I could go into all of the various issues I have this article on poverty at The American Prospect. For example, in this sentence:
The official poverty measure is an important metric, one that tells us what share of people live in extreme economic deprivation in one of the wealthiest countries in the world. Since it’s been in place for nearly 50 years and has been measured fairly consistently, the official poverty measure paints a picture of poverty over time.
they conflate two very different things: “extreme economic deprivation” and “official poverty”. Official poverty is a statistical measure of relative poverty based on the CPI. There are actually two different definitions—one from the OMB and one from HHS. The OMB figure is the 14% they quote in the article.
“Extreme economic deprivation” has a definition, too: in the United States it’s trying to live on $2 per person per day and that’s true of about 1% of the population.
However, the quibble with the article I wanted to highlight is in this paragraph:
Finally, one of the most critical factors in suppressing wages is the erosion of collective bargaining and the decrease in job quality for working people. Enacting modern labor standards, such as paid family leave and paid sick days, as well as continuing advancements in and enforcement of labor laws, such as greater employer responsibility to franchise and contract workers, and making it easier for workers to form unions and new alliances will improve working conditions, wages, and benefits.
I think they should be specific. What “erosion of collective bargaining” are they referring to? I don’t see any. What I see is deindustrialization of the United States under the pressure of globalization and falling wages for jobs with few entry requirements driven by effectively open borders, both neoliberal policies that have been strenuously promoted by American progressives over the period of the last half century.
Welcome to the consequences of the policies you’ve favored.
