The quaint expression, “The faster I go, the behinder I get” seems to plague almost every one of us from time to time. Similar phrases with which many people can also probably identify include, “There are not enough hours in the day” or “There’s always too much month left at the end of my money.” I particularly like the joke in which a person, upon receiving an overdrawn notice from the bank replied, “This can’t be right. I know I have money in the bank because I still have checks left.” When I was a part-time bank teller back in my college days, I actually did have a couple of people send me a check when I informed them they were overdrawn.
Managing money for many people is easy, for others it’s quite difficult, and for some, it might even be considered a mystery. Regardless of where you fall in the mix, the fact is that money is essential to our daily lives. The amount we have does not determine our happiness, of course, but it does play a key role in deciding what things we are able to purchase and what things we can do without.
Recent studies and reports indicate that the total net worth of US households is continuing to rise, and the nation’s employment picture is getting brighter. In spite of these positives, however, the number of people living in poverty is climbing.
Measuring poverty, of course, can be fairly complex as various government assistance programs have different eligibility criteria in relation to the size of a family and level of annual income. Additionally, the amount of funds on hand or lack thereof is the determining factor in receiving goods and services from myriad religious organizations, food banks, and clothes closets.
Federal 2005 guidelines place the poverty level for a family of four at an annual income of $19,350. According to the US Census Bureau, there are about 37 million Americans living in poverty. That number represents some 12.7% of the nation’s population and approximately 7.9 million families.
Poverty rates are different from region to region, but the South continues to have the highest poverty rate, with just over one third classified as living in that condition. Poverty rates also vary widely among ethnic groups and are much higher for Hispanics and African-Americans.
Some 3.6 million Texans live below the poverty level. Approximately half of them fall into about 560,000 family groups in which at least one member is employed. There are more than 954,000 children in these working-poor families. More than a half million people in Houston are classified as below the poverty level; the Houston Independent School District, one of the largest school districts in the nation, reports that about 30% of the students or 138,000 are living in poverty.
For most people, the word “poverty” conjures up images of destitution and an inability to meet basic needs of food, clothing, and shelter. That certainly is an accurate description in a small number of cases, but for the most part, it’s not quite that severe.
According to recent research, the per person expenditures of the lowest 20% of our population today are nearly equal to those of the median American household in the early 1970s, after adjusting for inflation. Various government reports note that 46% of persons defined as “poor” today own their homes, and 76% have air conditioning. Three decades ago, just a little over one-third of the entire US population enjoyed air conditioning.
Other revealing facts gathered by the Census Bureau show that 97% of poor households have color television, and more than three-quarters of the homes have VCR or DVD players, while 62% have cable or satellite TV reception. Moreover, 73% have microwave ovens, and a third of them have an automatic dishwasher.
I am certainly not arguing that poverty is a pleasant condition. While most have sufficient sustenance and basic conveniences, the Department of Agriculture reports that 13% of poor families experience hunger at some point during the year, and about 2% are often without adequate food supplies. Moreover, some 25% of Texans do not have health insurance, the highest proportion of uninsured people in the US.
While strides have been made in improving the circumstances for poor families, there is clearly work to be done. Governmental services are essential and private charities have an important role to play. In addition, economic growth can help alleviate the situation by creating more and better employment opportunities, although it must be accompanied by training opportunities. We have not yet solved the fundamental societal problems that engender poverty; until we do, an increasingly technological society is likely to drive the numbers upward.