On Demand
30 Issues: Global and Domestic Poverty
Shenia Rudolph talks about what it’s like to be a low-income single mother.
Steve Moore, financial columnist for National Review, senior economics writer for the Wall Street Journal and author of The End of Prosperity, talks about McCain's poverty policy with Andrei Cherny, co-editor of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, who outlines Obama's poverty policy.
Joseph J. Iarocci, CARE’s Chief of Staff, talks about global poverty with the U.S. in focus.
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One way the federal government has found to help pay for this bailout is to impose a fee on all working mothers receiving child support through the child support collection agency. I just received a letter stating that since I am a working mother of five, not on welfare I will be charged a fee which they call federally required for collecting child support. Working mothers will now be charged a servie fee for collecting child support.
The root cause of poverty around the world is unsustainable over-population. This unfortunate woman has 5 children for whom she cannot provide. Where is (are) the father(s)?
can we safely say BOH will help more poor people than mccain?
short term fix: more jobs
long term fix: EDUCATION
Something I've never quite understood about the Republicans, especially the 'religious right': how did they miss the central message of Jesus, i.e., that we all must care for the poor and oppressed?
Enough of the complaining!!! Brian, tell your guest to go to monster.com and hotjobs.com and search through the millions of jobs available.
I believe the reason the presidential candidates are focusing on the "middle class" and not the poor is because, for many years the middle class has not been able to make ends meet, but there are no social programs for this group (except for unemployment insurance).
Clearly, poor people need government assistance, but when you're middle class and you can't afford the things that middle class people used to afford, there is a problem.
Ever heard of condoms?? 5 kids is a CHOICE. Quit whining.
um....ok, so your guest couldn't marry the baby's father because he was already married...
what are you doing sleeping with him if he is married, then?
temporarily out of cash...and common sense, i guess.
Not to bash...but young women listening should listen to her and learn a lesson...
hey, just score an MBA she can bump that check up from $65 a month to above that tasty $700 b ceiling.
I'm sorry, I haven't listened to all of this discussion, but when Brian asked about personal responsibilty of having 5 kids she cannot afford, she turned around and vaguely blamed Bush for the idea of marrying the children's father as not relevant to her situation.
Why was it not relevant? BECAUSE THE FATHER(S)ALREADY MARRIED AND SHE DIDN'T WANT TO BE A BIGAMIST (!!!)
Oh, I see. It's not OK to have 5 kids you can't afford, but EXCEPT if the father is already married... to someone else.
What am I missing here?
Brian, why did you let this completely bogus answer slide?
Brian, come ON! You introduced this sectionlauding John Edwards' policy on poverty. I appreciate the voices of folks who this policy effects in the most direct way. But how about someone who identifies as poor not just a s a "state of mind" but as a socio-economic reality and a distinct element of class, race, and gender oppression?!?!?
#8 you are making personal attacks on the guest and are totally out of line.
She is a very positive person for her circumstances and I think and hope she will overcome her circumstances.
Don't look at the splinter in her eye and ignore the plank in your own.
So what if she slept with a married guy? People really do fall in love and marital status is irrelevant. I am very deeply in love with someone married and it doesn't make a difference to me. I would be with him no matter what. I can empathize with the guest.
This woman's stupid actions basically siphoned money away from people who through no fault of their own need public assistance....the disabled, orphans, etc. This woman had 5 children out of wedlock...basically to get more welfare money. Incredible.
Did you miss the part where I said I am working and not on welfare. I have five children and I work to take care of them but for the government to take money from my children to give to billionaires just doesn't seem right to me. Women are not the only ones who have babies. My children have one father who I just happen to be married to and also separated from. It happens. I'm fine with my life situation and my life choices but that doesn't mean I want to pay billionaires for nearly wrecking the entire world's economy. They should be tried for treason for their greedy selfish acts. My children shouldn't be paying for that.
Shenia is unbelievable. She sounds like a badly coached puppet.
She couldn't marry the father of her 5 (!) children because HE WAS ALREADY MARRIED! Yet she had a 10 year relationship with him. Didn't she figure out after the first 2 kids that he wasn't going to leave his wife or, heaven forbid, support the children he brought into this world?
She also said $68/month isn't enough for toiletries? I make well over $100k/year and I have never spent that much per month on toiletries (shampoo, soap, toothpaste, etc.)
Also, shame on you, Brian, for letting her claim that all she got was $68/mo for her work via the "work experience program" (WEP). She got CASH in that amount, but she also got HOUSING (rent in NYC is worth a lot) FOOD STAMPS, MEDICAL, etc. I bet it is more like $3000/month when you add that in, more for someone with FIVE CHILDREN.
I have done volunteer projects for NYCares and every apartment I've been to in the "projects" in NYC actually is larger than most of my late-20something friends have, and they pay dearly for it.
Someone please tell Shenia she should never go public and open her mouth again about her poverty.
She single-handedly makes me want to change my vote from Obama to McCain.
