The American Way of Poverty: How the Other Half Still Lives (51 page)

4.
Kaiser Family Foundation, “Where Are States Today? Medicaid and CHIP Eligibility Levels for Children and Non-Disabled Adults.” July 2012. Report available at
http://www.kff.org/medicaid/upload/7993–02.pdf
and
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0155.pdf
.

5.
For more information on this, see Daniel Levine,
Poverty and Society: The Growth of the American Welfare State in International Comparison
(New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1988).

6.
The speech is quoted in Wallace’s 1944 book
Democracy Reborn
. It is also available at
http://newdeal.feri.org/wallace/haw04.htm#8
.

7.
For details of annual SNAP expenditures, see
http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/SNAPsummary.htm
.

8.
See
http://www.nal.usda.gov/ric/ricpubs/foodstamps.htm
.

9.
See
http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/learning_history/children_depression/depression_children_menu.cfm
.

10.
See Newman and O’Brien,
Taxing the Poor
.

11.
Physicians Task Force on Hunger in America,
Hunger in America: The Growing Epidemic
(Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 1985), 176.

12.
See
http://www.cms.gov/Research-Statistics-Data-and-Systems/Statistics-Trends-and-Reports/TheChartSeries/Downloads/35chartbk.pdf
.

13.
See
http://www.lbjlib.utexas.edu/johnson/archives.hom/speeches.hom/640108.asp
.

14.
See
http://www.jfklibrary.org/Research/Ready-Reference/RFK-Speeches/Remarks-of-Robert-F-Kennedy-at-the-University-of-Kansas-March-18–1968.aspx
.

15.
Martin Luther King Jr.,
Where Do We Go From Here: Chaos or Community?
(New York: Harper & Row, 1967). The text was based on a speech King gave at the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia, on August 16, 1967.

16.
For an in-depth discussion of shifting public attitudes around welfare and poverty, see Jeffrey Will, “The Dimensions of Poverty: Public Perceptions of the Deserving Poor,”
Social Science Research
22 (1992): 312–332. Available at
http://www.unf.edu/uploadedFiles/aa/coas/cci/publication%20Dimensions%20of%20Poverty.pdf
.

17.
See
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/plutocracy-ge-doesnt-pay_b_840936.html
.

18.
I am grateful to Kathryn Sklar, distinguished professor emerita of history at the State University of New York at Binghamton, for explaining to me the different ways in which the polity responded to male and female poverty in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

19.
Michael Katz, “The American Welfare State and Social Contract in Hard Times,”
Journal of Policy History
22, no. 4 (2010): 508–529.

20.
Richard Parker cites this in his book
John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics
(New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005), 481. His footnote attributes the information to historian Irving Bernstein’s book
Guns or Butter
, 84.

21.
See
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcFDF87-SdQ
.

22.
See
http://politicalcorrection.org/blog/201012100003
.

23.
See
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r79-Za5tj9E
.

PART ONE, CHAPTER FOUR

1.
Data provided by the affordable housing advocacy group, the Community Tool Box, available at
http://ctb.ku.edu/en/tablecontents/sub_section_main_1305.aspx
.

2.
See
http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2007–08–05/the-pet-economy
and
http://www2.wkrg.com/news/2012/mar/02/how-much-do-americans-spend-their-pets-ar-3339130/
. Also, for TANF spending, see
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/other_resrch/tanf_ccdf/reports/broader_safety.pdf
.

3.
See
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=atWbvxYV3vVk&refer=culture
.

4.
See
http://thebodyproject.bradley.edu/industires/index.shtml
.

5.
These data are from Gina Kolata, “Liposuction Study Finds That Lost Fat Returns,” the
New York Times
, April 30, 2011. Available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/weekinreview/01kolata.html
.

6.
Bob Woodruff, “Life on Ice: The World of Crazy Cryogenics.”
Good Morning America
, July 27, 2011. Available at
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/01/weekinreview/01kolata.html
.

7.
Business Wire
, “Paradise Tan Increases an Overall Funding Package to $24 Million,” November 26, 2003. Available at
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20031126005019/en/Paradise-Tan-Increases-Funding-Package-24-Million
.

8.
This number is based on information contained in a report by the Harvard Law School’s Berman Center for the Internet and Society. See
http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/vaw02/mod2–3.htm
. The data are from the early 2000s. In all likelihood, that amount has increased considerably in the years since this study was released.

9.
See
http://www.epi.org/publication/child_poverty_rises_dramatically/
.

10.
See
http://www.census.gov/prod/2011pubs/acs-16.pdf
.

11.
See
http://scjusticewatch.org/2012/01/10/another-legislative-session-more-scapegoating-of-the-poor/
.

12.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,
State-By-State Fact Sheets
. Available at
http://www.cbpp.org/files/1-25-11tanf-methodology.pdf
and
http://www.cbpp.org/files/8-7-12tanf-factsheets/8-7-12tanf-FL.pdf
.

13.
This information is in the CBPP report,
TANF Benefits Fell Further in 2011 and Are Worth Much Less Than in 1996 in Most States
. The report attributes this information to HHS Poverty Guidelines as well as various state sources and is valid through July 1, 2011.

14.
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities,
State-by-State Fact Sheets on TANF
, based on data collected from state agencies and DHHS.

15.
U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee,
Green Book
, Table 8–15, 1996. Available at
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.dgi?dbname=104_green_book&docid=f:wm014_18.pdf
.

16.
Information on summer employment program and murder rates in Flint provided during author interview with Alicia Booker, of the Mott Foundation, June 23, 2012.

