{"id":368123,"date":"2018-07-05T12:13:56","date_gmt":"2018-07-05T11:13:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/poverty-wont-make-america-great\/"},"modified":"2018-07-05T12:13:56","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T11:13:56","slug":"poverty-wont-make-america-great","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/newswire\/poverty-wont-make-america-great\/","title":{"rendered":"Poverty Won\u2019t \u2018Make America Great\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/p>\n

This summer, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty Philip Alston presented<\/a> his observations on the state of international poverty to the UN Human Rights Council.<\/p>\n

The country at the center of his most recent report<\/a> wasn\u2019t a developing one \u2014 it was the United States. In one of the wealthiest countries in the world, Alston found, many Americans live without access<\/a> to water and public sewage services.<\/p>\n

More alarmingly, at a time when 40 million<\/a> Americans live in poverty \u2014 including over 5 million<\/a> experiencing \u201cdeveloping world\u201d levels of poverty \u2014 congressional Republicans<\/a> and President Donald Trump<\/a> are jeopardizing access to the social safety net for millions, the report concluded.<\/p>\n

Exacerbating poverty won\u2019t \u201cMake America Great\u201d for anyone.<\/p>\n

For instance, health care, which is already prohibitively expensive, could become more so. A new rule<\/a> allowing small businesses to buy plans without certain \u201cessential health benefits\u201d required by the Affordable Care Act<\/a> (ACA) is expected to increase insurance costs for people who need those benefits.<\/p>\n

Even now, ACA premiums are increasing<\/a> thanks to the president\u2019s decision to stop sharing costs with insurers.<\/p>\n

Rising out-of-pocket costs and premiums could either push the poor out of the market or force them to contend with even higher medical expenses. And by encouraging people to opt out of pricier plans, that leaves those who remain insured confronting higher costs<\/a>, and subsequent financial insecurity, themselves.<\/p>\n

Lack of insurance either drives the uninsured into hospital emergency rooms<\/a>, where they face more expensive treatment they have no hope of affording, or promises an amplified public health crisis. In a December report<\/a>, Alston recalled encountering poor Americans who had lost all of their teeth because they lacked access to dental health care.<\/p>\n

The social safety net, which plays a crucial role in reducing poverty among children, is also under threat.<\/p>\n

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program<\/a> (SNAP) alone kept<\/a> 3.8 million children and 2.1 million children out of poverty and \u201cdeep poverty,\u201d respectively, in 2014. The Center for American Progress calculated<\/a> that childhood poverty alone stunts economic output by $170 billion each year and deprives the economy of $500 billion each year.<\/p>\n

More importantly, poverty is morally reprehensible, subjecting children to a lifetime of harm. It portends<\/a> adverse health consequences, limited educational achievement, and lower rates of employment<\/a>. Yet SNAP is on the chopping block for the House Farm Bill.<\/p>\n

Poverty has also been shown to make communities fertile breeding grounds for abuse<\/a> by law enforcement.<\/p>\n

America\u2019s homeless have been among those most vulnerable to this abuse. Instead of addressing homelessness with increased access to affordable housing, however, the Trump administration has suggested cuts<\/a> to rental assistance programs. These cuts could push more Americans into homelessness \u2014 and then into the criminal justice system.<\/p>\n

Across the country, homeless Americans are arrested and hit with an avalanche of fines and fees<\/a> simply for trying to survive. The criminalization of homelessness deepens the poverty of the homeless and creates a criminal justice system that discriminates against the poor. No one benefits.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, such hostility to the poor has been met with a wave of progressive activism.<\/p>\n

Only a day after Alston presented his report, the Poor People\u2019s Campaign<\/a> rallied<\/a> in front of the Capitol Building to cap six weeks of anti-poverty advocacy. Lawmakers are already following the campaign\u2019s lead: Several influential senators and representatives recently heard<\/a> testimony from struggling Americans.<\/p>\n

Anti-poverty measures also featured prominently<\/a> in the winning campaign of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/a>, who is likely to become the next congresswoman for New York\u2019s 14th District.<\/p>\n

As Republicans pursue policies that make American poverty a global concern, at least some progressives are preparing to fight back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Via Common Dreams<\/a>. This piece was reprinted by RINF Alternative News<\/a> with permission or license.<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This summer, UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty Philip Alston presented his observations on the state of international poverty to the UN Human Rights Council. The country at the center of his most recent report wasn\u2019t a developing one \u2014 it was the United States. In one of the wealthiest countries in the world, Alston […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":368124,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[519],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-368123","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-newswire"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368123","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=368123"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/368123\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/368124"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=368123"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=368123"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rinf.com\/alt-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=368123"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}