Closing the Gap
By Janell Novilla / Winter 2020
As time goes on, the gap between the rich and poor has become more prominent. The rich have become richer and the poor have become poorer. This has led to an increased amount of people living in poverty. Globally, about half of the world’s population lives in poverty and according to UNICEF, 1 billion of those individuals are children. Poverty is described as lacking the financial resources to obtain the minimum standard of living. This includes lacking the means necessary to afford basic needs such as food, water, health care and/or shelter. Those who are living in poverty seem to be stuck in a cycle and are unable to move up the financial ladder. Vulnerability and exclusion provide a barrier keeping the impoverished from doing so.
My grandmothers’ upbringing can help illustrate the global effects of poverty. My grandma grew up impoverished. She lived in an underdeveloped town in the Philippines where there was a lack of schools, hospitals, supermarkets, big buildings, etc. Because of the lack of resources, she was not able to receive an education and instead, she worked to help provide for her family. At just five years old, my grandma started working. She would harvest vegetables from the farm she lived on and would sell them on the street. She would also go out into the city, walk up to people passing by or she would walk to the cars waiting at a stoplight, and beg for money. At 16 years old, my grandma had her first child. She continued to have children until she was 40 years old, when she gave birth to her 12th child. When giving birth to her 12th child, the midwife who assisted her did not have the necessary medical supplies and used unsterilized scissors to cut the umbilical cord. Due to the bacteria from the scissors, the baby had an infection that spread to the rest of her body and she passed away. When examining the experiences my grandma had growing up, if she was not impoverished, she could have received an education, had a “normal” childhood, worked a real job, she could have had access to health care which could have prevented the death of her 12th child, etc.
Taking into account my grandmother's experience growing up in the Philippines, poverty exists in every country but in different degrees. When my grandma was still in the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos was president. Marocs became a dictator, he declared martial law, took billions of dollars away from the Philippines leaving the country more in debt, and he killed thousands of people during his reign. Because Marcos and his family amassed so much money, so little was left for the Filipino citizens that it led to an increase of poverty, decrease in wages, and increase in price of goods. Comparing the Philippines, a third-world country, to the United States, one of the richest countries in the world, the US still has millions of impoverished individuals. This occurs because, mirroring to Marcos’ reign, the majority of wealth is held at the hands of a few. Those in charge are able to manipulate economic and political policies in a way that allow the wealthy to stay on top and accumulate even more money.
How the wealthy are able to stay on top and amass more money is through the practice of neoliberalization. Neoliberalism is based on the privatization of assets, deregulation, free markets, and individualization. These ideas cause competition and result in a monopoly which weeds out the weaker individuals or companies. David Harvey describes neoliberalism and it’s ideologies in “The Neoliberal State”. He highlights that because neoliberalism is rooted in personal and individual freedom, an individual is solely responsible for their own success or failure (Harvey 65). With this belief, no other individual or system is put at fault. These ideas are still seen today, if a person is poor or they have not had a lot of personal accomplishments, those who believe in the neoliberalist ideologies would blame that individual for simply not trying too hard or for being too lazy. This is an issue still prevalent in our society today and it causes people to turn a blind eye and to be unwilling to help those in need. These beliefs almost give people an excuse not to help lower-income individuals or those in poverty. It serves as an obstacle, preventing those in poverty from coming out of poverty because those who have the power and necessary means to help those individuals, believe that they do not need to help because it’s not their problem and because it’s those individuals faults for being poor. But in reality, it’s not the individuals faults for being in poverty, it’s the systems.
The system that keeps those individuals in poverty is rooted in discrimination and politics. It affects those who have been historically oppressed such as African Americans, Native Americans, Mexicans, and other minorities. In Richard Rothstein’s “Racial Zoning”, he discusses the ways newly emancipated slaves were segregated. For example, he explains how the Black Codes were passed to restrict freed blacks’ activity and prevent them from moving up the financial ladder, exercising their natural rights, and from truly being free. Although they were free, they were discriminated against from working higher level jobs, especially jobs that were concentrated with white people. This forced them to work in dangerous jobs with unsanitary conditions, long hours, and low pay. Doing so, they had no choice but to live in poverty. Other tactics Rothstein mentioned used to segregate the newly emancipated slaves was the passing of the Jim Crow laws which denied black people from voting, and it segregated them from schools, public transportation (Rothstein 40). In addition, the South began to adopt policies banning blacks from being within town borders after sundown. This escalated to government policies being passed which kept white families isolated from black families creating all-white neighborhoods. This process was known as racial zoning.
