[lit-ideas] Re: The American Poor
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 24 May 2006 14:58:27 -0700
It doesn't sound as though you read the article that you seem to be
responding to because it seems to contradict some of your speculations:
<http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg1713.cfm>
http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg1713.cfm
In regard to housing, you left out the fact that 46% of those below the
poverty line in the U.S. own their own homes The significance of the
statistics in the article I posted is that the absolute wealth of the bulk
of those below the American poverty line is above the average income of most
of our parents and above the average GDP per capita of, I suspect, of most
of the world's nations. Our poverty line is $8,900 per person. The average
GDP per person in Brazil, for example, is $8,400. See
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2004rank.html
As to the cost of housing, you have provided some anecdotal evidence about
who can afford housing and who cannot at the present time. Forgetting for
the time being that 46% of those below the American poverty line already own
their own homes, I can't tell whether it is more or less difficulty to own a
home in the U.S. today. My anecdotal evidence doesn't support yours. I
bought my first home in about 1961 for about $17,800 and it was spooky
taking on that huge obligation. Things were tight. We had to stick to a
budget. In about 1973 I sold my first home and bought a more expensive home
for $50,000. Things were touch and go for a long time after that. Time
passed. I got divorced lived in a studio apartment for awhile, remarried
and in 1983 managed to buy a condo for $125,000. I retired in 1998, sold my
1630 sq ft condo for $165,000 and bought a 2200 sq foot home in San Jacinto
for $145,000. It is worth more now than when we bought it, perhaps around
$375,000 would be my guess, but that is the nature of property values. They
go up.
You might argue that the increase in the value of my house supports your
argument, but I bought the largest model available at the time. Smaller
houses sell for much less. The house I bought in 1961 was tiny - clearly in
the category of what they call a "starter." A starter today would be more
expensive but far less than $375,000 in San Jacinto or in any of the
neighboring towns. One of your anecdotes pertains to a location where
housing is unusually expensive. I'd like to hear from John McCreery what
housing in Japan costs.
Another anecdote: I recall engineers that had skipped around from company
to company and as a consequence would receive upon retirement a smaller
income from their several pensions than if they had stayed at one company.
The standard joke was for such an engineer to say that he was going to
retire as soon as his Social Security kicked in even if he had to live in a
trailer park in Bullhead City. It is a lot more expensive to live in
Bullhead City than when engineers used to say that, but there are cheaper
places to live than single-family dwellings. I know people who upon
retirement sold their homes and moved into very nice trailer parks and claim
to be deliriously happy.
One more anecdote: Housing is cheaper in my valley than in Orange County to
the North or San Diego County to the South where the better paying jobs; so
lots of people are opting to drive long distances to work.
Lawrence
_____
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Carol Kirschenbaum
Sent: Wednesday, May 24, 2006 1:53 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: The American Poor
>The average poor American has more living space than the average individual
>living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout
Europe.
ck: Lawrence inadvertantly hits upon the single most important factor in
American poverty today--the increasing price of housing in the US. Rental
housing, too, of course. Although rising real estate prices is also
troubling in Europe, the ability to live *inside* is a sina qua non for all
the other goodies Lawrence lists, as well as for the ability to obtain and
maintain employment, general stability, etc. In the US today, a family of
four cannot afford rent for an apartment, if two adults earning minimum
wage. Anywhere. In any county. (This from a study that was headline news
within the past year, then sank into obscurity. Wish I had it to quote now,
however. Ehrenreich's _Nickel & Dimed_ makes the point in real life terms.)
Housing, I would argue, is the most critical element in avoiding a total
poverty cycle of chronic unemployment, malnutrition, death by preventable
and treatable diseases--all of which we have in abundance in the US. But
housing costs are through the roof, and there's no cap on rental prices
whatsoever in most states. (Used to be one in NYC, but that's almost gone.)
What happens to people on fixed incomes, whether that income is from the
state or an invested pension? What happens to the elderly and disabled, who
are more likely to be in that fixed income fix? Right now, some counties in
some states are stepping up, though in baby steps, to fill gaps left by the
Bushies' withdrawal of such little helpers as federally subsidized housing
vouchers. In my county, and in my state, the vouchers ran out three years
ago. No new names allowed. There's no waiting list. Likely, there'll be no
more housing vouchers in the future.
Remember all that talk about homelessness? About the blight, the tragedy of
it, the simple fact of it in America? My mother (who lost her
rent-stabilization last week, after 55 years of living in the same NYC
apartment) asked me about that. "What have they done with them? Killed
them?" Probably not, I told her, but a number with mental illnesses went
into prisons (mercy arrests turned longterm), and if you're sick and
homeless, the "in" thing this year is to mutter "Katrina." But as Lawrence
says, we don't need any pansy-assed welfare state or safety net in this
country. We're free! Just be careful when you park in a neighborhood that's
a little more free than others.
Carol,
free in barren Fresno County ("Mini-mansions for under $1 million!!!")
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