13% of US population, 50% of US African Americans live below the official Extreme Poverty level

[Stinky The Clown]

I heard this on the news today. I can't find a link to it. I believe it to be true, given the station on which I heard it.

I can't imagine this getting better any time soon.

[Denninmi]

1. Of course it's not going to get better soon.

It's only going to get worse. This country is in the death spiral, just circling the drain.

Somewhere, Madame DeFarge is knitting. I hope she's taking names.

[marmar]

2. I don't think the 50 % figure is true.

Perhaps 50 percent of African Americans who live in poverty are at the extreme level.....but 50 percent of African Americans do not live in poverty.

[madinmaryland]

7. Well, when you see statistics indicating unemployment rates for AA Men

running well over 15%, it makes that statistic look plausible. And that is only "unemployment" and does not include the underemployed and those who have dropped out of the job market altogether. I don't know if the 50% number is valid, but it may not be that far off.

[Statistical]

3. Seems improbable.

50% is too high.

One out of two African Americans aren't just below poverty line but below extreme poverty line.

[demosincebirth]

4. Third world status is right around the corner.

[Liquorice]

5. 24% of black people live below the poverty level, so that can't be right. Maybe the news report

meant that 50% of the people who live below the extreme poverty level are African American.

[SoCalDem]

6. Poverty is a generational thing,.. and it's contagious

Americans (some of them) like to believe the bootstrap-theory...and in the magical movie version of "young person defies bad start & becomes wildly successful", it seems possible, but those are fairy tales.

For MOST people (no matter the color), if you start out poor, you will remain poor, and since people live pretty long lives, those circles of poverty overlap within families.

Teen pregnancy & lackadaisical schooling pretty much guarantees a life of poverty,....add kids to the mix (sans Daddy, usually) and there's not enough time in a day, week, month, year even if there were plentiful jobs, to provide a decent life for the family..

Children usually learn what they live, and until they are grown up and can figure things out better, they are susceptible to the same traps their parents fell into, but by the time most of them reach adulthood, they either have "law troubles" or kids they cannot support.

Until we figure out a way to help these kids get some real hope for a better future, they will squander their young "present", and set themselves up for a lifetime of poverty.

Another thing is that one generation usually leave what they have to the next... but if you have nothing to leave, your progeny gets nothing..

[demandTheGoodLife.co]

8. poverty should be a crime!

That is not correct.

The poverty rate for Blacks in 2009 according to the census bureau was 25.8%
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/about/overview/index.html

But to have a single person live in poverty in the year 2010 where we have the ability to produce a near unlimited amount of anything should be a crime.

There is a very simple, very easy, permanent fix to poverty: the basic income.

Use a portion of our income taxes to pay every adult a $20,000 yearly basic income (gets paid to everyone rich and poor, employed and unemployed).

And use a portion of our income taxes to also pay an additional $30,000 yearly basic income to every worker, or every post-secondary school student, or every person who is interested in volunteering (such as those who are unemployed) at an approved civic or charitable organization.

The basic income is a dividend payment for your ownership share of the planet nature gave to humanity.

The dividend eliminates poverty, eliminates the existence of poor neighborhoods, eliminates most financial struggle, eliminates the need for welfare, reduces the growing rates of inequality, eliminates the problem of unemployment, eliminates the lack of access to health care, eliminates the lack of access to education, provides greater gender equality, gives people greater freedom in lifestyle choices, delivers a more flexible and just labor market, and makes every worker wealthy.

(If interested in an idea like this, you can find details at demandTheGoodLife.com)

The 2010 poverty rates are not published yet. But if the increasing trend continued, the poverty rate fr Blacks might be 27% for 2010.

Jeff

[former9thward]

9. Your first idea ($20,000 to adults) would cost about

$4 Trillion dollars. Your second idea (additional $30,000 to workers, etc.) would cost an additional $5 Trillion for a total of $9 trillion. Total income tax revenue in 2009 (from everyone, people, corporations, etc.) was about $1 trillion dollars. Doesn't anyone do simple arithmetic when they come up with these crack pot proposals?

[demandTheGoodLife.co]

10. the calculations

The plan is based on 2 assumptions: the economy is producing $18 trillion per year in total income (which we would have reached in about 4 years if we weren't in a recession) and the tax code is made fair (everyone pays the same flat 50% tax on all their income). If this was implemented today, the numbers would be about 20% lower.

Here are the calculations:

$18 trillion: Total National Income
$6.3 trillion: Total Revenue Raised From 35% Income Tax (6.3 = 18 * 35%)
$2.7 trillion: Total Revenue Raised From 15% FICA Tax (2.7 = 18 * 15%)
$9 trillion: Total Revenue Available To Pay Out In Dividends (9 = 6.3 + 2.7)

$4.4 trillion: Cost of Paying $20,000 To All 220 Million Adults
$3.8 trillion: Cost of Paying $30,000 To All 126 Million Workers
$0.3 trillion: Cost of Paying $30,000 To All 10 Million Unemployed/Volunteers
$0.5 trillion: Cost of Paying $30,000 To All 18 Million Students
$9 trillion: Total Cost Of Dividends (9 = 4.4 + 3.8 + 0.3 + 0.5)

[former9thward]

11. Most Americans have an effective tax rate of 10-15%.

And you want to raise it to 50%? Good luck with that. What about other expenses of government?

[demandTheGoodLife.co]

12. your take home pay will go up substantially

Let's say you make $40,000 per year.

Would you rather pay a 15% tax and take home $34,000 or pay a 50% tax rate, get a $50,000 dividend, and take home $70,000?

Most people will choose the higher tax rate so that their take home pay will go up. Saying you don't want this plan because the tax rate goes up is the same as saying you don't want to win a million dollar lottery because you have to pay half in taxes.

Everyone who makes less than $400,000 per year will get an increase in income.

The federal government would no longer need to provide social security, medicaid, medicare and welfare. The remaining $1 trillion budget can be paid for with existing user fees, excise taxes, tariffs and a 4% income tax.

[kelly1mm]

13. Interesting. Why would medicare no longer be needed? nt

[demandTheGoodLife.co]

16. The dividend enables you to buy insurance

We can spend several threads talking about paying for health care. But the short answer is that the dividend guarantees everyone has income to purchase insurance. And then mandate everyone purchase catastrophic health insurance.

Using insurance to share the cost of catastrophic medical costs among the entire population will make insurance affordable. Routine office visits, tests, medications and treatments should be paid for out of pocket. That will enable market forces to keep medical expenses in check.

[former9thward]

14. There would not be one person left working in the U.S.

Just volunteer for something and walk with 50k a year. That is more than the average person makes now who works 40 hours a week. No one will get sick in this society? No need for medicare and medicaid? Doctors (if there are any left working) will stop charging for the services? No hospital bills?

[demandTheGoodLife.co]

17. You make more money working than volunteering

There is every incentive for people to work.

If you volunteer, you get paid $50k.

If you work, you get paid $50k PLUS whatever your salary is. Workers will always earn more than volunteers.

But volunteer positions will be just as productive as paid worker positions. Volunteering to work on a government-sponsored, open-source software product is just as productive as getting paid by a private company to build a copyrighted software product.

As mentioned in another response, you will need to require everyone get catastrophic health insurance. But since everyone always has access to a minimum income, that would not be the problem that it would be today where we do not have guaranteed incomes.

[ecstatic]

15. That doesn't match the stat I heard a couple years ago

Nor does it match what I see in passing. But the stat I heard on Washington Journal a couple years back was 75% middle class; 25% poverty.