Virginia's flimsy safety net for destitute families is a product of a flinty, self-sufficient culture born of a frontier founding and fostered by a strong belief in the American dream.
In 2009, job creation remains the most viable strategy for the long-term prosperity of the commonwealth, but economic-development efforts alone have failed to beat down a poverty rate that has stubbornly hovered at 10 percent for two decades. Today, 739,000 Virginians live below the poverty level, defined as less than $20,650 in annual income for a family of four.
That's thousands of our neighbors and friends struggling to afford a roof and enough to eat. Worse, the current recession threatens to plunge thousands more into an abrupt financial crisis. Many are coping with uncertainty, unemployment and despair for the first time.
The timing is appropriate for the creation of a task force charged with recommending new ways to reduce poverty in Virginia. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine this month announced the new group, which includes state officials, bankers, nonprofit leaders and legislators.
Members should consult two recent reports on the topic. The New York Times chronicled the confusing and illogical mix of state programs that mete out relief and rejection based on where a person lives.
The inescapable conclusion is that many Virginians would be better off elsewhere. The Old Dominion ranks 47th among the 50 states in per-capita spending on Medicaid, the health insurance program for indigent families. With only 29 percent of the unemployed receiving benefits, only four states are stingier in granting jobless aid.
The analysis reveals the absurdities that have evolved in Virginia policy. The state is not generous with any aid program but is especially restrictive on unemployment assistance, even though it is designed for those who have had jobs and are searching for new employment. State lawmakers refused to loosen the rules even temporarily when offered $125 million from the federal stimulus package for that purpose.
While Virginia has done a respectable job in enrolling 71 percent of its low-income children in health insurance programs, only 34 percent of poor adults are covered because eligibility rules block most applicants making more than $6,000 a year. Insurance alone won't keep a child healthy if his parents are chronically ill and unable to care for him.
The second report, from the nonprofit Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis, outlines specific recommendations for addressing Virginia's meager aid programs. The Richmond research group last week urged state leaders to expand eligibility for jobless aid and health insurance.
It also recommended the state take advantage of other federal incentives tied to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. The Institute notes that fewer than 50,500 children were enrolled in 2007, but 96,000 Virginia youngsters live in deep poverty, defined as annual incomes less than $11,000 for a family of four.
Finally, the group pressed for reforms to the state tax system, which now forces Virginians making less than $18,000 annually to pay nearly nine times as much of their income in sales and excise taxes as the state's wealthiest 1 percent.
If Virginia leaders can't be moved to take even small steps to help care for struggling residents when they need the state's assistance, it undermines the very notion of this place as a commonwealth.
A fair-weather state that happily accepts tax receipts but provides no safety net pricks at the conscience of all but the hardest-hearted Virginians.
Poverty is a frustrating problem even in times of economic stability, but the need for new approaches to an old and obstinate problem has never been more urgent.
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the difference now is
If I had called someone "pathetic" my comment would have been removed and I would have been banned for months.
But we all know some on here have more than one user ID.
Gertz...
...the only help I want from the state or federal government is a lower tax liability! Don't forget that the full time working widow/widower receives "social security" from the government which amount is determined by how much her/his husband/wife made in their life and paid into "the system". "Wealthy corporations" EMPLOY people, poor people do not EMPLOY people that is the difference. Besides if they have such a strong need (working at minimum wage) for more money they should have a VERY STRONG motivating purpose in their lives to work hard, do their job well and EARN a pay raise. The only people who are truly "overcharging" the citizenry are the teachers unions. Talk about "NO BID" awards! They can THREATEN not to TEACH our STUDENTS who have tax PAYING parents! How in the world is that fair?
throughout history,
governments, including theocracies & dictatorships, have had aid programs for the poor. A society functions better if it is willing to assist the less fortunate within its' realm. Why do some deem the poor as unworthy of assistance using tax monies yet have no problem with tax monies being used to further enrich wealthy corporations, who over charge our citizenry for products & overcharge our government, for defense products & other services, (using no-bid contracts, ala Halliburton), thereby overcharging the citizenry, again? A single widow or widower, with children, working full time, makes only $13,624/yr, before taxes, if making the federal minimum wage. Whether some wish to believe it or not, there are a lot of people with more than a high school education earning that type income, today.
my original thought
My original thought did not get posted so I thought I would keep it simple this time. Some times the Pilot doesn't post comments for a variety of unknow reasons.
