CHRONIC Poverty in the WORLD's WEALTHIEST COUNTRY !!Study Reveals Economic Pain as Millions of American Workers Struggle to
Make Ends MeetBy Heather Boushey, AlterNet. Posted October 13, 2007.
One in five don't earn enough to make ends meet and six years of
Bushenomics has inflicted new hardships.The Bush recovery has been good for Wall Street, but not Main Street. The
economic recovery that began in 2001 has brought slow job growth, limited
wage gains, and continued rising inequality. While families at the top of
the income ladder have seen their incomes rise faster than inflation, those
in the middle and bottom have seen theirs fall.Millions now work in what we call "bad jobs." While higher-wage workers
take for granted that their jobs come with employer-based benefits like
health insurance, a retirement plan, and maybe some paid time off, just
over one-in-five workers (22.1 percent) are in a bad job -- a job that pays
low wages and provides no benefits.That's where government work supports -- programs that ensure that families
can access basics such as healthcare, childcare, food, and housing -- are
supposed step in and fill in the gaps.The reality, however, according to research we released this week, is that
nearly 41 million people live in families that don't earn enough to make
ends meet, and government benefits do not fill in the gap. These families
work, but their earnings aren't enough. Most low-wage workers don't get the
kinds of employer-sponsored benefits common for higher-waged workers, so
without government help, these families are left out in the cold, often
unable to afford health insurance, decent child care or other necessities.We do have work supports to help people. Child-care assistance, the Earned
Income Tax Credit (EITC), food stamps, public housing and Section 8 housing
programs, Medicaid, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP),
and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families are all available across the
United States.When families get these work supports, they help bridge the gaps left by
low wages and lack of employer-sponsored benefits. Across nine states
(Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, North Carolina, Ohio,
Texas, and Washington) and the District of Columbia, for example, work
supports close nearly half (44 percent) of the gap between a family's
earnings and what it takes to make ends meet.But these policies leave out just as many as they help. Most of these work
supports were initially intended to serve poor, unemployed families. The
eligibility criteria require families to be very poor, earning so little in
most states that many of those who are in need still earn "too much" to be
eligible. The EITC and SCHIP were both designed to help working families,
but even these programs leave many families out in the cold.After decades of little or no growth in earnings for millions of workers,
and with employers simultaneously paring back benefits, too many
working-class families are being left out in the cold, without access to
employer-sponsored benefits or government work-supports.For nearly a century, the goal of U.S. social policy has focused on aiding
the poor, while leaving workers -- regardless of their earnings -- to
access benefits from their employer or the private sector. When a
significant share of the labor force was in a union and economic growth was
providing widespread income gains, this strategy might have made sense. But
as employers pull back from their historic role as benefit providers, we
need to refocus our attention on how to ensure that working families can
make ends meet.The U.S. work-support system was not set up to solve this problem and, as a
result, does not reach most working families. Our research found that
across ten states, just under half of people (46.9 percent) living in
working families with income below that necessary to purchase a basic
standard of living are eligible for Medicaid or SCHIP. Similarly, just over
half (55.4 percent) are eligible for the EITC.Many of those eligible do not actually receive benefits. Across the ten
states we studied, about a quarter of children meeting the eligibility
requirements for childcare actually received any child-care subsidy. The
programs that reached the most people -- the EITC -- was the one that is
fully funded and has the easiest application process.It's not just the very poor who need our attention. As members of the
middle class have been squeezed, more and more of us are struggling to
maintain our standard of living. The past 30 years have brought rising wage
and income inequality and an increase in low-wage, no-benefit jobs. If we
want to see an economy that works for everyone, then we -- and our
representatives in Washington -- must work for labor standards that support
all workers.FOUR DOLLARS A BUSHEL A YEAR AGO, 9$ now
MORE THAN DOUBLE! in a single year.That means the bakery is really gonna sock it to you. TIME FOR BAKING our
own bread. Make four loaves, freeze three 1/2 and keep loaf ready to use.
Find a BREAD SLICE knife at a thrift store. Serrated teeth.
PRESLICE that half loaf, bag it, keep in fridge!Get a VITAMIX and make bible bread. (Soaking grain overnight, rinse well,
drain; a vitamix turns the sprouting grain into dough).http://www.masterjules.net/cheapfood.htm
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