Hunger: An Issue on which We Should Be Able to Work Together

³⁴“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. ³⁵And here’s why:

I was hungry and you fed me,

I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,

I was homeless and you gave me a room,

³⁶I was shivering and you gave me clothes,

I was sick and you stopped to visit,

I was in prison and you came to me.’                           [Matthew 25]

 Bill Moyers has a new piece out where our country and its leaders could and should unite: getting people out of poverty. He calls it An Antipoverty Contract for 2013.

It is best to read it for yourself, but let me lift up a few of the ideas he presents. He believes that we would move past the clichés and downright misinformation about poor folk, such as they don’t want to work, they want handouts, past programs failed, and the one promoted today – we can’t afford this investment. I believe the opposite is true.

Numbers. “People are beginning to recognize that we have a proliferation of low-wage work — over 25 percent of the jobs in the nation pay less than the poverty line for a family of four, and 50 percent pay less than $34,000 a year. It’s no wonder that 28 percent of all workers last year earned wages below the poverty line, and that more than 70 percent of low-income families and half of all families in poverty were working in 2011. (Low-income defined as living on less than 200 percent of the poverty line, or less than approximately $36,000 annually for a family of three — which now constitutes 106 million people, more than one in three Americans; poverty defined as living on less than $18,000 annually for a family of three, which now describes more than 46 million Americans.) People are looking for answers.”

Solutions he raises:

Raise the minimum wage. In the 60’s and 70’s a family could live on the minimum wage and not be in poverty which is no longer true. The minimum wage has only be raised 3 times in last 30 years, now at $7.25 an hour. That is about $15,000 a year for a fulltime worker. Tipped workers get about $2.13 per house since 1991. It is untrue that we cannot afford to raise wages, we cannot afford not to raise them, as that would stimulate the economy. This pleases my Iowa roots: “The Economic Policy Institute estimates the Harkin-Miller proposal would generate more than $25 billion in new consumer spending, which would lead to the creation of more than 100,000 new full-time jobs. It would also increase wages for nearly 30 million Americans — roughly one-fifth of the workforce — because raising the wage floor improves pay for workers who earn at or just above the minimum wage.”

Next, Paid Sick and Family Leave for all workers. We are the only wealthy nation that does not have such a policy. Again from his article: More than 40 percent of people in the private sector workforce — including 81 percent of low-wage workers — don’t receive a single paid sick day. Millions more lack paid leave to care for a sick child or family member. Nearly 25 percent of workers polled said that they have lost a job or were told they would lose a job for taking time off to deal with a personal or family illness.”

Next, Affordable Childcare for Working Families. Again we stand alone in wealthy countries in not providing this to our detriment. “Half in Ten recently reported that the average cost of full-time childcare ranges from $3,600 to $18,200 annually per child. Since there are 7.8 million families with children under age 6 that live below 200 percent of the poverty line — on less than about $36,000 annually for a family of three — that’s just unacceptable (and it’s unacceptable for the middle class, too).”

Next, End Childhood Hunger. Good grief, this should be a no brainer. 16 million, 25% of our children under 6 don’t have enough food; in our country like ours that is unbelievable and I refuse to believe Americans are that callous. Again, if we think long term, this benefits our country with healthier more productive people for the future.

Jesus’ and all major religious teachers tell us to care for each other. For those who are looking for a spiritual encounter look for those who are hungry, poor, lacking clothes, homeless or incarcerated (we jail more people per cent wise than any country in the world.) Looking beyond ourselves we can find ourselves.

Our country seems lost unable to find its way these days. Our leadership in congress reflects this loss. It is a loss of our own making our greed and our unwillingness to be informed and stand up to modern oppressors that create these problems in our society. Instead, we provide legislation and interpret the constitution to benefit the few over the many.

It may be the way things are but it does not have to be that way. I would encourage you to read Bill Moyers blog and search for ways you can address these problems in our society.