POVERTY IS POLITICAL

Poverty ain’t got nothing to do with some “generational curse” that stands in need of “breaking.” To call it such is to deflect attention from its underlying cause and, whether intentional or not, to proffer “solutions” that are ineffectual and often punitive.

Poverty is political. It—poverty— exists and persists because politicos decide to allow it to do so. It’s part of the socio-economic landscape because people in power decide not to pursue, implement, and commit to the types of policies that could easily abolish impoverishment.

This is precisely the dynamic underscored by Census Bureau’s report that closed out 2023.

POVERTY REVERSES COURSE

Although it’s not a big part of public discourse, the Census Bureau closed out 2023 with distressing news about poverty: Between 2021 and 2022, the ranks of the impoverished grew by the millions and the poverty rate took one of the largest upward leaps on record.

This increase in the number and percentage of people in poverty is captured by the Bureau’s supplemental poverty measure (SPM). The SPM calculates poverty by, first of all, summing up all cash income, refundable tax credits, and in kind benefits that the household receives. From that sum, the Bureau subtracts all taxes plus all necessary expenditures on food, clothing, shelter, utilities, telephone, and internet (FCSUTI), as well as any work related expenses (e.g., childcare). The resulting figure is then compared to poverty thresholds that “represent the amount needed for a basic set of goods that consists of FCSU and an additional amount allowed for other basic needs (household supplies, personal care, nonwork-related transportation).” Although not perfect, there’s a consensus that the SPM is superior to the official poverty rate, the metric that’s often discussed in public discourse about poverty and the one that we’re most likely to hear about [click here or here for a detailed discussion of the SPM and OPM, and the differences between the two].

With that said, here’s some of what the Census Report finds:

• Between 2021 and 2022, an additional 15 million persons were pushed into poverty and the poverty rate jumped by an astounding 4.6 percentage points, from 7.8% to 12.4%.

• Between 2021 and 2022, an additional 5 million kids got shoved into poverty and—get ready for it!— the child poverty rate more than doubled, soaring from 5.2% to 12.4%.

And then there’s this:

• The 2021-2022 increase in poverty rates represents a reversal in the decline that occurred during 2020-2021. In 2020-2021, for instance, the number of kids in poverty decreased by 3.37 million, and the child poverty rate dropped from 9.7% to 5.2%.

• Likewise, 2021-2022 saw a decrease of 4.5 million in the overall number of persons in poverty, and a drop in the aggregate poverty rate from 9.2% to 7.8%.

When it comes to poverty, then, right now we’re definitely headed in the wrong direction: People are being pushed in, not pulled out.

And, just in case you’re wondering, Black folk, White folk, and American Indian/Alaska Natives got rocked particularly hard this recent rise in poverty. The Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) rose from 11.3% to 17.2% for Blacks, 11.2% to 19.3% for Hispanics, and an absolutely eye-popping rise from 12.4% to 23.2% for American Indians and Alaska Natives. Although the poverty rate of Whites did not rise as much as the rate for these groups, it did increase—jumping from 6.9% to 11.4%.

Given the history of this country, it’s also not surprising that non-white kids got caught up in this wave big time.

• The poverty rate of White kids climbed from 2.7% (2021) to 7.2% (2022). Over 1.5 million White kids got pushed into poverty.

• The poverty rate of Black kids zoomed from 8.1% (2021) to almost 18% (2022), with over 1 million Black children being thrust into poverty.

• The SPM for Hispanic kids rocketed upward from 8.4% to 19.5%. 2.1 million additional Hispanic kids, by the way, found themselves bumped into impoverishment.

And finally:

• The rate for American Indian/Alaska Natives hit 25.9% in 2022, up from 7.4% in 2021. That translates into an additional 188,000 American Indian/Alaska Natives being plunged into poverty.

When something of this magnitude is taking place, when millions of people are finding themselves plunged into poverty— that ought to raise a burning question:

What the hell is happening?

POLITICAL DECISIONS AND ACTIONS THAT PUSH PEOPLE INTO POVERTY

What’s happening is this: We’re witnessing how political policies can either increase or decrease the numbers of persons in poverty, and the poverty rate. More specifically, the reduction in poverty that occurred between 2021 and 2022 is directly related to the political decision to enact a set of pandemic related assistance programs that not only kept people from falling into poverty but actually ended up pulling people out of the pits of poverty.

I’m thinking, of course, of policies that led to, among other things, the stimulus payments (a.k.a. Economic Impact Payments), the expansion of unemployment insurance, and the enhancement of Child Tax Credits. These programs—and the funds and benefits that they provided— are included in the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM), and this is the primary reason why we see a decline in that measure between 2021 and 2022.

The flip side, of course, is that the political decision to allow these programs to expire directly contributed to that 2022-2023 rise in poverty documented in the Census Bureau’s report.

But let’s not miss the broader point here, and it bears repeating: Poverty results from political choices. Public policy possess the power to reduce, eliminate, or even increase poverty.

Here’s how one research puts it:

Poverty in the U.S. is a choice directly reflecting federal, state, and local policies. The expansion of safety net programs in response to the pandemic-driven recession reduced poverty rates nationally in 2021 to below pre-pandemic levels. However, because policymakers ended many of these programs—including expanded unemployment insurance, the expanded Child Tax Credit, and economic impact/stimulus payments—poverty rates rose from 7.8% in 2021 to 12.4% in 2022. Child poverty, which had fallen to record lows in 2021, increased from 5.2% to 12.4% in 2022.

Or, as yet another entity puts it:

Poverty is political. It is the result of decisions made by those who hold power – governments and corporations – and a broken economic system which generates increasing wealth and power for elites at the expense of the majority of people on this earth.

Poverty is political. That line pretty much says it.

And that’s why it is straight up wrong-headed to speak of poverty as if it’s a “curse” that needs to be broken. Poor folk aren’t poor because they’re under some kind of “generational curse.”

If anything needs to be broken, it’s the power of the few to enact policies that push people into poverty, rather than pull them out.