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Welcome to
the e-Voices MONDAY MINUTE, your weekly email newsletter from New
Mexico Voices for Children. Please take a minute to add your voice
to the pressing issues of the day. Also, tell us what issues you'd like
to know more about so we can tailor the MONDAY MINUTE to your interests.
Thanks!
July 24,
2006
Put That
in Your Freedom Fries
Recent reports have shown that the U.S. lags far behind other industrialized
nations when it comes to the health and well-being of newborns. Turns
out, our littlest citizens don't do so well while they're growing up,
either - even when government assistance is taken into account. The Economic
Policy Institute's recent 'economic snapshot' looked at 16 industrialized
nations:
- In 2000,
before accounting for government assistance, 26.6 percent of children
lived in poverty in the U.S.
- Overall,
using the same criteria, 21 percent of children lived in poverty in
the other 15 countries.
- American
tax and transfer policies reduced child poverty by just 4.7 percentage
points.
- In the
15 other countries, tax and transfer policies reduced child poverty
on average by about half.
- France
lifted the greatest percentage of children out of poverty, with a rate
of 7.5 percent.
- You can
read the snapshot, which comes from the EPI's forthcoming The State
of Working America 2006/07, at: http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots_20060719
Sharing
in the American Dream (or Not)
Sadly, it
doesn't look like things are going to get much better for children who
live in poverty - at least not soon. We've told you about the ever-widening
gap between the very wealthy and the other 99 percent of Americans. According
to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy and Priorities, in
2004 that gap became the Grand Canyon.
- Between
2003 and 2004, the average incomes of the vast majority of Americans
grew by less than 3 percent.
- The wealthiest
1 percent experienced an income leap of almost 17 percent during the
same time period.
- The report,
which adjusted for inflation, measures each percentage point of income
at $68 billion.
- That means,
when added together, the income increase for 99 percent of Americans
comes to $204 billion.
- While
the income gains of the top 1 percent of Americans add up to more than
$1 trillion.
- You can
read the report by economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez at:
http://www.cbpp.org/7-10-06inc.htm
One Reason
Poverty is Cyclic
Now that
we've thoroughly depressed you, here's a bit of optimism: there are other
ways to help low-income families. One way, according to a report by the
Brookings Institute, is to introduce more parity in the marketplace. That's
because lower income families tend to pay higher prices and interest rates
for the exact same consumer products than families with higher incomes
pay. Some examples:
- 4.2 million
homeowners earning less than $30,000 a year pay higher-than-average
prices for their mortgages.
- 4.5 million
lower-income households pay higher-than-average prices for auto loans.
- 1.6 million
lower-income adults pay excessive fees for furniture, appliances and
electronics purchased at rent-to-own stores.
- Countless
more pay higher prices for other necessities, such as basic financial
services, groceries and insurance.
Together,
these extra costs add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars per family
per year. Reducing these costs by just 1 percent would free up more than
$6.5 billion in new spending power for these families. The fix, which
would include market and regulatory initiatives, could benefit not just
low-income families.
Read more
about specific policy recommendations at: http://www.brookings.edu/metro/pubs/20060718_PovOp.htm
Race Matters
Task Force
Join us on
Wednesday, August 9, 2006 at 2:00 p.m. to discuss the recommendations
that resulted from the RACE MATTERS conference and how to take those recommendations
forward. Visit http://www.nmvoices.org/racematters.htm
for more information and to register.
Your financial
support is critical to our work. Please consider making a contribution
today at http://www.nmvoices.org/donate.htm
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