Moore:
so trickle down turned out to be a joke.
now that a conservative admin set the precedent of rubber stamping us govt spending to solve social problems...what do you say we consider "trickle up" and spend our way out of poverty?
shenia -- are you voting for prez? for who and why?
There are numerous reasons why various people are poor. But, I find it interesting how many people can talk theoretically and academically about how unfortunate the poverty situation is in this country, yet they get turned off by the real face of it.
Why is everyone bashing Shenia?
Everyone deserves respect. She has the right to love and have a relationship and kids.
We need to all change our thinking and stop being so negative and critical.
What are you people getting out of being nasty about her?
The government needs to respect the dignity as she said of lower income people and help everyone have a life with enough food, health care and education and jobs.
Rep 101 and I agree on something! i totally agree with you.
national review guy...:
silence.
silence.
bah HAH HAH!
Free market? Better get a new shtick.
Re: Poverty
McCain camp assumes Tax cuts = more business = more jobs.
No mention of getting those already in poverty to be eligible for those new jobs IF they materialize.
I am a small business owner and find it difficult to even pay rent and pay for decent standard of living. Personally, i almost forgot about poverty because i have not heard much about it lately. Sort of like it was kept in the background because most of the working class found themselves melting into an emulsion of poverty and working class (middle class) mass that could only see a separation from the well to do rich and everyone else. its become them (the rich) and us (EVERYONE else). the way is see it, families earning 35- 45 k consider themselves poor because they can't make ends meet in this modern economy.
ok, #13, you would be with him no matter what...but, if you had a child and needed money from him, would he be there for you?
maybe he would...but, marriage is as much an economic pact as it is an agreement to love...if not more.
not personally attacking the guest. just questioning her logic.
[20] O from Forest Hills
it's easy to lash out at "the other"
[23] NWP from CT
new jobs in china!!
Brian, I work in social services. You missed a great opportunity to really put this part of our world on the spot. She wants to speak about generalities in politics but in answer to your question regarding taking responsibility, she speaks anecdotally about her children's father being married. How irrelevant, but perfectly representative of how the inner city culture thinks. Not only don't they take responsibility for having children they can't afford to feed - their cultural pride is based on having children and they have no concept of in or out of wedlock - it is the lynchpin of their culture. They no longer have brain cells that can acknowledge responsibility - everything is the white man's fault. They are as irrational as fanatical religious fundamentalists but lack the vision and purpose of those extremists. They are irrational and liberalism's support for them does much to undercut progress in gov't. Liberalism's support of this irrational and immoral values fuels the arguments of the conservative right.
Suzy,
I cannot have kids. but yes, I know if I was able to have children and had one, my boyfriend would take care of me and he would support our child.
re Obama's plan to give tax breaks to businesses that create new jobs: what's to stop an employer from using sleight of hand to appear to be creating a job? he fire's the older, more experienced, more expensive employee to hire the younger, cheaper one, and gets a tax deduction/credit in the process.
. . . concerns . . .
28 -- why do all social service professionals working full time in NYC say this? I am so tired of hearing this exasperation from every liberal-turned-bitter public servant.
some would say "survival of the fittest"
Karen how dare you speak for the "inner city" What you just stated #28 is ignorant and racist.
well, theoretically then, you've got nothing to worry about. his wife, on the other hand...
I'm saying marriage is an economic commitment. To have children without a father (or mother) in the picture...conceivably cuts into the funds/income that could benefit a child.
I can see having one child accidentally with a married person-- but FIVE? cmon.
Karen you quite obviously should not be working in social work OR you have been working there too long and have lost sight of your mission. I hope someone in Hartsdale is reading and reassigns you to another location. Perhaps a job where compassion is not needed.
Sure there are enough resources and money to end extreme poverty around the world, however, these very poor countries are nearly all run by corrupt governments. Pour all the money you want into these countries, but will it get to the people who need it, or simply make the dictators, despots, and terrorists stronger and richer?
Thanks for reading.
I think it is our moral duty to assist in the effort to eradicate global poverty.
There is some truth to what Karen is saying. I grew up in this system and have seen what it causes first hand. Also,the real problem with addressing poverty is as you work to help, people have additional children thereby reducing the amount you can help others. Sadly, I'm not sure there can ever be a solution here without some very difficult enforced birth control methods.
I work with the One Campaign. Only 2 questions on global poverty have been asked in Presidential debates since 1960. One was petitioning for a question to be added this year, but the economic crisis ensured that would not happen.
A couple weeks ago Care released a report titled: "Billions 'wasted' by aid system."
As I've said before, WNYC listeners would be well served by a segment on program evaluation. Terms similar to: accountability, priority, impact, and benchmark are words from the evaluation vocabulary.
The biggest lie is that there aren't enough resources. We don't have to choose between solving our problems here and helping the world. We just need the will.