Racial zoning prevented lower-income black families from moving to middle-class neighborhoods. This was done by building homes in which lower-income minorities could not afford. The racial zoning contributed to black neighborhoods being overcrowded and reduced to slums. As seen in the history of African Americans alone, minorities were prevented from upward mobility. They were segregated against and were not provided the resources and opportunity necessary to succeed. To this day, minorities are still discriminated against and it’s evident by the fact that minorities make up a large chunk of the impoverished population. For example, according to The Century Foundation, as of 2013, 1 in 4 African Americans are living in poverty while only 1 in 13 white Americans are living in poverty (Jargowsky).
Not only are African Americans at a disadvantage, other minorities are as well, specifically, Native Americans. When the colonists settled in America in the 1600s, they viewed Natives as savages and used violence to take over their land. In A Different Mirror, author Ronald Takaki goes into depth of how Natives were treated harshly and displaced from their homes by colonists. Takaki describes that the colonists declared they would take Native land “by force, by surprise, by famine, by destroying and burning their Boats, Canoes...” (Takaki 36). So many Natives died due to the colonists actions that today, according to the US Census Bureau, Natives only make up 2% of the US population (World Population Review).
Now that we’ve examined the minorities' historical roots of poverty, we can examine the current impoverished communities in the US and the obstacles that prevent our society from solving the issue of poverty. Today, the disadvantaged communities that came about due to racial zoning still stand. Impoverished neighborhoods and communities confine their residents from the resources needed in order for them to reach their potential. In such neighborhoods, there is a shortage of financial capital, stores, employment opportunities, quality education, and health-related resources. These issues create communities with high crime rates, low education, and poor health which restricts individuals from reaching their potential. Because of their situation, it’s difficult for them to find high paying jobs to help them move out of the community and out of poverty. For example, for the Native population, their reservations are placed away from high population centers and they lack water resources, basic sanitation, and other vital resources (American Indian Youth). Not only do they make up such a miniscule part of the US population, they have the highest poverty rate, the lowest employment rate, and the lowest rate of high school graduates (American Indian Youth). Due to America’s history, the actions of the colonists and the policies used in the past to segregate Natives from the rest of the population, Native Americans are severely placed at a disadvantage and are constantly trying to reverse the effects and break the continuous cycle of poverty.
Going back to my grandmas experience, because of her lack of a proper education and the lack of healthcare resources, she was not taught how to practice safe-sex and she did not have access to contraceptives. Because of that, she had to give birth and raise 11 kids with little to no money and with very little resources. Her children being born and raised in these conditions fuels the cycle of poverty. Children born into poverty are at a disadvantage. They are uneducated because of the lack of education in their communities and because of their parents lack of education. They experience the same things their parents are experiencing and it’s difficult to move up the economic ladder. In addition, having children puts an even bigger strain on the parents. They did not have the means to support themselves in the first place and now they need to take care of another individual. To help provide for the family and put less strain on the parents, it’s common for the child to start working at an early age. When working, the children are put in dangerous conditions because of the number of health hazards they’re exposed to. If the kids do not work, the parents are forced to work longer hours putting more stress on them. The high amount of stress can cause the parents to resort to drugs, alcohol, and/or abuse. This would most likely cause emotional trauma for the children and they’ll grow up thinking that it’s normal to be punished and abused. They’ll stay in poverty, do the same things their parents do and the cycle continues.
