How’d they do it? Easy – gave homes to the homeless and gave everyone a basic income – and they will save BIG money doing it. To see how, read on.
And so we begin….to be a real community.
Towns Eliminate Homelessness and Poverty
Author: Roxanne
What Can Women Do To Resist Patriarchy?
Patriarchy is the primary source of poverty. Since those struggling with poverty are primarily women and children, it behooves us to ask what we as women can do to end the patriarchal system that causes so much poverty.
Poverty: Speak Differently, Think Differently, Act Differently
Excellent article from BillMoyers.com because speaking and thinking about poverty differently will allow us to create different, more effective solutions for change.
Two main points that are the focus of the article:
1. “we need to stop talking about the economy in ways that make it seem like the weather. The economy is a result of the rules we create and the choices we make. The people who are struggling to make ends meet do so because we have built — through intentional choice — an economy that produces inadequate incomes for more than one-third of all Americans. So we need to have a real debate about what to do to build an economy that doesn’t produce such misery.”
2. Instead of saying “poverty” or “the poor” – which is abstract and no one identifies themselves this way – use terms from real experience “such as not being paid enough to cover the bills, making difficult trade offs between basic necessities, inadequate or irregular work hours or not being able to save for retirement or college. Then you have to quickly connect it to shared values. In our research, the most powerful value was family — not only do people identify family as a primary identity but it is the fear or reality of not being able to provide enough for family members that motivates people to get into the debate or take action.“ (emphasis mine)
To read the full article click:
Welcome to Switzerland!
Part of what makes life fabulous is the opportunity to visit new people in new places. While I’ve been to Switzerland briefly in the past, I’ve never had the opportunity to stop and stay for awhile. This time I did. Staying for a longer time provides the opportunity to view life through the eyes of those living in Winterthur, just outside of Zurich.
Via my smart phone camera – you can join us!
Walk by the market area or town center
Public transportation is easy and on time. For example, our friends met us at the airport and traveled with us on the local commuter train for the 10 minute trip into Winterthur.
Local streets cater to pedestrians and cyclists since not as many people drive cars. Pollution is low because traffic is light. Winterthur is quite walkable.
Look at these vintage shutters and ironwork – amazing, isn’t it?
The water is crystal clear everywhere. Our host often fills her water bottle during the day at town fountains and assures us that it is pristine. It certainly looked clear – all the way to the bottom!
Next we’ve planned an excursion to a nearby a castle, complete with moat . . .
“What American Dream?”
Appropriate reminder for the Fourth of July –
From “What American Dream?: One in Four People Now Live in High Poverty Neighborhoods” on recent Census Bureau data:
The Bureau found that in the decade between 1990 and 2000, the percentage of people living in these concentrated low-income communities dropped from 20.0 percent to 18.1 percent. However, in comparison, from 2000 to 2010, that percentage grew from a whopping 18.1 percent to 25.7 percent. And, “while the overall population grew by 10 percent over the decade, the number of people living in poverty areas grew by about 56 percent.” In raw numbers, more than 77 million people lived in these poor neighborhoods in 2010.
and this:
Whether it’s the toll that having an under educated, unskilled population takes on the economy when youths aren’t able to be hired for jobs, or the inability of a family to afford nutritious food, which results in obesity and disease and boosts healthcare costs, we all feel it. No matter where we live, one way or another we’re all impacted by what happens to folks who grow up in an impoverished neighborhood. (bold added)
Roxanne here: We can no longer afford the high cost of poverty we create by diverting money from the public purse to corporate welfare.
How does your state create poverty? Here’s an example of how we create poverty “Minnesota-style.” Read this Bloomberg article on the death of shopping malls (“Goodbye, Malls of America“):
” . . . Minnesota’s legislature approved $250 million in tax benefits to help pay for a doubling in size of the country’s second-biggest mall, Mall of america. The money came from a fund set up to reduce economic disparities between rich and poor areas.” (bold added)
This money was designated for helping Minnesota’s poor communities. Now it’s going to corporate welfare queens. Inequality doesn’t just “happen.” We create poverty. People don’t just happen to be poor. People are made poor – by the collective action or inaction of all of us.
You may also like What is White Privilege? and Poverty is a Luxury We CanNOT Afford.