A permanent underclass

First, let me begin by saying I’m not dead. I’ve been sick and over-worked for the last week. However, the snow day gave me 14 hours sleep and some relaxation so I feel much better.

Earlier in the week I saw an article by Hope Yen for the Associated Press on the earning a between young adults with and without college degrees, which is the widest it has been in 48 years, and I’d argue that we’re creating a permanent underclass.

Yen argues that this shows the raising value of a college degree despite rising tuition costs, however, I’m not ready to say that instead I’m arguing college degrees are devalued, but not nearly as much as a high school degree. Yen arrived at this conclusion based on census data. The findings state that young adults with only a high school diploma earned 62 percent of the typical salary of college graduates, which is down from 81 percent in 1965 (the earliest year this was calculated).

Additionally, Pew shows increasing economic difficulties for young people without bachelor degree are more likely to live in poverty and be dissatisfied with their jobs. This is seen in a stratification of high and low wage work. According to Paul Taylor, Pew’s executive vice president and co-author of the report, “In today’s knowledge-based economy, the only thing more expensive than getting a college education is not getting one. Young adults see significant economic gains from getting a college degree regardless of the level of student debt they have taken on.”

With the rising costs of tuition resulting in college graduates having large debt and few employment opportunities. Affordable higher education would result in upward mobility for young people, of course there would have to be jobs available. A college degree now yields more earnings (adjusted for inflation), while a high-school diploma is worth less than ever before. The article used an example of college graduates ages 25 to 32 working full time earned $17,500 more annually than employed young adults with a high school diploma, $5,500 and $28,000, respectively. The median earning for high-school graduates fell more than $3,000 from $31,384 to $28,000 between 1965 to 2013.

Now, 22 percent of high-school graduates live in poverty compared to 7 percent in 1979. Taylor continued to say, “Despite their higher levels of college completion, today’s young adults overall are doing no better—and on many key indicators of economic well-being, they’re doing worse—than older generations were doing when they were the same age that Millennials are now. This is mainly because the economic penalties for not for not getting a college degree are so much stiffer now than in the past.”

The report also showed the young employed college graduates are more likely to say their job is a job is a career or a stepping stone then their peers with a high0school diploma. Those with high-school diplomas are three times more likely to consider their work as just a job to get by than college graduates.

So this poverty thing is getting a little play in the media

I can’t tell you how many emails I have received about the 4 of 5 US adults are near poverty. You don’t say? I hope someone is doing something about that. Oh, they’re not. I for one am shocked. *sarcasm*

About 80% adults in the US are struggling with poverty because joblessness, near-poverty, or reliance on welfare for part of their lives. These are all signs that something is going terribly wrong. The Associated Press pointed to the globalized economy, the class stratification, and the exodus of manufacturing jobs. All of this is causing a commotion, I imagine because whites are where there has been the largest increase in poverty.* Because, as you know when it happens to whitey we all get concerned. Of course this has everyone scared, but I’d like to remind you poverty, while it is a zero sum game, more poor white people doesn’t necessarily mean more wealthy people of color, more of often than not it is going to mean wealthier wealthy people.

The gauge defines “economic insecurity” as at some point in their working lives experiencing unemployment, a year (or more) on government aid, or income below 150 percent of the poverty line. Across all races, economic insecurity rose to 76%, and marriage rates declined. Additionally, the number of white mother-headed household in poverty has risen to the level of black mother-headed households. There is a safe assumption that feelings of white alienation will increase if the economy doesn’t improve especially since we've seen just how racist people in the US can be.

The numbers are pretty bleak; the count of the US poor is 46.2 million, about 15% of the population, due partially to unemployment following the recession. Rate of poverty among black and Hispanics are three times higher, but the face of poverty is white. More than 19 million whites fall below the poverty time ($23,021 for a family of four). This is more than 41% of the nation’s impoverished, and double the number of blacks, but remember whites are still the majority, and in the articles I read there was no mention if prisoners were counted among the destitute.

This white population is more likely to reside in the suburbs (which is a potential project for me). There has been quite a bit written on the movement of the poor and the influx of poverty in the suburbs, but in reality the increase in poverty in the suburbs has more to do with an increase in poverty than actually migration of people. This population is most likely the working poor and recently laid off.

The analysis which is being published by Oxford University Press with supplemental interviews and figures from AP by Tom Hirschl, professor from Cornell; John Iceland, professor Penn State University; the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey Institute; the Census Bureau; and the Population Reference Bureau. The findings include:

• The number of white single-mother households in poverty with children surpass or equal black ones in the past decade for the first time since 1975.
• The poverty rate among working-class whites has grown faster than among working-class non-whites since 2000.
• The proportion of children living in high-poverty neighborhoods (poverty rates of 30%+) increased to 1 in 10, which puts them at high risk of teenage pregnancy, dropping out of school, etc.
• Racial disparities in health and education have narrowed since the 1960s (interesting in light of the study on stress and health). We know that class is a better predictor of standardized test performance than race, and the score gap between poor and wealthy students is double the gap between blacks and whites.

