In Texas, consider the following:
"Poverty and Low-Wages: Poverty is a policy choice, reflecting both low wages and high costs of living. These two conditions make it hard to meet basic needs and easy to fall into debt. In Texas: Between 2018-2020, there were 11,831,000 poor and low-income people, accounting for 41.1% of the population.**To meet their basic needs, a household with two adults and two children needs to earn over $23/hour. However, the current minimum wage is just $7.25/hour. At this wage, an individual must work 124 hours/week to afford a modest two bedroom apartment."
No matter how high-sounding our state officials are in their rhetoric about Texas' economy, the reality is that tons of folks are desperate and can't make it without getting into crippling debt. They just can't.
I really appreciate what the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, co-chair of the Poor People's Campaign (PPC), has been doing to shine a light on such gaping inequalities in our state, as well as in other states nationwide. His is a "National Call for Moral Revival.
Mark your calendars for March 2nd and make use of the many resources at the PPC website. This link takes you to a map of the PPC's work across the U.S. Once you pick a state, the website directs you to a sign-up link for your state. For example, here is the link for Texas so that you can remain regularly informed.
Thanks to Dr. Jesse McNeil for reaching out and sharing all this excellent information.
-Angela Valenzuela
A NATIONAL CALL for MORAL REVIVAL
TEXAS FACT SHEET • 2023
In 2019, before the pandemic hit, 140 million Americans were living in poverty or just one emergency away from economic ruin: 60% of Black people (24 million), 64% of Hispanic/ Latino people (38 million), 40% of Asian people (8 million), 60% of Indigenous and Native people (2 million) and 33% of white people (66 million).* These tens of millions of people live in every region, state and county in the country. Poverty was the fourth leading cause of death. claiming 183,000 deaths in 2019, or over 800 deaths a day.
The pandemic festered in these fissures, taking root in systemic racism, poverty, the denial of health care, ecological devastation, wealth inequality and rampant military spending. During the first two years, governments at all levels responded to the crisis by expanding access to health care, housing, water, food and utilities. These overdue changes proved that in the world's richest country, we can ensure a dignified life for all. But these pandemic programs were temporary.
When they ended abruptly, poverty and related interlocking injustices began to rise once again.
While millions of people remain without work, living wages, housing, clean water, food or health care, corporations and the wealthy are doing exceedingly well. Between 2020-2022. billionaire wealth grew by $1.5 trillion - more than $2 billion a day.
Religious and moral texts are clear that making policy that does not protect the rights of the poor and puts the cause of the wealthy first is evil and wrong. Isaiah 10 says, "Woe to those who legislate evil, who make unjust laws to deprive the poor of their rights and withhold justice from the oppressed." Jeremiah 22 reminds us, ''Thus says the Lord: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor those who have been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the immigrant, the orphan, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place." Matthew 25 tells us, "'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me."'
Indeed. the first governing principle of the US Constitution is to establish justice.
If we do not want to enable this wrongdoing, we must speak out and stand. up against it. This is why the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is organizing across the nation: to reveal these injustices, change the narrative, and build our power.
Fight Poverty, not the Poor!
* The PPC:NCMR created this fact sheet using the most comprehensive and current publicly available data through May 2023. Where possible, data is disaggregated to reflect the complex reality of the interrelated injustices contained in this document. Unfortunately, there are significant gaps in racial, ethnic and other demographic data, reflecting gaps in data collection and statistical methodologies, which the PPC:NCMR cannot control. We continue to push for improvements to fill those gaps.
IN TEXAS:
Poverty and Low-Wages: Poverty is a policy choice, reflecting both low wages and high costs of living. These two conditions make it hard to meet basic needs and easy to fall into debt. In Texas: Between 2018-2020, there were 11,831,000 poor and low-income people, accounting for 41.1% of the population.**
To meet their basic needs, a household with two adults and two children needs to earn over $23/hour. However, the current minimum wage is just $7.25/hour. At this wage, an individual must work 124 hours/week to afford a modest two bedroom apartment.
There are 5,692,294 people, or 39.8% of the workforce, earning less than $15 I hour. This includes 5,159,650 adults and 26.1% of Asian and Native workers, 48.3% of Black workers, 54.2% of Hispanic workers, 26.5% of white workers, 49.2% of working women and 60.3% of working women of color. Average household debt rose 9% in 2022 to an average of $54,290. Average student loan debt held by households was $5,330 at the end of 2022.
Rolling Back on Basic Needs: Pandemic relief policies temporarily lifted the load of poverty, but ended too soon, resulting in higher rates of economic, food and housing insecurity. In Texas:In 2021, 6,660,000 children in 3,899,000 households received the exP-anded Child Tax Credit and 1,396,0_00 low-wage workers without children received the exP-anded Earned Income Tax Credit. The expansions contributed to a dramatic decline in poverty, but ended in 2021.
In 2022, 3,440,700 people relied on expanded SNAP (food stamP-s} benefits to feed themselves and their families. However, in 2023, SNAP benefits were reduced by $90-$250 I month, cutting them down to $6 /day.At least 1,337,451 people will be impacted by these cuts.
At the beginning of 2023, more than one year after eviction protections were ended,1,263,789 households reported being behind on their rent or housing payments.
Health Care and the Pandemic: Across the country, approximately 1,000 people are still dying from Covid every week and millions of people lack access to health care. In Texas: During the most intense period of the pandemic, 5,202,500 people were uninsured.
