Joseph Palermo: After telling his readers he isn’t going to blame the poor for being poor because of their bad behavior, David Brooks plows right ahead and blames the poor for being poor because of their bad behavior.
Confessions of a Child Janitor
Tina Dupuy: Gingrich has a dark vision for a Shining City Upon a Hill: where poor children work in place of union labor. It’s basically the 20th century played in reverse.
Mass Appeal: LA’s New Embrace of Public Transit
Jackie Cornejo: The thing is, when you grow up poor, the idea of taking public transit is a no-brainer. I learned very early that driving was a privilege, and that taking public transit was the only way I would be able to go to school and eventually get to work.
Tax the Poor
Tom Degan: According to the fellow from the Heritage Foundation, many poor people in this country are in the possession of “luxury items” that poor people just shouldn’t posses: refrigerators and ari-conditioners.
The Perils for Obama of Not Talking About Poverty in America
Joseph Palermo: By not speaking about the poor and poverty in America President Obama allows the Reagan era “welfare queen” construct to go unchallenged and, even worse, creates a vacuum that’s already being filled by right-wing pseudo-scholars.
Teach for America Roots
Mark Naison: It behooves us, as progressive organizers and justice fighters, to keep the lines of communication open to people in these organizations, and be there to work with them if they join us in resistance to policies that concentrate economic sacrifice amongst America’s poor.
‘Let Them Eat Cake’ 2011-Style
Mariah Adin: As a record number of Americans live below the poverty line to claim that poor children are doing well because they grow up to be “one inch taller and 10 pounds heavier than the GIs… in World War II” or that “the poorest Americans today live a better life than all but the richest persons a hundred years ago” only serves to show how awful it was one hundred years ago, not how wonderful it is today.
The Poor of New York: Old-Fashioned Melodrama New Again
Ed Rampell: Although, as this highly recommended play rightfully reminds us, poverty – then and now – is serious business. Greed was not good when perpetrated by Wall Street’s Gordon Gekkos of 1837, or today.
Free the 8th District from LA’s Biggest Budget Buster
Anthony Samad: Bernard Parks disrespects people, the political office he holds, and the political processes he engages.
Channeling Reagan, Obama Moves to Slash Programs for Urban Poor
Randy Shaw: The Obama Administration honored Ronald Reagan’s 100th birthday on February 6 by proposing steep cuts to two of the leading programs for the urban poor: community service grants and community development block grants (CDBG).
When the Poor Conspire to Keep Themselves Poor
David Love: Although the history still has yet to be written on the Obama presidency, it looks as if the second coming of F.D.R. ain’t gonna happen just yet. There are very good intentions in this administration, mixed with conflicting allegiances and amateurism.
Meg’s Vicious Campaign
Randy Shaw: Few actions are more despicable than a multi-millionaire promoting making life worse for the very poor. Yet that’s what California Republican Governor candidate Meg Whitman is doing to get votes, even arguing that our lowest-income families should be removed from welfare altogether after two years.
