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Child Poverty, Rural Poverty, and "Deep Poverty"

Blurb

The figures released in September by the U.S. Census Bureau from its 2009 American Community Survey give us multiple angles from which to view the poverty of the five states of the Gulf South. If we just look at the overall numbers of people living below “the poverty line”—a measure considered too low by many experts—we see figures1 reflected in this table with the overall U.S. and regional numbers.

Read more about Child Poverty, Rural Poverty, and "Deep Poverty"

By the Rev. Fred Kammer, S.J.

The figures released in September by the U.S. Census Bureau from its 2009 American Community Survey give us multiple angles from which to view the poverty of the five states of the Gulf South. If we just look at the overall numbers of people living below “the poverty line”—a measure considered too low by many experts—we see figures1 reflected in this table with the overall U.S. and regional numbers.

Payday loans and Catholic Social Teaching--a modern form of usury!

Blurb

An “industry” that has emerged over the past forty years and that has been booming over the last decade is known as “payday lending.”   A payday loan, sometimes called a paycheck advance, is a small, supposedly short-term loan that allows a borrower to cover urgent needs such as rent or mortgage payments, utilities, and/or medical bills.   According to the Center for Responsible Lending (CRL), between 2000 and 2006, total sales volume of payday loans had nearly tripled from $10 billion to $28 billion nationally.[1]  CRL finds that 90 percent of payday lending revenues are based upon fees stripped from trapped borrowers—the typical borrower pays back $793 for a $325 loan.

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By Alex Mikulich, Ph.D., JSRI Research Fellow

Income inequality continues to skyrocket

Blurb

In 1986, writing in their pastoral letter Economic Justice for All, the U.S. bishops observed this about the state of income inequality in this country:
<blockquote>
In comparison with other industrialized nations, the United States is among the more unequal in terms of income distribution.  Moreover, the gap between rich and poor in our nation has increased during the last decade.  These inequities are of particular concern because they reflect the uneven distribution of power in our society.  They suggest that the level of participation in the political and social spheres is also very uneven. (No. 184)
</blockquote>
The bishops could hardly have imagined that the inequality of a quarter century ago (measured in 1983 numbers) not only would not decrease, but it would rapidly continue to increase to the pres

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By Fred Kammer, S.J.

In 1986, writing in their pastoral letter Economic Justice for All, the U.S. bishops observed this about the state of income inequality in this country:

Taxing Working-Poor Families

Blurb

We hear a lot about “tea party politics” and so-called taxpayer-revolts, but I wonder whether the participants have looked at the facts about taxation and aimed their protests in the right directions. Two recent reports have highlighted the acute disparities in taxation in the fifty states—namely, how it is the poor who carry the greatest tax burdens and how regressive are state and local tax systems. State taxes only reinforce the income distribution trends of the past several decades where—you guessed it—the rich are indeed getting richer, the poor poorer, and the middle class largely standing still (until the recent recession knocked many of them down). The five states of the Gulf South, sadly, are among the most regressive.

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By Fred Kammer, S.J.

Immigrants as People, Not Files!

Blurb

Earlier this year, I participated on a panel of immigration attorneys speaking to law students about immigration law careers. One panelist recalled her final days of clerking at the immigration court located within the federal prison in Oakdale, Louisiana. During a break in the docket, the immigration judge for whom she worked asked if she would be continuing her career with the government. The attorney responded that she did not think so and that during her clerkship it had been difficult to witness the deportation of families, the separation of children from parents, and husbands from wives. The judge thought for a moment and replied, “Yep, if you’re gonna think of ‘em as people, you can’t work for us. They’re files!” This article is not intended to impugn the integrity of immigration judges or others who do government work. I have met fine men and women who serve as judges or other immigration employees. However, this sentiment of immigrants being files or non-human or not like “us” is pervasive in the national immigration debate. It subtly, and at times not so subtly, influences our country’s attitudes and policies regarding immigrants.

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By Fr. Tom Greene, S.J.

Got Privilege? The Ironies of White Privilege and the Gospel Call to Conversion

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One irony of American history is the tendency of good white Americans to presume racial innocence. White ignorance of how we are shaped racially is the first sign of privilege. In other words, it is a privilege to ignore the consequences of race in America.

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by Alex Mikulich, Ph.D., JSRI Fellow

One irony of American history is the tendency of good white Americans to presume racial innocence. White ignorance of how we are shaped racially is the first sign of privilege. In other words, it is a privilege to ignore the consequences of race in America.

Guilt, accusation, or moralistic finger-pointing at the “cabal of bigots”¹ who keep people of color down, misses the problem. Rather, the complexity of white privilege concerns how good people—including myself—perpetuate and benefit from racial hierarchy.

A Must Read

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The demand that social science and public policy address both inner-city behavior and social structures is a key insight of William JuliusWilson’s scholarship. Too often, social scientific and policy debates create a dichotomy between culture—the beliefs, modes of decision-making, and meaning-making that pervade the inner city—and social structure— the ways larger institutions of the economy, polity, and education shape the life chances of groups and individuals. Wilson avoids this false dichotomy.

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More than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City by William Julius Wilson

Reviewed by Dr. Alex Mikulich, Research Fellow

Where Y'at Fair Housing?

Blurb

As we say in New Orleans, to learn how a person is doing, it is an appropriate time to ask: Where Y’at, Fair Housing? Significant gains for homeownership have been won for people of color in the last 50 years. Due largely to the success of the Civil Rights Fair Housing legislation, African-American homeownership increased from one in three in 1950, to nearly one in two by 2000.

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By Alex Mikulich, Ph.D., JSRI Research Fellow

As we say in New Orleans, to learn how a person is doing, it is an appropriate time to ask: Where Y’at, Fair Housing? Significant gains for homeownership have been won for people of color in the last 50 years. Due largely to the success of the Civil Rights Fair Housing legislation, African-American homeownership increased from one in three in 1950, to nearly one in two by 2000.

Poverty and the Gulf South States

Blurb

One predominant characteristic of our region, despite decades of “New South” propaganda, is the reality and legacy of our poverty—of our elders, our families, our children, our education, our health status, our infant mortality, our life expectancy, and our future. Two of the five states of the Gulf anchor the bottom of the list of economic well-being—Mississippi is the poorest (50th) and Louisiana is just above it (49th). The others solidly populate the lowest segments, none rising above the median. Texas is 43rd; Alabama is 42nd; and Florida is 29th on the list of states by percentage of its people living in poverty. We get so used to being at the bottom of these kinds of lists that we seem to just ignore repeated reports, perhaps hoping that they will go away on their own.

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By the Rev. Fred Kammer, S.J., JSRI Director

The Measure of Poverty

Blurb

In their 1986 book-length pastoral letter, Economic Justice for All, the U.S. Bishops reminded us of the importance of confronting poverty in these words:
<blockquote>
Dealing with poverty is not a luxury to which our nation can attend when it finds the time and resources. Rather, it is a moral imperative of the highest priority.1
</blockquote>

Read more about The Measure of Poverty

By the Rev. Fred Kammer, S.J.

In their 1986 book-length pastoral letter, Economic Justice for All, the U.S. Bishops reminded us of the importance of confronting poverty in these words:

Dealing with poverty is not a luxury to which our nation can attend when it finds the time and resources. Rather, it is a moral imperative of the highest priority.¹