Abolition

In his book, Poverty, By America, Matthew Desmond wants us to be poverty abolitionists. Here’s how.

You should read the book. 

But if you can’t, or it’s not your thing, or time is a motherfucker and you don’t have enough of it, I’m going to lay out the things that Desmond, in his new book, Poverty, By America, tells us about how poverty exists in the US and what we can do to abolish it. 

And the point here is that we can change it. We can abolish poverty but it will require BIG lens shifts on our part - yes, us - and then we have to vote with that front and center and move through life with that shift in how we view our consumer choices and how we live. 

As a food writer, I am committed to the idea that everyone should be able to have enough food (there is enough food theoretically), choose their own food, eat like they want to, live like they want to, buy what they want to eat, the brand they love, the amount they need. I want food charity to be unnecessary. Of course all of this is connected to poverty, housing, childcare, taxes, where the money flows, etc. 

Food doesn’t happen in a vacuum. 

Nor should food writing. 

There are a lot of substantial (rave!) reviews of this book, so I thought instead of writing a traditional review, I’d make a short-hand guide to some of the major points of the book and then, what we can all do to contribute to abolishing poverty in the US.

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This community's long standing tradition of segregation stops with me. I refuse to deny other children opportunities my children enjoy by living here. Build it. 

-Desmond suggests we “rise from our seats and tell our local officials this” about affordable housing. 

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Things Matthew Desmond Wants Us to  Know About Poverty: 

Poverty Assistance is Hard to Get

A lot of money earmarked to help the poor is not utilized by the poor because we make it too onerous, time consuming and difficult to navigate applying for the funds. Sometimes applying for things like disability requires multiple applications, multiple denials, and often a lawyer.

Immigrants are Not the Problem 

Immigrants compete for jobs with other immigrants who have come before them. They do not compete with American citizens for work. 

Single Moms Don’t Have to Be Poor

In other countries, single moms are given subsidies so they can have stable economic lives. The research shows when we do that, people tend to marry more. 

US Policy is Anti-Family + Anti-Marriage

Mass incarceration. As Desmond writes, “...there has only been one other state-sponsored initiative more antifamily than incarceration, and that was slavery.” Let. That. Sit. With. You. 

Prosperity = Unions

Almost all private sector employees are without a union. As a result, the US offers some of the lowest wages in the industrialized world. Companies make it policy to keep workers from talking about wages. Non-compete clauses keep workers from being able to quit. 

The Markets Determine Wages

Did you know that when Walmart wanted to raise wages, investors dumped the stock to the tune of $20 billion? Who benefits?: Half the middle and upper class households in the US who are invested in stocks and pension plans, and corporate shareholders. Who loses? Hourly workers and the poor. 

We All Contribute to a Servant Economy

All of us have been changed by overnight delivery and restaurant food showing up at our door. We only have these perks because delivery people are paid low wages. We need people to accept low wages so we can consume at the level we have been accustomed to. All of us reap the rewards of paying people poverty wages. 

Raising the Minimum Wage Creates:

• Better health

• Less child abuse

• Less underage alcohol consumption

• Fewer teen births

• Less smoking

• Less depression, anxiety + stress-related disorders

• Better choices + decision-making abilities

Rents Can Suck People Dry

We need more of it built.  But aside from that, rental revenues have been far out pacing landlords expenses particularly in poor neighborhoods. These landlords charge only slightly less than apartments in wealthier neighborhoods and have lower mortgages and less property taxes and often don’t put a lot of capital into upkeep. 

Then There’s the Myth of Lazy Workers

We falsely accused workers of not going back to work because they were given aid money during the pandemic. Desmond pushes back on this, saying it could've been a number of reasons (lack of childcare, threat of being sick, tired of working in poor conditions, etc) why did WE assume it was laziness? That is our bias about the poor. 

Most Welfare Recipients are not Black

Most welfare recipients are white. 

Welfare Does Not Create Dependency….

