In their essay—This MLK Day, Let’s Build on What Works—Nicholas Johnson and Arloc Sherman at the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities take a look at the “safety net’s” benefits and argue for “build[ing] on what works” rather than capitulating to the demolition of existing programs. But isn’t something deeper needed to fundamentally change the situation for so many Americans?
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose life we celebrate next week, was a champion not only of civil rights but also of full participation in the economy for everyone. He envisioned an America where both our economic and justice systems worked for all people — and offered routes to prosperity for those whose families’ way forward the nation had long barred.
Although we’ve made significant strides, King’s goals have not yet been achieved.
The great majority of America’s wealth is held by a small number of households. In all 50 states, the average income of the top 5 percent of households is now at least ten times higher than the bottom 20 percent, our recent report found. And a vastly disproportionate share of America’s wealthiest people are White.
This concentration of wealth and income means that while a small fraction of households are flourishing, too many Americans of all backgrounds lack basics: stable and affordable housing, access to good jobs, proximity to public transportation, and affordable health insurance and child care. Too many don’t live near good schools or have access to an affordable college education.
For every American who’s living paycheck to paycheck these are significant obstacles.
And the reality is that today, as in King’s time, low-income communities of color face particularly infuriating and imposing barriers such as job discrimination, harsh immigration policies, housing instability, and underfunded schools. King emphasized that many White Americans also faced poverty and disadvantage, and that all groups would make greater progress by working together for change. This is why he called for a “grand alliance” between the races. But he did not pretend the challenges for the races were identical; while a problem like youth unemployment was widespread for both races, he firmly noted, the unemployment rate was much higher for Black youth as White youth.
Thankfully, we have progress to build upon. In fact, over decades federal and state governments have created programs and policies that work quietly every day to improve racial equity. They help millions of striving Americans to have access to college, citizenship, decent health care, food to put on the table, and more. And while these programs and policies haven’t solved all our problems, they’ve toppled significant obstacles.
Our recent analysis provides a striking example of how one set of programs — the anti-poverty programs that we sometimes call the “safety net” — helped reduce the hardship felt in the wake of the last recession. Because so many people were thrown out of work in the recession, more than 90 million Americans would have had incomes below the poverty line absent federal aid. [...]
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At Daily Kos on this date in 2010—MA-Sen: Scott Brown's naked ploy:
Scott Brown, the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, claims he's never heard of the Tea Party movement:
He also claimed that he was unfamiliar with the "Tea Party movement," when asked by a reporter. When told that different people labeled him a conservative, moderate and a liberal Republican, he responded "I’m a Scott Brown Republican."
On the face of it, disassociating himself with teabaggers seems like a naked ploy by Scott Brown to avoid turning off moderate voters by exposing them to his long record of hard right positions.
Given the centrality of the tea party movement in Republican politics these days, it's inconceivable that Scott Brown unaware of it, and sure enough, over at Salon, Mike Madden found evidence undercutting Brown's claim: a fundraiser for Brown hosted by Friends of the Tea Party.
So Scott Brown says he wants to be a different kind of politician, but when asked if he's heard of the most active right-wing movement in America just days before an election in Democratic Massachusetts, Brown claims ignorance...even though one of the organizations in that movement of that movement hosted a fundraiser for him just days earlier.
On today’s Kagro in the Morning show, Armando joins us again to sum up the new rules for DC: there are no rules. In our lightning round of weekend smartness: yet another NH legislator drops a loaded gun; neo-Nazis can’t make the trains run on time; Marine Le Pen’s in town for the taco bowls.
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