Making Money off the Poor: Poverty, By America

Poverty, By America by Matthew Desmond

Matthew Desmond argues America has a higher level of poverty compared to most other rich nations of the world because people and companies in America make money by providing services to the poor and by requiring them to pay more for many things simply because they are poor.

It's a tight knot of social maladies. It is connected to every social problem we care about--crime, health, education, housing--and its persistence in American life means that millions of families are denied safety and security and dignity in one of the richest nations in the history of the world. (p. 23)

He explores how our society, laws, and communities exploit the poor by:

• driving down wages
• increasing costs of housing (higher mortgage rates, rents higher than mortgage payments)
• forcing the poor to pay more for credit or to use payday loans
• creating tax cuts for property owners rather than programs for the poor
• excluding the poor from areas that provide the best education and job opportunities

It's easy to blame these problems on huge corporations and billionaires, but they benefit all stockholders, and many of us (myself included) invest in retirement accounts, accounts that purchase and hold stocks. We are also complicit when we oppose higher density housing or integrated economic housing near our neighborhoods.

Poverty isn't simply the condition of not having enough money. It's the condition of not having enough choice and being taken advantage of because of that. (p. 78)

For example, providing more money for housing without providing more affordable housing means rents will increase. The money benefits the landlords, rather than the poor.

The author makes bold claims and doesn't shirk to note what it might take to address poverty in dramatic ways.

Sharing opportunities previously hoarded doesn't mean everyone wins. It means that those who have benefitted from the nation's excesses will have to take less so that others may share in the bounty. (p. 118) 

The author provides some possible ways to address poverty in meaningful ways, most of which I think would be interesting to discuss in our public policy debates. 

We can't just spend our way out of this. Over the past fifty years, we've tried that--doubling antipoverty aid per capita--and the poverty line hasn't meaningfully budged. A big reason why is that we insist on supporting policies that accommodate poverty, not ones that disrupt it. (p. 137) 

I am including this book in a Modern Government class organized around Catholic Social Teaching. It's a year-long course, but most of my students will spread it over two years in Level 6 (eleventh and twelfth). 

I first checked this book out of the library, but only skimmed it before deciding to buy our own copy.

I have received nothing for this post. I purchased the book. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links.