The United States is still the richest country on the planet. And yet, there is a higher percentage of the U.S. population living in poverty than in most other developed nations. At least 11.5% of U.S. citizens live on poverty. That's over 37 million people.
Why is this true? It is because one of our political parties (Republicans) has pursued (and continues to pursue) economic policies that favor the rich, does nothing for the working and middle classes, and actually punishes the poor.
The U.S. government does offer some assistance to the poor, but Republicans have made sure that assistance is minimal and most are required to work to receive it. They tend to believe the poor are just lazy and must be forced to work. They are wrong.
Government assistance is onerous and embarrassing, and most poor people would rather work than receive the assistance. But that work needs to offer them a way out of poverty - not just insure they remain poor.
There are two simple ways to drastically reduce the number of poor people in the United States.
The first is to raise the minimum wage to a livable wage. The current minimum wage is only $7.25 an hour. That is about $15,080 a year. The poverty level designated by the government is shown in the chart below.
The current minimum wage is only $20 a year above the poverty line for a single person. It is far below it for a family of two or more. And many households only have one wage earner (like a single parent with children).
Raising the minimum wage to a livable wage (at least $15 an hour) would instantly lift many families out of poverty.
But one more thing also needs to be done. The government needs to help working class and poor families with childcare. It doesn't help to make more if most of it goes to pay for childcare. President Biden tried to get childcare included in the laws he got passed earlier (assuring no family would pay more that 7% of income for childcare), but it was killed by the GOP.
A higher minimum wage, coupled with help to pay for childcare, would lift millions out of poverty. And would save millions in government assistance. That saving could be used to raise assistance for those who cannot work, and would help to reduce the federal deficit.
This makes imminent sense, but the Republicans will have none of it. They still think the right economic policy is to help the rich and corporations save on taxes. They seem to have no interest in helping the poor, the working class, and only give minimal assistance to the middle class. They say helping the rich to have more helps everyone. That has never been true.
This nation is rich enough to eliminate most (or all) poverty in its borders. But it will never happen as long as the Republicans have the power to dictate economic policy.