With the ending of continuous eligibility for Medicaid, 833,600 people are estimated to lose access to health care.
Between 2019 and 2020, Texas experienced a 2.1-year decline in average life expectancy.
Approximately 10.8 million workers, or 74% of the workforce in the state, do not have access to Paid leave.
Climate Crisis and Ecological Devastation: Extreme heat, storms, and drought are becoming more common, with poor and low income communities at greatest risk.
In Texas: Over the past century, the state warmed 0.8 degrees Celsius. As this trend continues, food production, spread of diseases, and health will all be adversely impacted.
Precipitation Patterns have also changed, with increased risks of flooding, drought, and water scarcity.
The percentage of poor and low-income household income that goes towards energy. costs is 6 times greater than what an average income household spends on energy.
The percentage of poor and low-income household income that goes towards water costs is 5 times greater than what an average income household spends on water.
Militarism: Government spending that prioritizes war, mass incarceration, excessive policing, and anti-immigrant forces is leading to greater violence, fear and criminalization of the poor. In Texas. In 2023, taxpayers will contribute $7.93 billion to Pentagon spending, $2.25 billion to immigration enforcement, and $2.72 billion to nuclear weapons.
Over the past 30 years, $135 million in military equipment (tanks, drones, combat rifles, and ammunition) has been transferred from the Pentagon to state and local law enforcement.
Between 2001-2020, 9,551 veterans committed suicide.
In 2021, 4,613 people were killed by gun violence.
There are 200,504 people incarcerated. As of April 2023, 9,973 immigrants are in detention.
From Oct 2002-June 2022, over 2,434,899 people were deported from Texas.
** Source: Calculated by the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University using data from 2019-2021 Annual Social and Economic Supplement to the Current Population Survey. Data retrieved from IPUMS-CPS (ipums.org).
Democracy across the nation, a surge of attacks on voting rights and on the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people are denying basic nights to millions of people and constraining our ability to participate in democracy. Poor and low-income people can change this direction. In Texas: There were 166 voter restrictive bills introduced between 2020 and 2023, and 63 anti-LGBTQ+ law introduced in 2023. Three voter restriction bills and one anti-LGBTQ+ bill were passed.
In 2022, abortion was banned, and performing an abortion was made a felony punishable by up to life in prison.
In Texas, there are 7,173,884 P-OOr and low-income eligible voters, including 3,824,783 white voters, 2,415,203 Latino voters, 72,516 Asian voters, 654,460 Black voters and 1,964 Indigenous voters. Together, they account for 33.76% of the electorate.
There is an abundance of wealth and resources to meet our basic needs and ensure we all survive and thrive.A proposed federal tax on the annual increase in billionaires' wealth would generate an estimated $557 billion over 1O years. Texas has 71 billionaires with a combined wealth of $584 billion. The state has zero personal income tax.
In Texas, state taxpayer dollars are being siphoned towards militarism: state taxpayer dollars for deportations and border control could instead subsidize more than 349,725 public housing units. Taxpayer dollars going to nuclear weapons could provide health insurance for 838,118 children. Taxpayer dollars going to the biggest weapons contractor Lockheed Martin. could hire more than 43,689 elementary school teachers.
More than $746.74 million from Texas taxpayers that is going to federal prisons could instead power more than 1.68 million households with solar energy.
Texas has only spent $9 billion of the $15.8 billion it was allocated under the American Rescue Plan, which could be used for housing, health care and other pressing needs. If the state and local governments do not allocate these resources by December 2024, the remaining funds will be lost.
Moving these resources, and investing more, to fully meet all of our needs will save lives and revive our national economy.During the pandemic, eviction moratoria and moratoria on utility. disconnections saved lives. If enacted earlier, they could have reduced Covid deaths by 40% and 15%, respectively, across the nation. Universal health care could have saved 330,000 lives.
Enacting Medicare for All will save $450 billion in health care costs and 68,000 lives every year.
Ending mass incarceration could raise average US life expectancy by five ears.
Providing Permanent safe housing delivers lifelong benefits to children and families at a national average cost of $12,800 per person per year, far less than the cost of crisis services for those suffering chronic homelessness. Paid Family and Medical Leave improves employment, especially among women, increases child well-being, and protects against poverty when health challenges arise.
Increasing resources for the poor stimulates the economy much more than making the rich even richer, because the poor need to spend nearly everything they earn. Every dollar going to a low-wage worker adds $1.20 to the economy overall. Every dollar spent on food stamps generates $1.50-$1.80 in economic activity, EXPanded unemployment insurance during the pandemic protected 5.1 million jobs by boosting economic activity.
The expanded Child Tax Credit was estimated to have a greater impact on the economy than military spending, without negative impacts on employment.
Overdue improvements to TANF could triple its reach and improve the lives of at least 2.38 million families nationwide.
Every dollar invested in Providing families clean water and P-rDP-er sanitation yields 5 times as many returns to the US economy.
Freedom from debt would allow more people to start small businesses and move around the country to take better jobs, strengthening our economy and workforce.
There are more than 7,173,844 poor and low-income voters in Texas and 85 million across the nation. Together, we account for one-third of the electorate. Together, we can ensure that the days of poverty and low wages - and the unnecessary cruelty of abandonment amidst abundance - are numbered. Together, we can revive the heart and soul of this democracy to ensure dignity and justice for all. Forward together, not one step back!
For more information and resources, visit poorpeoplescampaign.org.
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