I'm baffled as to how we can *still* be talking about whether global poverty is relevant to or separable from U.S. poverty. We can only afford to buy cheap goods because we're paid so poorly, and have trouble unionizing, from China, basing our ability to buy on impoverished people and children there working in sweatshops; we want cheap produce from abroad, which requires similarly harsh and impoverished conditions. There is *no* disconnect between U.S. income levels and those of the many abroad whose lives we use to create our standard of living.
well to get off the subject of a woman who made some VERY POOR CHOICES without considering the consequences... (i too was raised in the ghetto... but i chose NOT to have children i couldnt afford & have worked steadily & not spent outside my earnings since i was 16... i am now 37) as far as global poverty is concerned one thing we could do is to STOP monsanto from forcing their expensive gm seeds on the poor & stop them from penalizing these poor farmers for collecting & using their own heritage seeds... this applies to our farmers as well as farmers worldwide... as well, birth control education combined with a sense of personal responsibility... ( & birth control includes rhythm & pulling out... not perfect but certainly not against anyones moral beliefs) i agree with anyone who feels EDUCATION IS THE KEY...
Simon @ #38 - I suggest you read through her comments again and if you agree then my comment goes to you as well. You both should not be doing social work.
& to natalie from valley stream... i think that applies to OUR government as well... is anyone in our govt poor? or even middle class? & how about the millions of dollars & resources wasted on campaigning? ridiculous... our system seems built to waste...
44 - you bring very little to this conversation, perhaps she was not very politically correct in how she expressed herself, but my skin has grown thicker over the years and I can look objectively at the situation since I've pulled myself out of it. She is not completely off-base if we want to have a completely open and honest conversation here as we look at ourselves and the problem at hand.
MONSANTO
RECALL 1984 George Orwell - What are we eating?
the truth from atlanta -- i'm guessing you are not a social worker or civil servant?
why do you ask KJH?
I read through the remarks, especially after hearing Shenia's "answer" to the responsibility question.
To answer the sympathetic listeners who are shocked by some of the responses without saying anything nasty... I put it this way:
I go to work. I deal with the stress and tribulations that come with Holding and Keeping a Job. I created NO Out of wedlock kids. I play the involved financial balancing act of paying bills and Taxes and making sure the roof is over my head.
And when I go to work every morning, even though I am getting on the bus with hundreds and hundreds of other HARD-working New Yorkers on their way to work or coming home TIRED from work. . .
I have to walk past scores and scores of young women who've NEVER had a job, pushing baby strollers. I've had to stand in line at the supermarket while waiting for scores and scores of these same women, surrounded by kids, paying for their food with a welfare card when I had to make do with a bag of rice because I just finished paying my oil bill.
I see people who see no consequences. Who fail to understand, or simply not care where their Welfare dollars come from. Whose common question usually starts with the phrase: "Well, Someone's Supposed to"
Simply put-- People like Shenia and her situation just plain irk me.
My sympathy has killed off by overload. I'm just tired of hearing the same old excuses borne of repeated personal stupidity.
Understood Lonnie. Your comments are quite different from Karen's. I agree with you. You are expressing your own personal thoughts and experiences, you are not mass analyzing and speaking for the entire community.
UNBELIEVABLE. One child, ok an honest mistake..two? ....well, ....er....ok, not good, but not the end of the world.....FIVE???? The only answer to such irresponsible imbecility is a $5,000 'voluntary' sterilization procedure. After one or two, pay people who are having great difficulty supporting themselves, let alone a family, to accept & undergo sterilization (often reversible, if life circumstances change & justify it). CLEARLY this woman is NOT thinking of her children - the rest of us MUST & STOP it - for her sake, our sake, but, MOST IMPORTANTLY for the sake of those poor children.
This is why Newt Gingrich suggested orphanages; so that the next generation (or at least 5 of them) will not be raised by the mindless.
Yea, but, the Newt Gingrich's of the world would have us prevent such people from having abortions or finding access to other birth control methods. Sadly, such irresponsible parenting is aided & abetted by soft-headed left liberals AND hard-hearted radical conservatives.
Brian ends by replying to the caller with once they have three squares then they want a plamsa TV....I don't think so". I think the callers point was that aid to the third world doesn't seem to result in less poverty only more people and she is correct. This is not to say that it's OK to simply watch the third world starve on our plasma TVs, but to ignore the increasing stress on the world's resources as the population grows and simultaneously wants a higher standard of living is to simply stick your head in the sand, and as long as your head's in the sand your words will fall on deaf ears.
Humane, VOLUNTARY population control is the only short term rational alternative to the inevitable involuntary population control that will come from the disease, poverty & starvation that will inevitably flow from the increased planetary stress of uncontrolled population growth with simultaneous increasing material aspirations. We do not yet know the way to increased material well being for many more billions that does not stress the planet's ecosystem beyond endurance. We will ultimately know that way, but until we do, we had better act to curb our numbers voluntarily, the easy way, or Nature will curb them for us, the harder way. The world MUST reduce it's reproduction rates to allow time for the longer term solutions for the problems caused by our environmental impact to be discovered & introduced.
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