The research is clear: “Welfare is an insurance against temporary misfortune.” There is not one research study that says that getting money from the government makes people dependent or lazy. 

This is Great News because the Middle + Upper Classes Get All Kinds of Government Money

Homeowners subsidies, government supported retirement plans through employers, student loans, 529 educational accounts, child tax credits. 96% of us in the middle and uppers classes have received help from a government program. These are forms of welfare.

But the Rich Pay More Taxes! 

Sure, because they have more money. But they don’t pay a larger share of taxes. It’s a sliding scale.  Desmond reassures us the economy will not falter if the rich are asked to pay more taxes. 

Public squalor, Private Opulence

Money for the rich goes to making their lives better - they would rather charter a helicopter than make roads and transit more comfortable and efficient. They prefer private clubs to public parks. They are not interested in their money going to things that serve the public good. People with money are looking to keep themselves away from the public and behind gates. 

Affordable Housing Doesn’t Bring Down Property Values

As long as the properties are maintained and distributed throughout a community (not in one spot), property values don’t waver. 

Segregation

The retreat from the public by rich people is also a way to segregate racially. People didn’t want to swim in integrated pools, so they built their own in their backyard. This goes on today. The poor and people of color are relegated to the public, while rich white people sequester. 

The Costs of Opportunity

When the rich live together they hoard opportunities like good child care, good schools and safe neighborhoods. 

Let’s Build Low and No Income Housing! 

But where? Lots of folks would lose their minds having poor people (or worse former unhoused folks, or a house for adults with schizophrenia) in their master plan communities. People do not want low income folks in their communities. This applies to both Republicans + Dems. 

How do We (Upper + Middle Classes) Make the Poor Poorer?

• We exploit them by taking away opportunities + power in the labor market because we like cheap goods. 

• We subsidize the affluence over alleviating poverty. Desmond believes we can eradicate poverty largely by making rich people (families + corps) honest on their taxes and not giving them big tax loopholes.. He calls this creating “a welfare state of the upper class,” which is brilliant. Why are the rich getting welfare? 

• We create exclusive communities where opulence and opportunity are concentrated. Affluence breeds affluence. Poverty breeds more poverty.  

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Any real change, writes James Baldwin, implies the breakup of the world as one has always known it, the loss of all that gave one an identity, the end of safety. 

James Baldwin, as quoted by Desmond in Poverty, By America. 

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Things Matthew Desmond Believes We Can Do to Abolish Poverty Permanently:

Make the Rich Pay:

We lose $1 trillion a year to companies + rich families who do not pay their taxes. Fund the IRS to track down this money. Simply collecting unpaid federal income taxes from the top 1% would bring in $175 billion a year. 

Bump up the Top Marginal Tax Rate

to 50% (it was this in 1986) or 75% (as it was in 1975)

Make it Fair:

Investment bankers and fund managers should be taxed differently from factory workers and doctors. 

Increase Corporate Tax Rates

from 21% to 35% (as it was in 1995) or even 40% (as it was in 1987)

Expand the Child Tax Credit

to working class families. It’s guaranteed cash. 

Invest in New Construction

in our communities for affordable housing. Make master plan communities integrate low and no-income housing and receive heavy tax breaks for doing it. This can also be expanded to the neighbourhood. Desmond suggests communities and schools receiving cash to maintain parks or upgrade school equipment.

Pour Money into Schools

+ community programs for kids. 

Integrate Schools:

Kids from poor families who attended low poverty schools did better than poor kids in high-poverty schools with lots of interventions + equipment. 

Expand Food Stamps

from people just in deep poverty to people above the poverty line as well. 

Install Universal Basic Income:

There are pros and cons to this, as Desmond tells us, but universal programs are less stigmatizing for the poor. 

Or Install Targeted Universalism,

which is kinda brilliant. You target the big goals and recognize that different people will require different supports to make the goal. 

Go Big:

Make people pay their taxes, provide solid safety nets for everyone, not just the rich, make big investments in the general welfare of all our people. In Desmond’s words, “More poor aid less rich aid.”

