The Naked Truth/Jamala Rogers
U.S. Poverty and a Moral Budget
The shameful stats recently came out for the poverty rates in the U.S. According to the Census Bureau, it was the greatest one-year jump on record. This sharp increase was due to the government payouts that buffered the financial burden during the pandemic came to an end. At the same time that these federal programs were expiring, the costs of living were rising. This brought to mind The Moral Budget advanced by Rev. William Barber and the Poor People’s Campaign.
The Moral Budget asserts that there is an unquestionable abundance of resources to meet the needs and demands of the poor. However, this would mean two things would have to happen: an ideological shift from making profits a priority to developing humanity as a priority. It would also mean a dramatic reallocation of the country’s resources towards meeting the needs of those most in need, not those most in greed. The Moral Budget believes that if this truly happened, the country’s economy would grow and its “delicate social fabric would be renewed.”
The poverty rate among children more than doubled last year which means the rates for Black and Brown children were off the charts. The expanded child tax credit played a big part in improving the outcomes of children because it briefly provided a guaranteed income to families with children. What a novel idea!
Most of the family-centered legislation that Congress passes is not based upon its grace and empathy. It is usually pressured to do so by citizens organized to advocate for families and communities. Most Congresspeople are far removed from the living conditions faced by poor and working-class families. These corporate-loving lawmakers are millionaires with the lifestyles that go along with it.
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 is one such piece of legislation. Congress allocated $1 billion to assist needy families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The decline in poverty for the previous couple of years was based upon the bundle of benefits from ARPA. This included extra food stamps, emergency rental assistance, direct payments to families and most important, the child tax credits. Families were in crisis and the totality of these benefits helped to significantly ease the financial challenges presented by COVID-19. This made good common sense not just for this tumultuous period, but for life beyond the pandemic.
If the nation was able to raise the poverty rate because of these funds, why can’t those benefits be extended to make a long-term difference in the lives of these families? Maybe it’s because at the same time legislators were cutting off these essential benefits, they were making deep cuts in corporate taxes. No sense of morality here!
Once again, the nation’s leaders are not learning from natural and man-made disasters. They continue to focus on the shiny glitzes of capitalism when it is the human resources that determine the strength of a country and its people’s ability to create a government that rules with compassion and decency.
This is what democracy looks like.