Waubonsee Community College

So rich, so poor, why it's so hard to end poverty in America, Peter Edelman

eng

Includes bibliographical references (pages 165-174) and index

index present

non fiction

So rich, so poor

bibliography

744288985

Peter Edelman

why it's so hard to end poverty in America

Offers an informed analysis of how the United States can be so wealthy yet have an outsized number of unemployed and working poorIncome disparities in our wealthy nation are now wider than at any point since the Great Depression. In 2010, the average compensation for CEOs on the S & P 500 was over $11 million, while a quarter of all jobs in the country paid less than the poverty line--$22,000 for a family of four. Yet our GDP now exceeds $15 trillion. How can some be so rich, while others are so poor? In this book, lifelong antipoverty advocate Peter Edelman offers an informed analysis of how this country can be so wealthy yet have such an outsized number of unemployed and working poor. Although Edelman argues we have taken important positive steps without which 40 million more people would be poor, poverty nevertheless fluctuates with the business cycle. The structure of today's economy has stultified wage growth for half of America's workers--with even worse results at the bottom and for people of color--while bestowing billions on those at the top. So Rich, So Poor delves into what is happening to the people behind the statistics and takes a particular look at the continuing crisis of young people of color, whose possibility of productive lives too often is lost on their way to adulthood. This book is crucial election-year reading fro anyone who wants to understand the most critical American dilemma of the twenty-first century

A snapshot of our current mess -- What we have accomplished -- Why are we stuck? -- Jobs : the economy and public policy go south (for most of us) -- Deep poverty : a gigantic hole in the safety net -- Concentrated poverty : "the abandoned" -- Young people : improving the odds