An empty cupboard. A child crying with hunger. Harassing phone calls from creditors. An eviction notice. Contempt from people who happen to be doing better. . . The catalogue of humiliations and deprivations faced by those living below the poverty line goes on and on.
And this is an overwhelming prospect that more of us are confronted with, as a changing economy and social structure widens the gap between the haves and the have-nots, putting many of us one paycheck away from ruin.
Being poor is being hungry
“Being poor feels hungry,” writes Shaunta Grimes on living with poverty.
“It’s been 15 years since I’ve been poor enough to have to legit worry about how I was going to feed myself and my kids, but I still get a sick feeling in my belly when pantry feels empty. Being poor comes with a constant sensation of not having quite enough.”
In 2019, about 10.5 percent of households in the United States were food insecure, meaning they lacked the resources to provide enough food for all household members—and this rate has roughly doubled since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the National Resources Defense Council, the U.S. throws away an estimated 40 percent of its food (consumers being the number one source of wasted food), equivalent to more than 20 pounds of food per person every month and $165 billion each year.
The world’s first poor rich country
“America, it seems, is becoming something like the world’s first poor rich country,” writes Umair Haque. “The average American can’t scrape together $500 for an emergency. A third of Americans can’t afford food, shelter, and healthcare. Healthcare for a family now costs $28k—about half of median income, which is $60k.”
“The average American has a relatively high income, that of a person in a nominally rich country. Only his income does not go very far. Most of it is eaten up by attempting to afford the basics of life,” spells out Haque.
“We’ve already seen how steep healthcare costs are. But then there is education. There is transport. There is interest and rent. There is media and communications. There is childcare and elderly care. All these things reduce the average American to constantly living right at the edge of ruin—one paycheck away from penury, one emergency away from losing it all.”
Drowning in money woes
Numbers released by the Urban Institute show that Americans are in the middle of a debt crisis, with 31 percent holding debt that is currently in collection. The median amount of debt in collections is $1,639. Also, because the United States pays more for healthcare than any other developed country, sky-high healthcare costs are afflicting 16 percent of Americans with debt they simply cannot pay.
Unfortunately, people’s growing debt load can mean dealing with more harassment from debt collectors and their unwanted calls and threatening letters. In the midst of this kind of assault, people need to know there are limits to what creditors can do.
They can’t, for example, threaten to have you arrested, publicly shame you, pretend to work for the government, or harass you with repeated phone calls, calls to your work, or calls outside the hours of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., and the list goes on. Know your rights.
A survey published in the Journal of Accountancy reports that “56% of Americans with debt said it had negatively impacted their lives. Twenty-eight percent said their debt had caused stress about everyday financial decisions, while 21% said it had caused tension with their partner; 19% said they had received letters or calls from collection agencies.
“What’s more, nearly a third (31%) of Americans with debt say they worry about it in general, while a quarter (25%) stress about it at bedtime and 18% worry about it at work.”
What it’s really like to be poor
“Being poor is pawning, out of desperation, anything you may still have with any sort of value, and cashing in pennies,” writes Rita Templeton.
“It’s filling every receptacle you’ve got—bathtub, sink, buckets, pitchers—while you still have water because you know yours is about to be shut off. It’s staying in an empty apartment with no electricity and an eviction notice on the door, because you know there’s a 30-day grace period, and if you don’t figure something out by then, you’ll be on the street.”
Power, money, debauchery: These aren’t plot points in a new television series, but recurring themes in pivotal scandals that have shaken American politics and provided a behind-the-scenes glimpse at the workings of American institutions, the weight of public opinion, and the power of the media.
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In June 1972, during the presidential campaign season, “burglars” carrying listening devices were arrested in Democratic National Committee offices in the Watergate building. The Washington Post revealed the involvement of associates of President Richard Nixon (photo), which led to the creation of a Senate investigating committee. The television broadcast of the hearings eventually decreased the public’s trust in its leaders. Accused of obstructing justice, Nixon was forced to resign on August 9, 1974.
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This scandal exploded in 1998, when Monica Lewinsky, a former White House intern, claimed to have had intercourse with President Bill Clinton. Clinton vehemently denied her statements at first, but made a televised confession to having had “inappropriate intimate physical contact” with her following the appearance of the famous blue dress. His initial lie, under oath, prompted the House of Representatives to launch impeachment procedures. The Senate acquitted Clinton in February 1999, tarnishing the end of Clinton’s second term.
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In 1971, The New York Times published a series of articles based on a top-secret report received from military analyst Daniel Ellsberg (photo). Later known as the Pentagon Papers, the report examined US-Vietnam relations between 1945 and 1967 and fuelled mounting opposition to the Vietnam War. The government obtained an injunction against the report’s publication, but the Supreme Court eventually lifted the federal restraining order.
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In the early 1920s, under President Warren Harding, Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall (photo) accepted bribes for authorizing the Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company to drill in the Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves in Wyoming. In 1923, the Senate opened an enquiry that resulted in Fall’s conviction, a one-year prison sentence, and a fine of US$100,000 (CA$132,000). Fall was the first cabinet member in U.S. history to go to jail.
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Following the Montgomery bus boycott, the FBI became obsessed with Martin Luther King, Jr. (photo) and started monitoring him nonstop in December 1955. They sought to uncover information that would harm the Black leader’s reputation and, in particular, to link him to the Communist Party. U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy authorized wire taps in 1963. The persecution of Martin Luther King was just one of the operations that tarnished the FBI reputation while under the direction of J. Edgar Hoover.
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Among U.S.-Native American conflicts, Sand Creek stands out for the deliberate deception used against peaceful Cheyenne and Arapahoe tribes in eastern Colorado. After gathering near military forts at the request and under the promised protection of Governor John Evans, Colonel John Chivington attacked, massacred, and savagely mutilated these tribes on November 29, 1864. Public opinion hailed the attack at first, but after hearing incriminating testimonies from the officers involved, Congress strongly condemned Chivington’s actions.
