“When I talk about an "empathy bank," I don't mean literally opening up a bank and putting in deposits. What I mean is that the more we can, as individuals and as members of a community, empathize with, understand the pain and uncertainty economic crisis causes other people, the more we lay the groundwork for political change.” PeopleMeanPainPoliticalIndividualCommunityEconomicEmpathyCrisisUncertainty Author:Sasha Abramsky
“Ronald Reagan, and before him, Richard Nixon, and before Nixon, a slew of conservative politicians going back through American history, have played to the idea that the great majority of poor people are somehow "undeserving," and being undeserving, merit at best very limited, oftentimes deeply coercive and humiliating, government interventions to better their finances. That narrative isn't about to disappear overnight; but it strikes me as being like a weak gruel - there's no sustenance in it, no heft behind the argument.” PeoplePoorPoliticianArgumentWeakConservativeDisappearFinanceAmerican HistoryPoor PeopleHumiliating Author:Sasha Abramsky
“It seems to me that large numbers of people are now paying attention to poverty and that large numbers now understand that blaming the poor and the insecure for being poor and insecure is as unseemly as is schoolyard bullying. In that realization lies hope for a reinvigorated discourse around poverty and inequity in modern-day America.” PeopleLyingPoorAttentionPovertyBlameRealizationPay AttentionBullyingInsecure Author:Sasha Abramsky
“Too often the media assumes that "poverty" is an African American or a Latino issue. Of course, that's nonsense. While a higher percentage of the African American and Latino population does live in poverty as compared to the white population, when overall numbers are looked at, it is clear that people of all races, ethnicities, and colors, are represented amongst America's poor.” PeoplePoorPovertyAssumingAfrican AmericanNonsenseLatino Author:Sasha Abramsky
“We're living through an era of higher income inequality than the country has experienced since before the Great Depression. Meanwhile, most people are running in place, and those in the bottom quintile of the economy are being swept backward year in and year out. A worker with a high school education today is likely to earn less in real terms than did their parents and grandparents in the early 1970s. Not coincidentally, while overall life expectancy is increasing in America, for those with low levels of education it's actually declining.” PeopleRealCountryRunningTodaySchoolParentTermEconomyHigh SchoolBottomInequalityGrandparentGreat Depression Author:Sasha Abramsky
“You can't lift people out of poverty simply by tweaking the tax system, or by raising the minimum wage by a few cents, or by reducing student debt slightly. These might be necessary components of a larger anti-poverty program, but you have to accept they are pieces of a much larger puzzle.” PeopleAcceptingPovertyStudentsTaxesProgramPuzzles Author:Sasha Abramsky
“Detroit is a fascinating place, because things are so bad there that the dystopia has almost become utopian. People know they can't rely on the state, that public infrastructure is broken, and they've taken their own measures. People are growing their own food and selling their produce to local stores and restaurants. It's certainly not a fix-all; Detroit's problems are too deep-rooted for quick-fix solutions. But it's a hopeful sign. Detroiters are crafting their own solutions rather than being passive in the face of the city's and state's actions and inactions.” PeopleProblemActionTakenBrokenSolutionsSellingRelyHopefulPassiveInactionDystopiaUtopian Author:Sasha Abramsky