Go Back to Rental Assistance Programs

like the one during the pandemic, which cut evictions in half. Housing permanency is everything. We live in a country where there are 7 eviction filings per minute. 

Add Domestic Programs

that create opportunities + are permanent: Like the Food Stamp Act (food stamps), Economic Opportunity Act (JobCorps + Head Start), Social Security Amendments (Medicaid + Medicare). Desmond points out President Johnson pushed a lot of these programs through + 10 years later poverty was halved.

Support Policies that Don’t Work Against the Poor.

Desmond is quick to point out that some programs look like they help the poor, but don’t help as much as they should, like the Earned Income Tax Credit helps corporate profits + decreases wages and the Housing Choice Voucher Coupon helps landlords + drives up rents hurting other poor families. 

Review the Minimum Wage.

Desmond suggests allowing collective bargaining + unions to negotiate, and reviewing and upping minimum wage routinely.

Promote Worker Empowerment.

Allow unions to form across sectors. 

Make more people homeowners:

Banks do not like to dole out small-dollar mortgages to the poor. They make less money. Make it worth it to the banks to loan to the poor. 

Subsidized housing can be beautiful,

safe + ensure better outcomes for kids + families. Desmond gives examples of well-maintained, safe housing for families and how they work.

Make it harder for banks to nickel and dime poor consumers

to death with bank fees and overdrafts. 

Provide Reproductive Rights To Women:

Women who control family planning and have access to birth control have more education and more work opportunities. Women without reproductive choices often fall into poverty.    

When Possible, Make Choices with Our Wallets:

UPS is unionized, FedEx not. Etc etc. It matters. Know as much as you can about what you buy and what it means to workers.

Craft an abolitionist aesthetic on social media.

For Desmond, this is no time to worry about saviorism. Be loud + vocal about your consumer choices and make choosing this way something people will emulate.  

This Will Cost Us:

Reckon with the fact that we may pay more and have less money ourselves if we are in solidarity with the poor. Cheap goods will not be the focus of our buying. We will pay more to shop in places that treat workers well.

Integrate Communities:

Zip codes should not be predictors of life expectancy or success.  

Beware of People Convincing Us of Scarcity:

Desmond is clear that we can integrate communities without hurting property values, schools, or hurting middle and upper class kids. Don’t buy the lie that there isn’t enough for all of us. Don’t buy the lie that its normal for rich people to hoard most of the resources, making poor people fight it out for scraps, that this is somehow okay. We have to fight back on this narrative.          

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“A nation invested in  ending poverty is a nation that is truly obsessively committed to freedom.”     

- Matthew Desmond  

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Of course, reading Desmond’s book is better than reading my list.

Desmond comes at this with passion and the seriousness of a coronary. It’s a riveting and eye opening read. I do miss the story-driven, community-based, granular format of Evicted, but this is a different project all together.

Desmond does a great job showing us how we went off track, that the country was doing better after Johnson’s programs in the 60’s took hold. Hunger was nearly eradicated in the 70’s, largely because of the social supports he put in place. It shows us that making investments now can pay off for people generations down the line. And Desmond wants us to know we have provided for our citizens before. This is not uncharted territory. It’s not some kind of unhinged spend-heavy leftist policy.

We can do it again.

Desmond largely stays away from homelessness, childhood and generational trauma, and mental health issues that enhance differences. I cover a lot of that terrain in The Meth Lunches (Sorry, gross book plug.) What this book does so well is really lay out how we can play a role in abolishing poverty and how we can vote with our wallets, vote in elections, make changes in our everyday, advocate for our fellow citizens, and raise all the boats.

All of them.

We can abolish poverty.

And as Desmond makes brilliantly clear, we should.

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Went down a 1 am rabbit hole checking out the photography of the late Mary Ellen Mark. Such an evocative visual backdrop for talking about the issues surrounding peoples real struggles.

Hope Desmond’s book gets you thinking.

Thanks as always for reading. - Kim