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Two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt authorized the creation of exclusion zones in an attempt to control individuals considered threats to national security. Between 1942 and 1945, over 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry were interned in camps. It wasn’t until 1980 that President Jimmy Carter set up an investigating commission that found the internment measures racist. In 1988, survivors of the camps received financial compensation and an apology from the government.
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In 1986, a Lebanese newspaper revealed that the American government was violating an embargo placed on Iran and secretly supplying the country with weapons during its long conflict with Iraq. In exchange, the U.S. hoped that Tehran would free seven American hostages held by the Shiite Hezbollah movement in Lebanon. The revelation was shocking given Washington’s persistent claim that it never negotiated with hostage takers. President Ronald Reagan was forced to explain himself in a televised speech. While Reagan’s popularity rating dropped temporarily, he still managed to end his term without further mishap.
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The second part of Irangate involved offering illegal support to Nicaraguan contras, whom Washington considered freedom fighters. The Reagan administration sent proceeds from the sale of weapons to Iran to these rebels to aid their fight against the Sandinista regime. Congress had explicitly prohibited such aid. All those convicted in this affair won on appeal or obtained a presidential pardon upon George Bush’s arrival in the White House in 1989.
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Just as President George Bush was about the name staunch conservative Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court in 1991, media outlets revealed that a former colleague was accusing Thomas of making unwanted advances. Anita Hill (photo) testified before a Senate committee, detailing Thomas’ behaviour. Thomas claimed that her story was part of a racist campaign to prevent a Black judge from gaining a seat on the prestigious court. In the end, Anita Hill’s statements were ignored, and Thomas’ appointment to the Supreme Court was confirmed.
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Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in August 2005, causing immense human and material damage. The tragedy also revealed gaps in the governmental response. Thousands of people from the city’s most disadvantaged areas, and Black communities in particular, had to wait nearly two days for help and evacuation. President George W. Bush was strongly criticized for the lethargic reaction. In fact, many accused authorities of indifference toward the fate of the Black population.
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In 2013, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) admitted to having abusively targeted conservative groups seeking tax exemptions. Far-right groups with names including the terms “tea party” or “patriot” were also subjected to close scrutiny. The revelation of such actions embarrassed Barack Obama’s administration only months after Obama was re-elected while calling for trust in the government. The affair ended in 2017 with no convictions, but rather a financial settlement and an apology from the IRS.
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The name Senator Joseph McCarthy (photo) has become synonymous with the hunt for presumed communists that began in the early 1950s during the Cold War. Convinced that communists had infiltrated the federal government, McCarthy looked to the House Un-American Activities Committee to track them down. His mistrust extended to other social strata as well, namely Hollywood. The climate of fear and denunciation he created along with the threat to freedom of expression led to his condemnation in 1954.
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The legitimacy of America’s intervention in Iraq, launched in March 2003 without approval from the UN Security Council, continues to spark debate. The public soon learned that Iraq had no connection to the terrorist group al-Qaeda and possessed no weapons of mass destruction. According to an independent report published in 2008, U.S. officials, including President George W. Bush (photo), disseminated nearly one thousand lies. Concerns over oil have since appeared to be the most likely reason for this war.
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Diplomat Joseph Wilson was among those who criticized the lies that prompted the U.S. to launch the Iraq War. In retaliation, White House sources revealed the identity of his wife, CIA undercover operative Valerie Plame (photo), to journalists in July 2003. Only one person was convicted for the federal crime of leaking the information. The incident also shook the press when journalists were summoned to court to identify their sources, jeopardizing their professional secrecy.
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In 2010, Wikileaks published hundreds of thousands of secret documents on U.S. diplomatic and military activities. Exasperated, the Pentagon deemed the release of Collateral Murder, a video of a deadly unprovoked aerial strike on Baghdad, as a danger to national security. The affair led to a conviction for Chelsea Manning, who leaked the information, and an extensive hunt for Julian Assange (photo), Wikileaks founder. The latter risks a 175-year prison sentence for espionage if he’s extradited to the United States.
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In 2003, Human Rights Watch denounced the poor treatment of war prisoners by U.S. occupation forces in Iraq, describing it as torture. Public opinion was swayed when media outlets published photos from the Abu Ghraib detention centre. The Bush administration, however, claimed that the soldiers were acting on their own and refused to take full responsibility for the army. 11 soldiers were eventually convicted in the affair, while the only high-ranking officer, Steven Jordan (photo), was acquitted.
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During the 2016 presidential campaign, Donald Trump’s adversaries were outraged by his history of making sexist remarks and showing apparent disdain for women. In fact, he has faced numerous accusations of making unwanted advances and assault. In response, the Women’s March collective organized a demonstration on January 21, 2017, one day after Trump’s inauguration. Nearly one million people marched on Washington, and massive protests took place in other cities across the nation and throughout the world.
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U.S. intelligence agencies believe that Russia interfered with the 2016 presidential campaign in an attempt to disparage the Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, and promote the election of Donald Trump. Investigation findings, however, did not yield proof of collusion between Trump and Moscow. Russia reportedly succeeded in pirating websites linked to the Democratic Party and sending out emails that were harmful to Hillary Clinton, all while leading a social media campaign in support of Trump.
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The Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy on illegal immigration, launched in spring 2018, provoked the separation of illegal migrant families arriving primarily from Central America. Between April and June, over 2,300 children were taken into custody by government agencies and detained in conditions some denounced as atrocious after their parents were arrested upon crossing the Mexican border. Faced with an outcry of American and international public opinion, Trump was forced to back down.
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