The Huffington Post article devolved into a discussion of whether or not poor white people are feeling left out because our black president is doing more for poor black people. This frustrates me to no end. This is racism, and let’s call it that. Republicans aren’t giving money to poor people of any race, and there is no racial requirement for welfare. This is a myth, pushed down our throats by Fox News and Republican zealots. People are poor as a direct effect of lack of government regulation, but people of color have to face generational poverty (some white people too) which is a direct effect of the exclusion of people of color from welfare, the welfare queen myth, institutional racism, mass incarceration of men of color, etc. So anyone who wants to go a few rounds with me on the plight of white people, come at me bro. I'm not saying that poverty isn't a problem for white people, it is. Trust me it is. However, to compare systematic poverty rooted in institutional racism to the almost universal poverty because our government backs corporations and the wealthy are different. 

The government can do something to alleviate poverty; they can increase SNAP, TANF, and public assistance at large. They can regulate industries that have massacred the economy. They can create public works jobs until the economy starts come back, and they can pay for all of this by ending the wars, the drone program, and indefinite incarceration. They can also end the wars on drugs and women, and the racism that permeates welfare policy. Work first welfare programs are less effective when there are no jobs, which means people are using up their time limit without any options. Preventing women from accessing abortion, birth control, repro health services, and health services increases poverty across the board. The war on drugs just disproportionally incarcerates men of color who then aren’t able to provide an income to their families (often even after release because of discriminatory hiring processes).  Finally, raise the minimum wage; it should have been done yesterday. Also, the government can support unions the way they support corporations. Look kids, I think I've solved poverty. Just kidding. 

*I didn’t see the actual data, but I’m assuming the proportion of whites in poverty doesn’t surpass poverty proportions among people of color.

The DOJ investigates AP, and that is bad news

So the DOJ has secretly sought to have the phone records of reporters at the Associated Press (AP) as part of an investigation into national security leaks. Show of hands, anyone surprised?

No one, good. This is the DOJ that deports more people than ever before and looks the other way as the President assassinates people and has them permanently detained without any rights. I just want to make sure everyone is paying attention. I heard about this Monday afternoon via ThinkProgress’ piece by Hayes Brown. So remember the underwear bomber, part of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)? When the AP broke this story it attracted the attention of the DOJ because the CIA foiled the plot, and AP made it clear,

“The FBI is examining the latest bomb to see whether it could have passed through airport security and brought down an airplane, officials said. They said the device did not contain metal, meaning it probably could have passed through an airport metal detector. But it was not clear whether new body scanners used in many airports would have detected it.

“The would-be suicide bomber, based in Yemen, had not yet picked a target or bought a plane ticket when the CIA stepped in and seized the bomb, officials said. It’s not immediately clear what happened to the alleged bomber.”

AP had learned about the plot a week before, but at the request of the White House and CIA didn’t publish it immediately because of national security concerns. (Noted, the press now works for the White House and CIA, anyone else get chills?) However, by reporting the CIA foiled the plot they put AQAP on notice that the CIA was involved in their activities. It became a concern that the operative involved would become a target of AQAP as they sought retribution.

John Brennan (head of the CIA for those of you who don’t monitor insanely scary and powerful men) said during his confirmation that the release of the information to AP was an “unauthorized and dangerous disclosure of classified information.” The DOJ pursuit of information on the leaks isn’t new, Attorney General Eric Holder’s appointment of federal prosecutors were to look into the disclosures last year. ThinkProgress finds it surprising that the DOJ is amassing tons of information because they don’t know how this works:

“In all, the government seized those records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. The exact number of journalists who used the phone lines during that period is unknown [who cares, we’re searching for a presumed bad guy, fuck journalism] but more than 100 journalists work in the offices whose phone records were targeted on a wide array of stories about the government and other matters.”

*Shoulder shrug* No it’s cool, man. Who cares about confidential sources and privacy? Terrorism! AP released a letter to Holder denouncing the invasion of their records without their consent. They call it an “unprecedented step” and “a serious interference with AP’s constitutional rights to gather and report the news.” The US Attorney’s DC office issued a statement on the case, claiming, “because we value the freedom of the press, we are always careful and deliberative in seeking to strike the right balance between the free flow of information and the public interest” in carrying out those laws. Of course, the investigation appears really broad anyway. Also, we don’t know if other news outlets were targeted as well.

I’m concerned that ThinkProgress doesn’t seem as horrified by this as I am. It is a big deal because the DOJ is pulling records without notifying news outlets, and of course there are lots of problems with media and news right now, but come on. Secondly, as noted the AP is holding stories at the request of the White House and the CIA, which I can get behind on occasion, but I’m thinking this is a more regular occurrence than a onetime thing. The shift the press has taken (which isn't a new one) to side with the administrations and not actually investigate is scary. Also, possibly a waste of resources for the DOJ. The invasion by the DOJ into the workings of the press should put everyone on notice. After all, don't we usually complain about lack of free press in nations? Usually, using it as a marker that these countries are less advanced or need the West to interfere?