As Poverty Grows in Boston, Progressive Solutions Are Lacking

In Boston, as around the nation, poverty is on the rise. This is sadly unsurprising. Aside from a slight increase in gross domestic product in the second quarter of this year - due to improved export sales (courtesy of a weakening dollar) and the scant impact of the $600 "economic stimulus" checks thrown at many (but not all) citizens (but not most immigrants) by the Bush administration in the spring - there's nothing to cheer about in the American economy of late. Employers have cut jobs every month this year and wage growth is trailing inflation, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The recession is deepening, and policy makers show no signs of changing course, and instituting economic reforms that benefit working (or, given rising unemployment, non-working) families.

If more ammunition was needed to prove this point, one need look no further than an analysis of the just-released U.S. Census Bureau's 2007 American Community Survey numbers for Boston produced at great speed this week by Community Labor United. According to CLU's issue brief, "Earnings, Poverty and Income Inequality in the City of Boston," poverty and inequality are on the march here. And there seem to be precious few roadblocks to their progress.

The report's findings are unambiguous.

First, in 2007,"1 in 5 Boston individuals and families continue to live below the federal poverty threshold. Almost twice that many live in economic hardship (defined as 200% of poverty). Almost half of all adults living in poverty worked full or part-time jobs in 2007."

Second, Boston "continues to have significant racial and gender gaps in income and poverty. Residents of Latino, Asian and African-American heritage are much more likely to live in poverty than White residents."

Third, "distribution of incomes shows an emerging 'tear drop' economy and growing inequality, with a very high concentration of income among the richest households." CLU highlights this finding as a shift away from the "hourglass economy" they found in their earlier analysis of 2000 census data. At that time, there were more middle and upper income households in Boston. Now the local middle class (and working class) is fading, leaving a small number of upper class households on top of the local income distribution and a growing number of poor households on the bottom.

Fourth, "most of Boston's lowest-wage industries are growing faster than high-wage industries." So lousy service economy jobs continue to replace solid jobs further up the employment food chain.

There's no need to elaborate overmuch on these findings. We already know the disease. So it is incumbent on us all to ask what the cure might be.

Advocates from numerous non-profit and labor organizations, including CLU, are already doing what they can to improve the fortunes of Boston's working families. There have been some small victories this year, most recently, the passage of the Green Jobs Act by the state legislature that will aid the creation of some good long-term jobs in new industrial sectors being created to address the environmental crisis, and Mayor Menino's new $200,000 set-aside of federal grant money for a job training program for 18-24 year old low-income men.

But, in all honesty, these programs and many other like them are just drops in a vast and expanding bucket of economic immiseration. It's difficult to even discuss dealing with rising poverty on a city or even state level. Solutions are needed on the national and international levels. Unless multi-national corporations are reigned in, it's going to be impossible to stabilize the international monetary, trade and regulatory systems in such a way as to favor national policies that benefit working people. And unless the federal government drops neoliberal policies that favor giant corporations over workers and small businesses, and adopts social democratic or at least Keynesian policies that do the opposite - we will not see serious pro-worker reforms any time soon. Regardless of whether a Democrat or a Republican occupy the White House come January.

The types of reforms needed have been mentioned in these pages before, and will be mentioned again and again until they are won. Progressive taxation at all levels, massive federal job creation programs, a cradle-to-grave living wage funded by the government, a single-payer national health care system, the elimination of all mortgage and credit card debt for those unable to pay accompanied by federalization of the banking and financial services industries, and many more - all as part of a large expansion of the public sector and re-regulation of the private sector.

This is what progressives need to be fighting for, and more. A tall order to be sure, but it's critical to keep our eyes on these various prizes as we try to fight our way out of these difficult times.

Here in Boston, progressives need to try to raise our horizons some. We need to question the time we spend on minimal reforms that affect relatively small numbers of people in need and start thinking big again.

Open Media Boston will forgo commentary on what such broader local and state reforms might be for the moment - although we have and will make suggestions in individual issue areas week by week. We prefer to create an opening for our viewers to make a few suggestions of their own in our pages.

The way is clear here. The challenge is laid before the Boston progressive community. What can we do to get out of the economic and political mess we're in?

We eagerly await answers to that challenge in our Opinion section, and in comments to this editorial. Labor Day is upon us this weekend, but it feels more like a day for mourning than a day for celebration without better strategies for the advancement of the cause of America's working families than the ones generally on offer.

Community Labor United's issue brief on poverty in Boston can be found in PDF format by clicking this link.