Tag: economy

The invisible poor

The research finds the neediest kids actually tend to live in the richest states.

This line from an editorial in today’s Record pretty much sums up how miserably we are failing the most needy in our society.

According to a story in The Record, a new study

low-income children in New Jersey are in poorer health, exercise less, read less, participate in fewer after-school clubs and teams, and live in more dangerous neighborhoods than most poor children in the country. They are also more likely to be overweight, have asthma, live in a single-parent household, have emotional and behavioral difficulties, and have parents who lack secure employment.

“The distance between the haves and the have-nots in New Jersey is very big,” said William O’Hare, the report’s co-author, a demographer and senior fellow at the philanthropic Annie E. Casey Foundation, which advocates for needy children and families. “There are a large number of kids who aren’t doing very well in the state and need the attention of New Jersey’s leaders.”

Very true — and underscored by this:

The neediest kids tend to live in the richest states, including New Jersey, New York and Massachusetts. O’Hare said the findings may reflect the fact that big Northeast cities are home to some of the most concentrated poverty in the country.

Southern states, which are disproportionately poor, ranked far better than many other states in the well-being of their low-income children. Poor children fared best in states such as Utah and North Dakota, perhaps, said O’Hare, because they have a greater sense of community.

This is unconscienable. As Peter Wise, the former director of the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, is fond of saying: We live in one of the richest states in the country. That we have such extreme pockets of poverty in places like the state capital is a moral travesty.

Obviously, the state can do more, but so can the feds. And wouldn’t it be nice if someone other than John Edwards talked about the issue seriously on the campaign trail?

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick

E-mail me by clicking here.

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.

Going for broke:I guess I’m not alone

I’ve been feeling like a gerbil on his wheel economically. Month after month, the bills come in and no matter what we do, regardless of whether there is a bit of extra earnings from freelance work or my wife’s side jewelry business, we still can’t seem to get ahead.

We pay off the credit cards and the dog gets sick. We make some headway on an equity loan and the pool filter dies. Gas prices rise, the cost of groceries soar and at the end of each month the balances in the checking and savings accounts seem a bit smaller than the month before.

It is depressing, but not unusual. The Monmouth University Polling Institute issued a new poll today showing that most New Jersey families say “their earnings can’t keep up with the rising cost of living in the Garden State” and that “many of the state’s households require multiple incomes to keep afloat and fewer than half have saved enough money to cover their living expenses in an emergency.”

The numbers show that economic uncertainty is the norm in New Jersey. A shocking 59 percent of the 804 New Jersey residents polled said their family’s income is falling behind the cost of living (the figure nationally, according to a fall Pew Research Center poll, was 40 percent), while just 30 percent believe they are keeping pace and 6 percent say their incomes are rising more quickly.

And the less you make the more uncertainty there is. According to the Monmouth poll, 72 percent of those polled who have household incomes of less than $50,000 said the cost of living was rising faster than their wages. The figure for households making between $50,000 and $100,000 was 64 percent, while just 44 percent of those earning more than $100,000 believed they were falling behind.

Other numbers:

  • 13 percent of those earning $100,000 or more say their incomes are rising faster than the cost of living, compared to 4 percent for each of the other income brackets. Nationally, 29 percent of those earning $100,000 or more say their family’s income is going up faster than the cost of living.
  • 21 percent of lower-income, 30 percent of middle-income and 40 percent of higher-income residents say they are keeping pace.
  • 46 percent of New Jersey households have two or more incomes, including 29 percent of those earning below $50,000 a year, 48 percent of those earning $50,000 to $100,000, and 72 percent of those earning more than $100,000. Two-thirds of two-income households say they need the extra money to meet monthly living expenses, 8 percent cite savings, 7 percent cite school costs, 5 percent cite health care and 3 percent cite child care.

The problem is not income levels generally — New Jersey is among the wealthiest states in the country — but stagnant incomes and rising costs. Milk prices have risen from an average of $3.60 a gallon in 2006 to about $3.65 for the first six months of 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And they are expected ton continue climbing, perhaps more steeply, for the rest of the year.

It’s not just milk or gas prices. Everything’s rising, including our taxes. And while our incomes are inching upward, for most — as this poll shows — it is not enough.

And my bank account balances are proof.

South Brunswick Post, The Cranbury Press
The Blog of South Brunswick
The Cranbury Press Blog

E-mail me by clicking here

Email me at grassroots at comcast dot net.