Ehrenreich on the Poor getting poorer

Barbara Ehrenreich considers whether or not the down economy is eliminating class inequality. After all, hedge fund managers, white collar workers, business owners, are all finding themselves among the growing number of unemployed Americans. She points to the all too common story of Rich get Poorer:

Alright, I’m a journalist and I understand how the media work. When a millionaire cuts back on his crème fraiche and caviar consumption, you have a touching human interest story. But pitch a story about a laid-off roofer who loses his trailer home and you’re likely to get a big editorial yawn. “Poor Get Poorer” is just not an eye-grabbing headline, even when the evidence is overwhelming. Food stamp applications, for example, are rising toward a historic record; calls to one DC-area hunger hotline have jumped 248 percent in the last six months, most of them from people who have never needed food aid before.

She also has a great passage on welfare:

…so that when people come tumbling down they don’t end up six feet under. For those who think “welfare” sounds too radical, we could just call it a “right to life” program, only one in which the objects of concern have already been born.

Call me a socialist (Joe the Plumber would!), but I think our social safety nets, such as welfare, are an integral part to our society’s success. Otherwise the disabled, the elderly, the down-on-their luck, and the sick suffer. And chances are at some point in our lives we’ll all be, or at least know someone, among these categories. I’ve visited countries where there is no social safety net and the average person in these countries is just one accident, job loss, robbery, or bad business decision away from hunger. Knowing that if the worst happens to you, your survival is not in question is not a waste of tax payers’ money.

You really should read her whole essay, and if you haven’t read her book Nickel & Dimed you’re really missing out.

 
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