Racial Wealth Inequality and the Myth of a “Post-Racial” America
By Dr. Alex Mikulich, Research Fellow
Since Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in 1968, the income gap between blacks and whites has narrowed by just three cents on the dollar. In 2005, the median per-capita income for blacks stood at $16,629 and $28,946 for whites. In Mississippi, whites’ average personal earnings are more than $10,000 more than African Americans’. 1 Many scholars note that at this rate of progress, income equality will not be achieved for 537 years.
U.S. Jesuits, social analysis, and the urban poor during the economic recession
By Fr. Edward B "Ted" Arroyo, S.J., JSRI Alabama Associate
U.S. Taxes Are Low by Comparison
Politics drive anti-tax movements and low-income families suffer
By the Rev. Fred Kammer, S.J.
Everyone seems to be worshiping at the “no new taxes” altar. This continues some 30 years of anti-tax propaganda whose most vociferous current harbinger is the Tea Party movement. The actual results have included a widening of the gap between rich and poor to its current morally grotesque levels and the substantial deterioration of U.S. infrastructure.
Our Federal Budget Reflects Our Nation’s Morality
By the Rev. Fred Kammer, S.J.
The drama of competing federal budgets and the game of “chicken” about shutting down government is red meat for the pundits, the media, and ambitious politicians. But it ignores one basic truth: government budgets are not about economics; they are about national morality. Such morality is now on the line in Washington.
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:
Wage Theft and Worker Exploitation
<p>Wage theft occurs when workers are underpaid or not paid. It is illegal. Millions of workers suffer from wage theft each year. It is a form of theft and also exploitation by those in power of those with much less power—usually the poor, women, undocumented workers, and especially those in apparel and textile manufacturing, personal and repair services, and in private households. Child care workers are particularly vulnerable to wage theft. Wage theft also creates an uneven field between honest and dishonest employers, and it robs government of tax revenue, thus harming all of us.</p>
How unscrupulous employers steal from poor workers
by Fred Kammer, S.J.
You shall not oppress a hired servant who is poor and needy, whether he is one of your brethren or one of the sojourners who are in your land within your towns; you shall give him his hire on the day he earns it, before the sun goes down (for he is poor, and sets his heart on it); lest he cry against you to the LORD, and it be sin in you. Deuteronomy 24:14-15
Wage Theft and Exploitation
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.
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
Louisiana governor vetoes homeless assistance bill
<p>On July 7, 2009, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal vetoed HB 781, Homeless Assistance and Prevention Act which created the first statewide Director of Homeless Assistance and Prevention, as well as the Interagency Council on Homelessness.</p>
Governor Jindal and proponents disagree over costs
On July 7, 2009, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal vetoed HB 781, Homeless Assistance and Prevention Act which created the first statewide Director of Homeless Assistance and Prevention, as well as the Interagency Council on Homelessness.
A July 7, an Associated Press report by Doug Simpson indicated the following:
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>