that must be one challenging task. It is very upsetting to think about these children who do not receive the same opportunities as other children from wealthier families because I believe all kids should receive the best, especially when it comes to education, in order to give them a fair chance as succeeding in life and breaking that cycle of poverty.

The second topic I am choosing to discuss comes from Chapter 5, “Carrots, Sticks, and Piss Tests for the Poor.” Abramsky states that throughout history political figures have sought to distinguish between the deserving and the undeserving poor. This bothers me because yes, I understand that some people take advantage of the system and use welfare or government assistance programs even though they technically do not qualify for them, however, the alarmingly high rates of poverty should signify just how many people really do need assistance and who is to say that just because they don’t qualify based on the parameters set by the government that they don’t need help. The example given in the book is how California does not have the highest rate of poverty, however, the rates of food insecurity and hunger did not match up how they “should” have. 3.98 million residents were enrolled in their Cal-fresh program, with close to 1.5 million children. In my opinion and based off these statistics, anyone who is utilizing government assistance to reduce hunger, especially in children, is deserving of these programs. Who is to say that because a family makes over a certain dollar amount in salary a year that they do not need help feeding their children? There are many more factors that I believe need to be considered such as health. If there are health issues within the family causing them to spend more money on medications or doctors’ visits they may very well need help. I think overall, politicians should spend less time determining who is deserving and that can be monitored and more time targeting these programs to areas of extreme poverty to make sure those who could use the extra assistance are aware of the different programs available.

In the second part of the book, Abramsky aims “to provide a roadmap to change, a blueprint for a new War on Poverty.” This relates back to my previous post about who qualifies for programs and how these programs are marketed to their target population. I agree with Abramsky when he says his purpose is not to suggest that we as a country enforce absolute equality on a population of 300 million people. This is not only impossible, but also not desirable. I agree that we need to focus on fixing the extreme levels of inequality and develop quality uses for the tax dollars that working Americans give up. So often people complain about the government programs that rely on taxes, but if they were reformed and refined, maybe people would be willing to fund these types of programs.

Savannah Regis Blog Post 2

The topics I chose to blog about, were ones that felt very close to home.
First, in chapter 4, titled "Fingers In The Dike." I chose to blog about this because Sasha Abramsky talks about poverty within the city of Chicago, and I spend a lot of time in the city and only live about 40 minutes away, so I felt like I truly can see what she is talking about and how it effects the city as a whole. Everyone, especially everyone at Eastern, knows how messed up the budget deficit is in Illinois and we know how it effects us and our schools but it was really shocking for me to see that they wanted to cut 52% of the budget for emergency shelters, shelters that save lives and helps people get off the streets, when the number of homeless people is growing at rapid pace. I really liked the point she brought up, when she said "people accept homelessness as just a condition of modern society" (100) because that is so accurate, people assume homelessness is a personal problem not a societal problem. When 92,000 Chicagoans are at risk for being homeless, and not even counting the rest of the state, we cannot keep cutting programs and expecting people to dig themselves out of poverty with no assistance like job placement, affordable housing, and higher wages.
I also chose to blog about Chapter 1 of part 2, "When The Going Gets Tough... The Tough Take It Out On The Vulnerable" (217). I chose this one because she talks about TANF and SNAP benefits, because my mom received SNAP benefits for a long time and they really helped my family. While my family was able to receive a good amount every month because my mom had 4 kids, most are not so fortunate. Abramsky talks about a woman named Vicenta Delgada (pg 221), who was still having to go to the food pantry despite the fact that she qualified for Social Security and food stamps. She only received $34 in food stamps and $27 in SSI, which is impossible to live on, especially if you're elderly and have medications with co-pays. There needs to be a lot of reform in the welfare system so it can better work for the people who need it. Also, reforming the health care and power of the pharmaceutical companies have in our country will also help the welfare system run smoother and more efficiently.

Sarah A Blog Post 2

While reading the abramsky many stories and life experiences stood out to me. With may examples and life testimony’s being told us, as the reader was able to understand what these people where actually going through on a day to day basis. With people losing their homes, the government that we put our trust into rejecting the issue of poverty, and also the welfare system being misused and rejected by individuals. The fact that people are losing their livelihoods due to the lack of the government’s interest in the poor population really made it stories discussed sad and depressing. For example, the story of Nicci and her family reminds me of a real story told by my internship manager. The Ambrasky really does exist and we take these things for granted.

