According to the United Nations, half of the world’s population—2.8 billion people—live on less than $2 a day. Most people would likely associate this staggering poverty level with developing countries, but in fact, more than 1.5 million U.S. households are struggling to survive in dire circumstances. According to new research by sociologists Kathryn J. Edin and H. Luke Shaefer, the number of Americans considered to be “ultrapoor” more than doubled in the years between 1996 and 2011.
In their new book $2.00 a day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, Shaefer and Edin cite the connection between a sharp rise in poverty and the simultaneous decline in government public assistance. Among other things, they argue that the labor market bears much of the responsibility, from increasing numbers of low-wage jobs to the market monopolies of giant retailers like Walmart. Their research also exposes how the Clinton-era welfare reforms of the late 1990s, particularly the creation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) tax credit, are failing American families.
Using detailed, data-driven analysis, they demonstrate how, since TANF was created, the number of American families living on less than $2 a day has more than doubled. Throughout the book, the pair of scholars balances their numerical research with personal interviews with poor Americans living in four separate regions of the country—first-hand accounts that shine a startling light on the new American poor. In addition to hard data and touching personal accounts, the authors offer potential solutions and innovative ways for our capitalist society to raise people out of poverty.
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Co-author Shaefer, an associate professor at the University of Michigan, will speak at Boswell Book Co. at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 6 at in an event co-sponsored by the Community Advocates at the Public Policy Institute.
Book Happening:
United We Read: UWM Creative Writing Student-Faculty Reading
7 p.m., Oct. 1
Boswell Book Co.
2449 N. Downer Ave.
Faculty and students from UW-Milwaukee’s Creative Writing Program will share pieces of their original work with the public. UWM’s United We Read Series is a unique opportunity for both emerging and established authors to engage with the public. The event is the first in a yearlong series and will feature creative writing professor Rebecca Dunham and graduate students Loretta McCormick, Jenni Moody and Andrew Ruzkowski.
