Monday
Nov242008
Poverty predicted to rise
Monday, November 24, 2008 at 2:12PM
Robert Greenstein, Founder and Executive Director of the research organization The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, announced the center’s predictions on the recent economic crisis’ impact on poverty in the U.S.
“With unemployment projected to reach 9%, the number of people in poverty will rise by between 7.5 and 10.3 million. The number of poor children will increase by between 2.6 and 3.3 million,” said Greenstein during a telephone conference.
The center also predicted an increase in 4.5-6.3 million of those within “deep” poverty, wherein people live below half of the poverty line, marked at around 8,300 dollars a year for a family of three.
“The number of children living in deep poverty will rise between 1.5 and 2 million,” said Greenstein.
Greenstein warned that the center’s predictions may be too hopeful since the economic safety nets provided in previous recessions for the very poorest citizens have been eroded as a result of massive cuts in unemployment insurance and other assistance programs.
According to Greenstein, there are several steps that policy makers can take to mitigate these predictions.
“Helping struggling families is among the most effective stimulus measures that can be taken on a dollar for dollar basis because it [puts] resources in the hands of people who are most likely to spend all of those resources rather than saving them,” said Greenstein.
“With unemployment projected to reach 9%, the number of people in poverty will rise by between 7.5 and 10.3 million. The number of poor children will increase by between 2.6 and 3.3 million,” said Greenstein during a telephone conference.
The center also predicted an increase in 4.5-6.3 million of those within “deep” poverty, wherein people live below half of the poverty line, marked at around 8,300 dollars a year for a family of three.
“The number of children living in deep poverty will rise between 1.5 and 2 million,” said Greenstein.
Greenstein warned that the center’s predictions may be too hopeful since the economic safety nets provided in previous recessions for the very poorest citizens have been eroded as a result of massive cuts in unemployment insurance and other assistance programs.
According to Greenstein, there are several steps that policy makers can take to mitigate these predictions.
“Helping struggling families is among the most effective stimulus measures that can be taken on a dollar for dollar basis because it [puts] resources in the hands of people who are most likely to spend all of those resources rather than saving them,” said Greenstein.
Group endeavors hopes to help planet and people
Green for All and the Service Employees International Union converged in Washington, D.C. today, recommending to lawmakers how they should act following draft legislation recently put forward by Senate Democrats to introduce the Climate Equity Alliance, which is an alliance pushing for strong climate legislation that protects and provides opportunity for low- and moderate-income communities.
Jason Walsh, National Policy Director at Green for All said that, based on shared values, more than two dozen organizations from the research, advocacy, faith-based, labor and civil rights communities have formed this alliance.
“The urgent need of transition to a clean energy economy presents us with some critical choices…. We should therefore approach climate policy not only as environmental policy, though it is certainly that, but also as economic policy and as civil-rights policy that can advance principles of fairness and opportunity and equal access,” said Walsh.
The alliance believes that the best way to advance those principles “is to ensure that the strong policies needed to reduce green house gas emissions, also protect low and moderate income households and expand economic opportunity,” Walsh said.
U.S. climate policy needs to include effective mechanisms that reach all low-income households and effectively offset cost increases and to ensure that quality of life for those families is maintained, said Robert Greenstein, Executive Director at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
“This is definitely doable as part of climate legislation,” Greenstein said. “One certainly doesn’t want climate policy to have the unintended side effect of increasing poverty and hardship... Well-designed climate policy can assure that there aren’t such adverse effects by auctioning emissions allowances and devoting an appropriate portion of the proceeds to effectively deliver consumer relief for low and moderate income households”.
Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, CEO of Green for All, said “We believe that if climate policy can fight pollution, it can also alleviate poverty at the same time,” adding that she wants to make ensure that the alliance is equitable and takes in account low and moderate-income communities.
“We want to ensure that climate policies provide equal protection and also equal opportunity for all communities,” she said. “Our hope is that working together, if we do this right, we’ll really be able to make sure that both our planet and the people that inhabit it are not really just surviving but in fact thriving in a clean energy economy.”