The way people think that the economy is set up; the government tells to spend more money to make the economy grow. The book discusses how money is being spent on things that is wants and not needs. When there are individuals out in the world that cannot even afford the basic needs. This is very true. I once heard that the government tried to keep people in poverty by using the methods to keep us down instead of bringing us up. Many of us are going to either be very poor or very rich, there will soon be no middle class and that is scary to know as students leaving college, and for individuals barely making it.

With this the book actually put advice in about fixing and beating poverty. The programs that are there for are in use by many people everyday and even though the government has been trying to remove these programs, they do assist many people to make it day to day. If these programs where not here then what would happen in the world. Many people would either be stealing to what they need or be poor in the streets or hungry in food pantries. Reading more into these chapters shows just how deep poverty get in the world, and how the people we look to the wrong people to fix the mistakes of our country, when we should be looking to other sources.

Stephanie Flier Blog Post #2

The first topic I chose to write about was the section "Running Uphill", this stood out to me because I feel that poverty is a constant, never-ending battle. Even if you start a life of your own and do better for yourself than you previously had growing up, it is nearly unheard of that people are very wealthy if they grew up in poverty. I think Abramsky explained this side of poverty very well when he said, "This is not merely a kink in the system, but a fundamental flaw in the design of modern-day American safety net." To me, this means that not only does he put America to blame for our economic malfunction as a whole, but he recognizes that it is a bigger problem than some realize. Abramsky talks about how living in deep poverty as a child affects your life long-term in more ways than one. For example, children in deep poverty have a short life expectancy than their wealthier peers. I had never thought that poverty would have any impact on life expectancy, if you take illness out of the equation. When it comes to illness, it is a well known fact that healthcare is lacking when poverty is present but up until know, I had never connected the fact that there may be other outside factors to the shortness of life expectancy of the impoverished.


Next I chose to talk about the first two pages of chapter 5, The Wrong Side of the Tracks. Abramsky lays out some financial statistics that absolutely blew me away. In 2011 the medium household income was $37,000 in Philadelphia. I was so shocked my this number only because when I was trying to get an idea of what my potential future career would bring in at its maximum,  it was right around this number. In Philadelphia, this is what a household is bringing in! This is what parents are trying to raise a family on! I read over this section multiple times and I just couldn't believe that I was worried that I would struggle with that just me and my boyfriend if something as to ever go wrong with his job. I think this is a perfect example of how well some of us have it, and unless you are introduced to the opposing side, you are oblivious. Then there is a section where Vincenta Delgado talks about how she is struggling with cancer and undergoes chemo treatments, but if she can't afford her medication each month she just goes without it. This is a topic that will forever infuriate me! I wish there was something we could do as a nation to help our wounded warriors, veterans, mentally ill, and average American's attain the medication they need no matter the circumstances.


The next topic I chose to touch on was the section Hurricanes, Tornadoes, and Some Awfully Big Bills. This section really opened my eyes to the disasters brought on by Hurricane Katrina. I have learned so much about Hurricane Katrina but it never ceases to amaze me how much devastation this caused even years later. I was amazed that the unemployment rate has gone down, but what really shocked me was that the amount of abandoned houses were still in the thousands. This section really made me think about the amount of strength it would take to be able to look at your neighborhood or town and reminisce on what used to be. For families that had personal businesses, or grew up and started their own families in that area of New Orleans I couldn't even bear the devastation. I was also sickened by the percentage of African American children under the age of five that are at or below the poverty line. It never fails to amaze me that the "greatest country in the world" has so much devastation around every corner, I wish we could help our nation!

People in America are struggling to make ends meet all the time. According to Amramsky, page 103, by 2009 almost the entire south upward 17 percent of the population and 23 percent of the children lived in poverty. There are plenty of programs that can help an American family just a little bit with their living needs. For instance TANF and unemployment. These programs are assessable for the public but what I find hard to understand is the work that you have to put in to earn some of these benefits. For instance to qualify for SNAP if you're a adult with no children you have to only work 20 hours a week and be a full time student.

In Chapter 5, The Wrong side of the tracks, I found interesting reading about how politicians spend a lot of tine distinguishing between those simply down on their luck or those that are trying to get over on the system. According to the reading, there are now barriers up which can make these programs a little bit harder to get into because of better restrictions. This logic has worked but it has also scared away some people that really need the benefits but do not want to go through the application process and all the interrogation for the benefits. I found this information to be so important because I feel that these programs are so hard for a person that really needs the help to get because of the application process. I have seen plenty of families that avoids using the system because they don't want to go through the application process.

