So Rich, So Poor: Why It's So Hard to End Poverty in America

by Peter Edelman

Overview

If the nation's gross national income—over $14 trillion—were divided evenly across the entire U.S. population, every household could call itself middle class. Yet the income-level disparity in this country is now wider than at any point since the Great Depression. In 2010 the average salary for CEOs on the S&P 500 was over $1 million—climbing to over $11 million when all forms of compensation are accounted for—while the current median household income for African Americans is just over $32,000. How can some be so rich, while others are so poor?

In this provocative book, Peter Edelman, a former top aide to Senator Robert F. Kennedy and a lifelong antipoverty advocate, offers an informed analysis of how this country can be so wealthy yet have a steadily growing number of unemployed and working poor. According to Edelman, we have taken important positive steps without which 25 to 30 million more people would be poor, but poverty fluctuates with the business cycle. The structure of today's economy has stultified wage growth for half of America's workers—with even worse results at the bottom and for people of color—while bestowing billions on those at the top.

So Rich, So Poor delves into what is happening to the people behind the statistics and takes a particular look at the continuing crisis of young people of color, whose possibility of a productive life too often is lost on their way to adulthood. This is crucial reading for anyone who wants to understand the most critical American dilemma of the twenty-first century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781595587855
Publisher:	New Press, The
Publication date:	05/29/2012
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.70(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Peter Edelman is a professor at Georgetown UniversityLaw Center. A top adviser to Senator Robert F. Kennedy from 1964 to 1968, he went on to fill various roles in President Bill Clinton's administration, from which he famously resigned in protest after Clinton signed the 1996 welfare reform legislation.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

1 A Snapshot of Our Current Mess 1

2 What We Have Accomplished 7

3 Why Are We Stuck? 25

4 Jobs: The Economy and Public Policy Go South (for Most of Us) 47

5 Deep Poverty: A Gigantic Hole in the Safety Net 81

6 Concentrated Poverty: "The Abandoned" 101

7 Young People: Improving the Odds 137

Conclusion 159

Acknowledgments 163

Notes 165

Index 175

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"A competent, thorough assessment from a veteran expert in the field."
—Kirkus

"Bobby believed that, ‘as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil.’ Much has changed in forty-five years, but as Peter eloquently reminds us, far too many Americans remain trapped in the web of economic injustice. His compassionate and singular voice awakens our conscience and calls us to action."
—Ethel Kennedy

"Peter Edelman brings blinding lucidity to a subject usually mired in prejudice and false preconceptions. Before we have one more discussion of how America can combat its persistent and growing levels of poverty, could everyone please read this book?"
—Barbara Ehrenreich

"If there is one essential book on the great tragedy of poverty and inequality in America, this is it. Peter Edelman is masterful on the issue. With a real-world grasp of politics and the economy, Edelman makes a brilliantly compelling case for what can and must be done."
—Bob Herbert

Editorial Reviews

In 1996, Edelman resigned from the Clinton administration in protest against the president’s signing welfare reform legislation. Here, the Georgetown University law professor sharply criticizes the guidelines perpetuating poverty in the U.S., lambasting conservative politicians while ascribing blame for everything from the deteriorating financial situation of single mothers to the current economic crisis. Assiduously detailed and rife with figures carefully selected to support his claims, Edelman provides readers an informative and inclusive analysis of the American wealth distribution and welfare system. However, some may find Edelman’s frequent forays into self-aggrandizement tiresome, while others may see this work as a thinly veiled excuse to praise liberal politicians of his personal acquaintance, as well as members of his own family. Edelman’s tendency to make sweeping generalizations regarding entire segments of the population is sure to resonate with many of his admirers, but will strike neutral parties as lacking in intellectual objectivity. This slim volume is a great source for summaries of our country’s antipoverty program, but despite the author’s expertise in the area, cannot be trusted to offer an unbiased exploration of its effects on society. (May)

Publishers Weekly

"A competent, thorough assessment from a veteran expert in the field."
—Kirkus

"Bobby believed that, 'as long as there is plenty, poverty is evil.' Much has changed in forty-five years, but as Peter eloquently reminds us, far too many Americans remain trapped in the web of economic injustice. His compassionate and singular voice awakens our conscience and calls us to action."
—Ethel Kennedy

"Peter Edelman brings blinding lucidity to a subject usually mired in prejudice and false preconceptions. Before we have one more discussion of how America can combat its persistent and growing levels of poverty, could everyone please read this book?"
—Barbara Ehrenreich

"If there is one essential book on the great tragedy of poverty and inequality in America, this is it. Peter Edelman is masterful on the issue. With a real-world grasp of politics and the economy, Edelman makes a brilliantly compelling case for what can and must be done."
—Bob Herbert

From the Publisher

Edelman (Georgetown University Law Center; Searching for America's Heart: RFK and the Renewal of Hope, 2001, etc.) examines the continuing problem of poverty in the United States. The author worked for Robert F. Kennedy on poverty issues and resigned from the Clinton administration because of disagreements over welfare reform. He contends that America has come to a turning point. "We are headed in the wrong direction," he writes. "The hole we are in is getting deeper and deeper. The costs of not doing the right thing now for all of our children are going to get higher and higher." Though a lot has been accomplished since the 1960s--e.g., food stamps, the earned-income tax credit and the indexing of Social Security to inflation--there is still plenty of work to be done. Children are one of the author's major litmus tests. There are more children in poverty than ever, a fact that Edelman partly attributes to the low-wage economy, which has been adopted since the '70s, as well as the resurgence of unprecedented income inequality. "An astonishing 20.5 million people lived in extreme poverty in 2010," writes the author, "up by nearly 8 million in just ten years, and 6 million had no income other than food stamps." Further, there is no state in the country where a worker on the federal minimum wage would be able to pay the rent for a single or two-bedroom apartment. Edelman depicts a growing impoverished population cycling between low-income work and dependence on extended family and friends. Without serious efforts to improve the quality of employment and address community and family issues, the situation will only get worse. Unfortunately, such improvement is questionable in the current political climate. A competent, thorough assessment from a veteran expert in the field.

Kirkus Reviews