Some of you can sit here and debate the Constitution all you want to, and I hope it makes you feel better about yourselves or maybe it justifies the greed and selfishness that I've been reading.
It sounds like many of you have never known or know anyone who is really poor, and the numbers are increasing every day. Let's hope some of you don't fall into that bracket.
pathetic
I hope a number of you never have the need for help.
See if we can try this again today.
This comment is awaiting staff approval.
Submitted by 2cents on Mon, 05/18/2009 at 8:44 am.
Just aren't buying into your pity party. There are too many people working who worked full time jobs, looking full time work. If you are only looking for a part-time job to keep your welfare status, then your poverty has never been your priority and is not suddenly the publics’.
Number one way to avoid poverty...Do Not Drop Out of High School.
Number two way to avoid poverty...Do Not Have babies as teen-agers.
Number three way to avoid poverty...Do Not Have a second baby if you are already on any type of public assistance.
Number four way to avoid poverty....Do not get addicted to drugs or alcohol.
To truly help those in need, reduce the number of people who are just abusing these programs. Those that wont work full time, so that they don't have a reduction in the free benefits, are the ones that make it impossible to better help those that are truly disabled, elderly, or suffering a short term unforeseeable tragedy.
Futhermore, if you want to donate above the rate of taxation, you are most welcome to write a check.
Ford was in Norfolk,
on Indian River Road. All people on a company payroll, have payroll taxes taken out of their checks. Only if persons are paid cash, off the books, is this evaded. The fact that Va. was the Seat of the Confederacy, has more to do with the notoriously low wages & pitiful assistance to the working poor & recently unemployed, than any immigrant factor. If one fails to understand this, perhaps one needs to study actual history, not his story.
Any idea why the author didn't include their name...
taking "credit" for this article? I forgot Virginia doesn't have a WIC program do we? We don't have section 8 housing do we? We don't have head start programs do we? We don't provide free lunch for kids at school do we? We don't provide food stamps/EBT cards do we? We don't have any kind of job training do we? We don't have able bodied men and women collecting social security do we? Stingy unemployment? What does that mean? You have to have a work history to get it and it is based upon how much you earned before being laid off. Poor pay more in taxes now? So what does the writer want? A graduated sales tax system? We already have a graduated income tax system which excludes the poor giving them a 0 tax liability! Step 2 for the transition to communism! The poor man and woman need to work their way out of poverty because no amount of goverment will make them wealthy.
Terryk91169...
I don't know where you got your information about legal and illegal immigrants but I used to be a legal immigrant before I became a US Citizen and I have always been paying taxes when I was an immigrant and same with all the legal immigrants that I know then and now.
Terry...
You cannot tax what does not "exist". "Migrants" typically work under the table and receive cash money. They then go to the local western union and wire the money back to Mexico or where they came from. The money is not on the books and therefore was never paid. Of course we should all be sympathetic to the illegal plight and turn a blind eye to their free medical, free public school, in state tuition (I can't figure that one out), identity theft, free SSI, free public assistance and all of the other leeching on our society. I suddenly feel all warm inside for some reason and it isn't philanthropic in nature.
Welfare or Jobs
Big Business and government are creating the problems with proverty. Jobs that can be performed by blue collar workers have been taken away by illegal and legal immigrants. Builders were making money hand over fist by using migrant workers and paying them lower wages. Wages that the ordinary low income taxpayer could not afford to take. We hire migrants to work our highways, our resturants, our hotels, our lawns, our janitorial work, etc., etc., etc. These folks are not paying taxes to take care of those we have put out of work.