In chapter 6, Stuck in Reverse, I enjoyed reading about when work doesn't pay the bills. According to the reading in 2011, researchers with the Economic Policy Institute estimated that if the government entirely absented itself from the business of tax subsides and assistance to the poor the poverty rate in America will jump up to 23.7 percent. I found this information to be true because people don't receive the benefits that they should receive at work. If the government was to take away child care how could a single parent afford for someone to watch their child as they work.

Daja Hearn- Blog Post #2

Welfare, Weight Loss, and The invisible working class 

               The first topic I choose to discuss was titled welfare, weight loss, and the invisible working class. This section of the reading talked about how money was spent prior to the War on Poverty. An example the text gave was that there was more concern and money put into account for immigrant birds than there was for immigrant humans. Also stated within this section it discussed that the new homes that were being built were being built on a much higher income status, when then leads to not enough affordable homes for people. 40 years prior this underinvestment of affordable home resulted in one and twenty Americans and one in six children were living in homes that were claimed to be what the government called “worst case”.  Along with this the ones who could “afford” and home their income was half the local income median income and what they made, more than half was going to housing. In reality you are only supposed to pay thirty percent of your income on housing. This section of the book gave things that people spent money on. I could not believe how much money was spent on certain things. For example they said that pets, maintaining their law/gardens, and weight loss products were the main things. Liposuction was one of the weight loss products. Cryogenically frozen was another thing people spent large amounts of money on too. This is when you are dead they just keep your body frozen. To do this it is approximately 30,000 per person. Raquel story was included within this section as well.  It showed an mom with two sons barley making ends meet. One aspect I did not like about his part was that the money that she did make was going towards paying her brother rent. To me I feel this is wrong especially if he witnessed how bad she was truly struggling to just feed her two sons who were both going through puberty. In this case I would have asked her to contribute to an electric bill and groceries, but not rent, because she was already struggling enough. I feel that this was in the text to bring awareness that people do not just do not want to work and to show how these programs to help people get along have all of these rules and regulations, and instead of being able to find a job to keep some of these assistance you had to do community service hours. This woman was given $300 dollars to last a month for food, which at times only got her three months. One thing I would have recommended was a class to see how to buy and make meals for cheap. I feel some people do not realize what can be done with a small amount of money. 

 Hurricanes, Tornadoes, and some big bills

            Another section of the reading that I am going to discuss is Hurricanes, Tornadoes and some awfully big bills. This section mainly focused on Hurricane Katrina. This section I feel brought awareness to what this state and town primary focus was on after this devastating disaster. The section discussed how the part of town referred to as the lower ninth was just left to rot after this disaster. It discussed that the sections of the town that were better off were the ones that got up and moving quickly after this occurred. The part where all the tourists come another part of the town that was quickly built back up. Today people who are living within the lower ninth of the town are homeless people. This part of the town is still run down, but it is slowly getting the community back. This section was provided to show how natural disaster can destroy ones who had already lived in poverty and that there are not enough resources available to handle a problem like Hurricane Katrina. I was a little ticked off reading this section. I felt that with what little warning they did have they would have had a better thought out plan.  The book stated that they were not prepared at all for this disaster.  Maybe it is just me, and I am a planner, but I feel if you live near a body of water there should always be a plan to implement and to revise yearly not mater the situation. 

 Burial Plots, Broken Glasses, and Other problems with medicaid  

           The third section of the reading I picked out was burial plots broken glasses and other problems with Medicaid.  This section of the reading brought awareness to what Medicaid is and what things you qualify and do not qualify.  The story told by the family who lost their care and had no other valuable items still could not get this. This really opens my eyes for the future to show that make sure to have a job that offers retirement, and one with good benefits and decent pay to be able to save up for these types of crisis. I can do nothing but feel bad for these people facing these different situations. This is another reason why I am in the field I am. I would like to make a difference even if it is getting an individual a coupon to help assist with the cost of their medication. In reality it does not cost the doctors and surgeons tons of money to perform a surgery and the materials used to preform, so my question is where are all of these charges coming from and how much does one needle actually cost a hospital?  I understand that doctors and surgeons need to make money for their living, but people also need to be able to have these procedures done to help them live. 




Reference:

Ambrasky, S. (2013). The American Way of Poverty: How the other half still lives. New Work, NY:
Nation Books