Disir
Platinum Member
- Sep 30, 2011
- 28,003
- 9,610
- 910
There are so many poor folk in Philadelphia that in March, City Council President Darrell L. Clarke announced a plan that would lift 100,000 of them out of poverty over the next four years.
One major part of the plan is to just hand them cash, à la Andrew Yang. “Call me crazy — I’m just optimistic this will happen,” Clarke said at the news conference.
Five months earlier, Mayor Jim Kenney made his own announcement on poverty. He boasted that the city’s economy had improved so much that 15,000 poor folks had left poverty behind. But when poor folks become working poor folks, it’s still a slippery slope.
When you live below the poverty line (currently $12,760 a year for an individual, or $21,720 for a family of three), every problem is a crisis. Housing insecurity turns into chronic homelessness. Poor schools become dropout factories. Job problems morph into long-term unemployment. Hunger intrudes. Irritations explode into violence.
Take COVID-19. Within 10 days of Governor Tom Wolf’s closure of all non-essential businesses, 645,000 Pennsylvanians, many thousands of them low-wage workers, had filed for unemployment.
This is an interesting commentary specifically because it shows the history of attempts to solve poverty but is either lip service or is just...........stupid. What I am most impressed by is that these plans aren't plans. I think that it's going to continue until people ask better questions from candidates. It's a bit lengthy.
One major part of the plan is to just hand them cash, à la Andrew Yang. “Call me crazy — I’m just optimistic this will happen,” Clarke said at the news conference.
Five months earlier, Mayor Jim Kenney made his own announcement on poverty. He boasted that the city’s economy had improved so much that 15,000 poor folks had left poverty behind. But when poor folks become working poor folks, it’s still a slippery slope.
When you live below the poverty line (currently $12,760 a year for an individual, or $21,720 for a family of three), every problem is a crisis. Housing insecurity turns into chronic homelessness. Poor schools become dropout factories. Job problems morph into long-term unemployment. Hunger intrudes. Irritations explode into violence.
Take COVID-19. Within 10 days of Governor Tom Wolf’s closure of all non-essential businesses, 645,000 Pennsylvanians, many thousands of them low-wage workers, had filed for unemployment.
For 40 Years, Philly Mayors Have Promised to End Poverty. For 40 Years, I’ve Watched Them Fail.
Administration after administration, their plans have solved nothing. This is what having a front-row seat to decades of political futility looks like.
www.phillymag.com
This is an interesting commentary specifically because it shows the history of attempts to solve poverty but is either lip service or is just...........stupid. What I am most impressed by is that these plans aren't plans. I think that it's going to continue until people ask better questions from candidates. It's a bit lengthy.