An Introduction to Measuring Poverty
By Fred Kammer, SJ
Poverty is one of the three focus areas for the work of JSRI. In their 1986 book-length pastoral letter Economic Justice for All the US Bishops reminded us of the importance of confronting poverty in these words:
Gulf South Children at the Bottom of 2009 KIDS COUNT Report
African-American and Hispanic Children Even Worse Off
By Fred Kammer, S.J.
In its report released July 28, 2009, the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 20th annual KIDS COUNT Data Book reveals once again the serious plight of children in the five Gulf South states. Together, Mississippi (50th), Louisiana (49th), and Alabama (48th) ranked last in the ratings, and both Florida (36th) and Texas (34th) were in the bottom third of U.S. states in the condition of their children.
Prison Doesn’t Pay
<p>The Gulf South states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, and Florida rank 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7 respectively for the rate of adult incarceration among all fifty states. The growth in the incarceration rate among Gulf South states between 1982 and 2007 is also high: Louisiana (272%), Mississippi (256%), Texas (203%), Alabama (176%), and Florida (127%). This growth is highly significant for the associated increases in federal and state correctional costs, diminishing returns for public safety, and exacerbating racial inequities.</p>
Gulf States Need to Shift Public Policy and Funding from Incarceration to Alternatives
By Alex Mikulich, Ph.D.
The Gulf South states of Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, and Florida rank 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7 respectively for the rate of adult incarceration among all fifty states. The growth in the incarceration rate among Gulf South states between 1982 and 2007 is also high: Louisiana (272%), Mississippi (256%), Texas (203%), Alabama (176%), and Florida (127%).
Hijacking Health Care for All--Again!
<p>The current effort to reform our health care system recalls the failure of the 1990s. The U.S. bishops have urged reform since 1919. Powerful interests combined to block reform in the last decade and they are committed to doing so again. In the early nineties, some thirty-two to thirty-four million Americans were without health coverage. Since then the number of uninsured has grown by about a million people a year and now is estimated to be forty-seven million without health care (and a whopping 86 million uninsured at some point in the 2007-2008 period)! The bishops repeatedly have reminded us that health care is a fundamental human right, one which we all share and which we all have a duty to promote for the common good. That right should shape the contours of the national debate and not the kind of self-interests and misleading information which abounds. Real reform must deal with at least several key issues simultaneously: access, costs, coverage, and quality. The current system fails to do so.</p>
Millions of Gulf South Children and Families without Health Coverage
By Fred Kammer, S.J.
The Quest for National Health Care Reform
Gulf South unemployment increases by 66 percent
<p>Unemployment in the five states of the Gulf South increased by 897,118 workers in the year from May, 2008 to May, 2009. This was a 66% increase! According to seasonally adjusted data available from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Florida had the highest regional unemployment rate of 10.2%, increasing from 5.8% a year ago by adding another 408,553 workers to the ranks of the unemployed. Alabama was second in the region with 9.8% of its workers unemployed and Mississippi was third with 9.6% unemployed. The national unemployment rate in May was 9.4%.</p>