Abramsky brings up many point to think about in the
pages of the book we were assigned. On page 135, for example, we are told about
a 2012 law passed in Georgia stating that “TANF applicants would have to take a
drug test within forty-eight hours of applying for the assistance, and that they would have to pay $17 for
the privilege.” I first need to admit that I was once for drug testing people
who are on welfare or other government programs. I have learned over many years
just how ignorant I was as to why most of these families/people need or have
these programs and these services will not support drug problems. We are told
what we want to hear when we look at candidates for a President, for example,
we need to look behind what we are told and look at how these policies are
really affecting. Most people who apply for these services can’t afford $17 to
pay for groceries which is why they are applying for them in the first place.
Where are they going to get the money? The real fact is that most of these
people do not have drug problems; it is just assumed that this may be where
their money is going. I go into many homes of families that are below the
poverty level. I see the big screen TVs, gaming systems, and latest cell
phones, but even before this class, learned that most are gifts from extended
families, or earned by trading babysitting services or house cleaning services.
Out of all the below-poverty-level families I have dealt with over the years,
hundreds, only 4 had drug problems that I knew of. They were/are people who
want to work, but the system is against it. If they work too many hours they
lose disability help, or other services, which they need to survive. “Welfare systems work best when they expand
automatically during economic downturns…rather than relying on acts of
Congress…” (231). I think there should be a gradual weaning form the program
instead of dropping someone because they missed an appointment, or made too
much money one month. We all know the system is broken, but how do we get it on
the path to recovery?
I also found it very interesting how poverty
continued to increase when President Barack Obama assumed power in 2009. I
remember the platform he was running on. I remember reading about where he had
worked and how he truly understood poverty.
I find it very interesting that
the book suggests that “Obama’s advisers likely feared that the country’s first
African American president would come to be seen by whites as having a “black”
agenda if he made poverty as much as a priority as had London
Johnson.”(216) Do any of my fellow
classmates truly feel like this is only a “black agenda”? Why do politicians
think we are not equal in poverty? Does this thought go back to our earlier
discussion about being a “privileged race”, if we are white, so this had to be
the reason President Obama wanted to help the poor? I am truly disgusted with
this thought! I voted for President Obama because of the history he had and the
goals he wanted for our country. Is this the real reason we are still a nation fighting
poverty, because Obama may have had a “black agenda” and couldn’t even commit
to a goal of cutting poverty in half in ten years? Wow!
Medicaid is another issue that is talked about in
the book. It is still, “severely restricted in a number of ways”. (224)
Families often do without from month to month because Medicaid will only pay
for one dental visit a month, or one pair of glasses every three years. I have
seen these thing first hand as well. If a child breaks their glasses, they
don’t have glasses for months at a time because there is no money to buy
glasses or get them fixed. Paying for medicine is a very big expense for
families on Medicaid. Often times the types of medicines needed aren’t covered
by Medicaid or Medicaid will only pay a portion and the family must come up
with the $20 or $30 dollars it won’t pay in order to get the medicine. Many people won’t get the medicine needed, or
they will barrow money from friends or family, and some sell items to get money
to purchase the medication. There does need to be more of a “political will to
do what is right by America’s residents.”(227) I am looking forward to the next
chapters in the book to see what is suggested. I feel like a tiny drop in the
bucket when it comes to helping poverty. Overwhelmed with the problems and not
having the means to fix any of them. Who has a few billion dollars lying around
to pay lobbyist to work for the benefit of the American people instead of the
wealth of a few? Not knowing what is going on behind the political scenes and
feeling helpless to fix anything is a scary way to go into the next
Presidential election. If one can vote, they should, but who do you vote for
and what is say the agenda of the candidate won’t change to continue to
line the pockets of the country’s
wealthiest people, the people with the power.
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