Are the Poor Really Poorer?
The Daily News is doing some handwringing over the lack of a middle class these days. On the surface that notion may be concerning. I wonder what the Chief Economist and Legal Policy Advisor of the Los Angeles Institute - Walter Moore - has to say about this?I wonder if the poor of today are still better economically of the middle class of 30-40 years ago? It seems to me that many what we would consider "poor" people today have more possessions than my average middle class family of the 70s had. Also, are there more opportunities for what would have been considered the upper end of the middle class spectrum to break into the wealthy strata? Perhaps its a new paradigm and we shouldn't worry so much. Even the poorest of the poor in America have it easier than the poor of 50 years ago and certainly most other people in the world at present.
In the end, it presents some very good opportunities for politicians if they can make the case the poor are getting poorer. Cha-ching!
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 4/02/2007 10:27:00 PM
8 Comments:
The L.A. Policy Institute has NOT issued a formal study on this issue, but we do have a few preliminary observations:
1. Over time, the definition of "poverty" has indeed changed, to ensure that we always have "poverty," regardless how many people have access to Food Stamps, Section 8 Housing Subsidies, "free" health clinics, etc.
2. The middle class presumably is "shrinking" in L.A. for several reasons.
First of all, we have a massive infusion of uneducated people from Mexico who wind up with low-paying jobs here. That fact alone reduces the percentage of the population in the "middle class."
Second, City Hall has -- by imposing an income tax on businesses, interfering with business decisions (e.g., the LAX hotels' wages, and preventing the opening of new plants (e.g., the company that wants to make train cars on Union Pacific land) -- scared away businesses that would pay good wages, leaving us with mostly retail businesses. You can only pay a sales clerk so much and still make a profit.
Third, City Hall has hiked taxes again and again on the middle class through bonds paid only by property owners, illegal tax hikes through trash fees, etc. This, and the general decline of the city, encourages middle class people to move away. Result: an even smaller percentage of the population is middle class.
I wanna know why Mayor Sam provides a link to all those other blogs, above, but doesn't link the mention of the Institute, to Walter's actual site?
just digging into the ethereal.
what's up with that?
Mr. Kiwi Man,
It was late and I had just got home from a sumptious Seder and was whirring a bit from the bitter herbs.
only cause I wanted to click on it and go look. I'm way too lazy to just scroll to one of his threads.
I've actually closed the virtual doors of the LAPI, lest someone miss the point it was established to make, namely, that the media unquestioningly let special interest cronies pass themselves off as impartial experts.
You are, however, cordially invited and encouraged to visit MooreIsBetter.com, where I post my public policy proposals.
you mean Moore is Better.com
Based on my experience, "sumptuous Seder" is an oxymoron. :P I need to start hanging out with Mayor Sam.
Chris Rock said it best:
"America is the only country where the poor people are fat."
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