Remember the story in yesterday’s New York Times that described the increase in income inequality in New York City? That’s the one that said that the gap between the richest quintile and the poorest quintile has not only grown but is one of the largest in the world, putting us in the same league as countries like Namibia.
Well, there is good news from Mayor Bloomberg’s own publishing house. Poverty is really not so bad in the U.S. because the Census Bureau didn’t count all the benefits and transfers that the poor get. So when you read that someone is subsisting on $8,844 a year, don’t forget that they get food stamps! And an earned income tax credit. And so many other freebies. Don’t you feel better already?
Just by coincidence, Forbes published its annual listing of the richest people in the world. It is here: http://www.forbes.com/billionaires/#p_1_s_a0_All%20industries_All%20countries_All%20states_
Mayor Bloomberg is not all that rich. He is #20 on the list with $22 billion.
Everything is relative.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
This columnist gets that poverty and education success are linked.
U.S. could learn from Finland on education
from the Harrisburg Patriot New
“If we compare apples to apples, our schools are doing well. For example, in schools with little poverty, America’s students are No. 2 in the world. In schools where the majority of children qualify for free or reduced lunches — such as many school districts in Pennsylvania — scores decline.”
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Here’s the link:
http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2012/09/us_could_learn_from_finland_on.html
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The mayor’s publishing house is, of course, correct. We measure poverty very badly and it gives a distorted view of who the poor are and where they live.
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Might I recommend that you try living in NYC on $8840 a year with food stamps and all those cushy government transfers? We have some pretty nice accommodations for the homeless, excepting for the rats and roaches.
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Many entries on the blog concern 1) how learning is often incorrectly measured and 2) how drawing conclusions and making decisions based on these inaccurate measures leads to bad policy. Those same arguments apply to measuring poverty.
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^ If anything, the poverty measures in the US are ameliorated to make the issue seem like less of a problem than it actually is. Twenty-three grand for a family of four is absurd.
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The Bureau of Labor Statistics has been working on a new, consumption based measure of poverty for some time. Here is a link to the BLS site.
http://www.bls.gov/pir/spmhome.htm
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Keep trying, Sooner or later, you will convince someone that poverty is no problem after all, that income inequality is no big deal, that the poor should be happy with their lot.
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Dr. Ravitch,
I am not trying to convince anyone that poverty is not a problem, that income inequality is not a big deal, or the poor should be happy with their lot. Can you point to where I say any of those things?
I am saying that poverty is badly measured in the US. I gather that you believe poverty is well measured in the US. You might wish to read the National Academy of Science report in the link above.
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Consumption based? So if a millionaire choses to lead the life of a church mouse, s/he’ll get counted as “poor”?
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There is no perfect measure. Under the current system a millionaire who lives off accumulated savings will be counted as poor because they earn low income. A millionaire that sold a business last year and is currently not working could be counted as poor this year. The National Academy of Science report is long, but you might want to read the summary here: http://www.bls.gov/pir/spm/nasrpt_summary.pdf
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Can we go easy on “teachingeconomist?” Read the BLS paper (at least the summary). Some strong points are made. For sure $9,000 is pitiful but take it from people who were on welfare (us) poverty is different today than in 1960. So how we measure it should change to keep up.
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Let’s also not forget the very special attention that the Mayor’s private army, aka the NYPD, gives to the poor and working class in NYC, especially in that global playground of the affluent, Manhattan. Why, they can’t seem to get enough of stopping them, frisking them, arresting them on bogus charges, and occasionally shooting them.
Yes, there are many unquantified benefits to being poor.
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There is someone who posts quite often and rarely sees the human side….he/she looks at numbers and statistics. Unless a situation were to affect him or her, he cannot identify with human children, parents, teachers, families, etc. One may choose a numbers job because they are good at looking at figures, but not good at human relations. So, although at times it upsets me to read his/her posts, I don’t think they are able to process the information thinking of human beings that are not in their lives or people who somehow affect them daily. I have decided to give up on having a dialogue with this person….it is a lose lose….there is not ability to learn or be compassionate. I am actually puzzled as to why a stats/ numbers person would even be interested in this blog.
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I first became interested because a large number of posts here are about statistics and numbers as well as my having dedicated my life to teaching.
When Dr. Ravitch argues that high stakes standardized tests are not good measures of learning or teaching, no one accuses her of not caring about students. When I say the fifty year old way we measure poverty is not a good measure of poverty, I am accused of not caring about those in poverty.
I think for both Dr. Ravitch and myself, we care about how a thing is measured because we care deeply about what is being measured.
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So warm and fuzzy! Time for another glass of Chardonnay. 🙂
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Oaked or unoaked?
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Not sure….maybe I should call the winery and check their data first. I’ll get back to you after I crunch the numbers.
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TE, you might do better if you added commentary to your stats. I have the feeling that frequently you are not disagreeing with the conclusions but trying to make sure we reach those conclusions with solid data. With the huge impact that data driven mandates have had on the lives of many of us and those we care about, you have to tell us what your statistics mean, not just throw references or ambiguous numbers at us. Our radars are already active just reading your “handle.”
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I think that since there is such a push to lessen the achievement gap at schools there should also be a push to lessen the poverty gap in our nation!
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We still don’t understand why people “sweat” poverty. It can be overcome! Just ask the Gates Foundation http://studentslast.blogspot.com/2012/09/uber-teachers-are-uber-powerful-new.html
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I am certainly not one to understand all of the statistics of anything. I do see poverty around me everyday. One does not have to be a teacher to see it unless they choose to be blind to their everyday environment. Too many have chosen to do that. The politicians have and so have the ed reformers. $8,000+ dollars is poverty anywhere. By all means it would seem to be true of NYC.
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