17.
Peter J. Hotez, “Tropical Diseases: The New Plague of Poverty,” the
New York Times
, June 19, 2012.

18.
Ibid.

19.
For a full discussion of state TANF time limit reductions, see
http://voices.yahoo.com/safety-nets-go-bust-over-15-million-welfare-risk-10128845.html?cat=31
.

20.
See
http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/rush-limbaugh-hungry-children-are-wanton-li
.

21.
See
http://www.speaker.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=240370
.

22.
See
http://www.politicalruminations.com/michele-bachmann-quotes/
.

23.
See
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=42693
.

PART ONE, CHAPTER FIVE

1.
See
http://www.pewtrusts.org/uploadedFiles/wwwpewtrustsorg/Reports/Philadelphia_Research_Initiative/Philadelphia-City-Data-Population-Demographics.pdf
.

2.
See
http://www.city-data.com/poverty/poverty-Philadelphia-Pennsylvania.html
.

3.
For disability data, see the following report by the Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York:
http://www.cidny.org/resources/News/Reports/Disability%20Matters.pdf
.

4.
This paragraph uses research generated by the Community Service Society in a December 2010 report titled
Unemployment in New York City During the Recession and Early Recovery: Young Black Men Hit the Hardest
, by Michelle Holder. See
http://b.3cdn.net/nycss/ea8952641d08e68fbb_c4m6bofb0.pdf
.

5.
Don Terry, “Where Work Disappears and Dreams Die,”
American Prospect
, special issue on poverty, July/August 2012.

6.
See
http://voices.yahoo.com/most-dangerous-cities-america-murder-rates-7293190.html?cat=54
.

7.
These data are generated by the USDA and publicized by FRAC. For the chart, modified each month, used by the author here, see
http://frac.org/pdf/2012_05.pdf
.

8.
See
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/us/support-grows-for-idea-of-drug-tests-for-welfare-recipients.html?_r=1&ref=welfareus
.

9.
See
http://www.thenation.com/blog/167487/week-poverty-georgia-tries-get-zero-welfare-recipients
.

10.
For a good discussion of Mettler’s work, see Ezra Klein’s column, available at
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012–03–01/middle-class-welfare-state-invisible-by-design-commentary-by-ezra-klein.html
.

11.
This is from the draft of an unpublished paper that Katz showed the author in summer 2012. The New America Foundation has also done research on these subsidies.

12.
Buchanan is referencing the Heritage Foundation’s report, Robert Rector,
Understanding Poverty in the United States
, available at
http://townhall.com/columnists/patbuchanan/2012/02/24/creators_oped/page/full/
.

13.
Philip Stern and George de Vincent,
The Shame of a Nation
(New York: Ivan Obolensky, 1965), 130.

14.
See
http://www.rentjungle.com/average-rent-in-new-york-rent-trends/
.

15.
Information provided in conversation with JoAnne Page, executive director of the New York City–based Fortune Society.

16.
See
http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/report_detail.aspx?id=85899372244
.

17.
See
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/24/us-usa-health-psychiatric-idUSTRE7BN06820111224
.

18.
See
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2011/11/10/will-budget-cuts-threaten-mental-health-in-your-state/
.

19.
Liz Schott and Clare Cho, “General Assistance Programs: Safety Net Weakening Despite Increased Need,” Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, updated December 19, 2011. Available at
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3603
.

20.
See
http://money.cnn.com/2010/09/16/news/economy/Americas_wealthiest_states/index.htm
;
http://xfinity.comcast.net/slideshow/finance-worstpaidteachers/mississippi/
;
http://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/usa/mississippi-life-expectancy
; and
http://www.census.gov/statab/ranks/rank17.html
.

21.
Kaiser Family Foundation,
State Health Facts
, available at
http://www.statehealthfacts.org/profileind.jsp?rep=130&cat=4&rgn=26
.

22.
A year later, the Kaiser Family Foundation reported that “chronic conditions were [also] widespread, with over four in ten (41%) adults responding that they had been told by a doctor that they had hypertension, diabetes, asthma or other breathing problems, or other chronic health conditions.”

23.
See
http://www.kff.org/kaiserpolls/upload/7659.pdf
.

24.
See
http://www.urban.org/publications/900921.html
.

25.
See
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/28/four-years-after-katrina_n_270944.html
.

26.
See
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/29/nation/la-na-katrina-20100829
.

27.
Estimates of Hurricane Katrina’s cost range from approximately $90 billion up to $125 billion; approximately $41 billion of this was covered by insurance company payouts. See
http://useconomy.about.com/od/grossdomesticproduct/f/katrina_damage.htm
, and
http://www.naic.org/cipr_topics/topic_catastrophe.htm
.

28.
See
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/02/bp-oil-spill-costs-hit-40_n_777521.html
.

29.
See
http://articles.cnn.com/2011–08–29/opinion/kohn.conservatives.fema_1_fema-federal-emergency-management-agency-disaster-relief?_s=PM:OPINION
.

30.
See
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/10/fema-more-federal-disaster-response-programs-alarming-cuts.html
.

PART ONE, CHAPTER SIX

1.
Jacob Hacker,
The Great Risk Shift: The New Economic Insecurity and the Decline of the American Dream
, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 5.

2.
See
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2008–02–15/business/bernanke15_1_bernanke-fiscal-stimulus-package-economy-more-resilient
.

3.
See
http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/14/news/economy/bernanke_paulson/index.htm
.