Not only are there obstacles within the impoverished communities, there are obstacles within society that prevent us from solving this issue. Not only is there an increased amount of people, specifically minorities, living in poverty, the gap between the rich and the poor has increased. In 1989, the top 1% held $8.4 trillion in assets while the bottom 50% held $0.7 trillion assets, in 2018, the top 1% assets rose to $29.5% trillion while the bottom 50% dropped to -$0.2 trillion (Bruenig 1). After about forty years, the bottom 50% has not increased their assets, they owe money now. It’s projected that the 1% will continue to become more wealthy and the divide between the rich and poor will become even wider. This divide could potentially cause social tensions and have an impact on society. It could fuel anger for those in the lower class and it can cause them to rise up and clash against the upper class. It also causes both classes to see each other from a negative point of view. For example, many lower-income individuals believe that all upper-class individuals are greedy, privileged, and are only wealthy because they’re born into money while many upper-class individuals hold the neoliberal ideologies and believe that lower-income people are lazy and are not trying hard enough. If upper-class individuals hold this belief, it makes them unmotivated to help those in impoverished communities. In addition, these ideas prevent individuals, specifically the upper-class, from seeing that poverty stems from the economic systems and the fact that it favors money over the common good of individuals. This further fuels the fire for lower-income individuals. The anger towards each other seems to be misdirected and it could cause hostility.
What individuals in our society needs to realize is that those in poverty are not the only ones affected by it. We are all affected by poverty. For example, law enforcement officials have to devote more time and effort due to the high amount of crimes in poorer neighborhoods. Businesses are affected when potential consumers lack the money to buy goods from the businesses. This will later on become more of an issue when the wealthy accumulate more money and leave nothing for the middle class and lower class, their target consumers. Hospitals are also affected because many lower-income individuals cannot afford healthcare. So when they are provided healthcare, they cannot pay for it and hospitals are negatively affected. Looking at these issues at a larger scale, a study was done by the University of Wisconsin-Madisons’ Institute for Research on Poverty. They found that child poverty alone costs the US about $500 million per year due to lost economic activity, increase in the cost of healthcare, and increased criminal justice spending (Holzer 1).
In order to decrease the deconcentrate poverty in these communities, we need to focus on growing the economy and directing it towards helping those in the lower-class. For many, the goal of getting out of poverty is to find a higher paying job in a better area and to move out of the impoverished communities. But, we should instead focus on making these impoverished communities a better place. This means ending residential segregation and providing these communities with more resources. Doing so will benefit everyone living in the impoverished communities. To implement this requires policymakers to prioritize these low-income communities. It will also require the efforts of supporters to spread the word and to vote for these policies. To fund this will require the use of grant money and volunteers willing to put in the effort and make a difference. The grant money could come from the top 1% and other higher income individuals. The grant money will be used to publicize the policies, open more schools, stores, hospitals, and it could be used to fix up the house and streets. By opening up all these infrastructures, it not only gives the residents access to a better education and to healthcare, but it opens up more employment opportunities. There should be an emphasis on earning an education for the children and an emphasis on moving onto a higher education to increase productivity and increase their chances of landing them a well paying job. Children can be educated properly and learn about jobs in demand and adults can learn skills to help them acquire better jobs. Starting with these communities and helping them grow and prosper will help reduce poverty. Helping individuals move out of these communities will not do much, revitalizing and improving the neighborhoods will benefit everyone in the communities and its future residents.
Each year, the top 1%, a handful of people, are amassing more wealth and causing the gap between the rich and the poor to grow. Not many people realize the severity of this issue and the consequences it could have in our future. Since there are only a handful of people in the 1% and everyone else is in the bottom, everyone should care about this issue. Looking at the statistics alone, it shows that both middle and lower class individuals are at risk as it takes away less opportunity and less money and leaves more for the wealthy. It will take a lot of time and effort to make a change. There are many organizations people can be involved in that are helping the poor and trying to implement policies to do so such as the Poor People's Campaign, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), World Vision, etc. Do your part to help grow the middle class and decrease the gap between the rich and poor.
Works Cited
Bruenig, Matt. “Top 1% Up $21 Trillion. Bottom 50% Down $900 Billion.” People's Policy Project, 14 June 2019.
Harvey, David. A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford University Press, 2009.
Holzer, Schanzenburg, Duncan & Ludwig, The Economic Costs of Poverty in the United States: Subsequent Effects of Children Growing Up in Poverty. Institute for Research on Poverty, University of Wisconsin-Madison, April 2007.
Jargowsky, Paul, et al. “Architecture of Segregation.” The Century Foundation, 17 May 2016.
“Native American Population 2020.” World Population Review.
Rothstein, Richard. “Racial Zoning.” The Color of Law. Liveright, 2017. pp. 39-75.
Takaki, Ronald. A Different Mirror: A History of Multicultural America. Back Bay Books, 1993.
“The Poverty Cycle.” American Indian Youth.