Here in the U.S., we don’t like to talk about poverty, much less do something about it.  Our social programs help only a small minority of the poor, and they often are accompanied by insults and mistreat.  Does anyone remember Reagan’s “welfare queens”? 

Another problem is that the “help” that’s given isn’t enough.  Most of my elderly clients were receiving social security, but it was too little, so they also got food stamps and help for electricity.  The problem with both these things was that one person would receive $75.00 per month for food – not much help at all since grocery prices in my part of the state are really high.

As far as the electric help, they had to pay $75.00 per month for electricity and if they didn’t, they wouldn’t receive relief – the trick to that was that their bill usually averaged only $50.00 a month.  The electric company would collect the state’s money plus my client’s $75.00, thus making a tidy profit every month for every elderly person on this program.  I saw bills that had an overpayment in excess of $3,000.00 on them (some of my clients were in their 90’s and had been on this program for decades).  Needless to say, the electric company was obviously keeping the extra money and making interest off it.  Why?  I have no idea.  The state was actually giving free money to the electric company.  I don’t know if anyone in the government understood that.  I did try to find out, but didn’t get a response.

So, did any of this actually help?  Not really.  Their rental was also on a sliding scale determined by what the state decided they could afford.  Between food, rental and electric, they had absolutely no money left-over by the end of the month.  One of my clients would sell a piece of jewelry every few months in order to afford car insurance.  She hung onto her car because her family refused to take her anywhere.

Now, I ask you, is it necessary to keep people in extreme poverty?  Would you be able to only spend $75.00 per month on food?  Yes, you may say that they could get meals from Meals on Wheels, and many people did.  However, these meals do not follow any dietary specifications due to medical conditions, therefore, they were unable to eat many of them.

Using this one example, you can see the poverty that these elderly people were kept in.  Now, think about all the individuals who are making minimum wages (sometimes less if working in the restaurant industry) and how some view them.  Have you frowned at or even disparaged people who have used food stamps?  How about those who live-in low-income housing?  Have you noticed what the outside of low-income housing looks like?  Have you ever wondered why?  These buildings are usually owned by slum-lords, if something is broken, it doesn’t get fixed.  See piles of garbage around the already full dumpster?  That means that the landlord hasn’t paid to get it emptied.  Do the individuals living there have any control over these situations?  Of course not.  They are not the landlord.

So, millions of people, including children are being raised in poverty.  Over the last 40 years, millions of people have been raised in poverty, still live in poverty and are raising their children in poverty.  Look at the social issues we have as a country.  Does poverty have anything to do with that?  Of course.  Now, imagine if we actually paid people a living wage.  What do you think that would do to the social landscape of the U.S.?  And, by the way, if minimum wages go up, the rest of the wages would also go up.  This would mean less people in poverty.  And, lest you think that the country-oh, sorry, corporations- would suffer – more wages, more spending.  Yes, it does work that way.  Something else to think about.  If people were paid living wages, we would need fewer social programs. That money could be put toward education and the all-important – health care.  Have you yourself not gone to the doctor when you needed to because of the high deductible that you have to fulfill before your insurance pays anything?  Just think about how it would be if you didn’t have any insurance.  And, don’t tell me how great the ACA is, they wanted my husband and myself to pay half of our monthly income for insurance, with a $5,000.00 deductible.  Fantastic plan, right?

So, tell me, does the way we force millions of people to live in poverty make sense to you?