Also, we have encourage big businesses to go to other countries to give them large tax breaks taking away the automobile industry (remember buy American - didn't the Ford Plant leave Chesapeake for Mexico?). Where did all the garment factories go? Our government has run them out of town using incentives and now they want the taxpayer to help out the underprivledge. I am not saying we shouldn't help, because if these folks were making more money, this would boost the economy and I could make more money. Bottom Line: If our government wants to help those below the proverty level - hire Americans first and tax the migrant workers.
Pursuit of happiness
Was NEVER intended to be a argument for public assistance. Thomas Jefferson would bristle at any suggestion of redistribution of wealth!
Well, I guess I could say
Well, I guess I could say that you are doing exactly the same thing that you accuse me of doing. Afterall, I simply presented his written word, and then attempted to ascertain what he meant, and I give you credit for doing the same thing. Point is, throughout the important documents of the founders, we find this tension between the freedom of the individual and the requirement for laws and government so we can live in civil society. Frankly, I happen to think both are as important today as they were in the time of our founders. I choose to interpret their wisdom in a contemporary context, and you like many other libertarians choose to take their words exactly as written. Citizens much smarter than I grapple with this issue every day, and frankly, neither approach is without merit. In this case, we the voters approved unemployment insurance, and I think it is part of the pursuit of happiness, especially as occupation and profession has become property for most of us.
Pursuit of Happiness
Mike, You should read all of what Jefferson wrote, not just a few words out of context.
The Pursuit of Happiness was a euphemism of the day for the private ownership of property and the fruits of ones' labors. The meaning of that phrase from the Declaration is the exact opposite of your interpretation. It means what you have earned is yours, and not even the King could take it without compensation.
Of course, if you want more Jefferson, there is always "A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government ."
Either way, you are exactly the sort which inspired the Declaration of Independence.
Leftist Barrett
The Founders are rolling over in their graves almost everytime Barrett writes. Your revisionist reading of the Declaration would be funny if it were not so tragic.
You state "Certainly in a modern context, public health, welfare, and unemployment insurance are conditions for the pursuit of happiness." It is not CERTAIN you moron. I guarantee you that I give more to charity as a percentage of my gross income than you do, but I do it because I want to, not because the government tells me I have to.
balderdash
Mr. Barrett you are free to donate as much as you wish. Use your power of the pen the write a large a check as you wish. As for me, I will constantly look for as many was as legally possible to reduce my tax burden and strangle this overfed government.
Personal responsibility
I am ONLY obligated to ensuring the welfare of myself and my family. I have no other obligations to ANYONE except the IRS and my boss.
That is where the line is drawn.
If the Commonwealth of Virginia can come up with a way to help people who need it WITHOUT asking me to pay for it with additional taxes than whe I already pay...then that's wonderful.
But until someone can tell me how we are going to pay for all of the newfound "obligation" then those people are just going to have to suffer.
Work at McDonalds if you need to for a little bit. At least it's a paycheck. Stop milking the unemployment fund while NOT actively looking for employment.
In order to receive benefits, you SHOULD be scrutinized and supervised by the MAN. If you are going to get a check, you better be doing something other than sitting around.
There are those that need help, and there are those that take it. We need to eliminate the "takers" and we won't have all this red ink.
Well,listen to the Lion
Well,listen to the Lion roar. Yet perhaps Dr. Tabor should re-read the Declaration of Independence which states in part...."We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed..." Point is, government is an instrument we create as a means to citizenship and to help us create the the conditions in our communitiews for the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness. Certainly in a modern context, public health, welfare, and unemployment insurance are conditions for the pursuit of happiness. Just because Virginia ranks near the bottom on every one of these elements is not a source of pride, but one of challenge that we can do better.
Too many questions...
There are too many questions concerning this dead horse but a few are:
1. Why does there have to be a stipulation to continue the extra funding at state expense after the porkulous runs out? Drop it and there is no argument.
2. If the extra burden is only a few dollars a year, then how can the extra benefit equal anything more that "a few dollars" a year?
3. Part time jobs notoriously don't have any benefits for a reason. Why is it so important to change it and to what benefit? People come and go frequently in this market.
4. What is the incentive to finish schooling and get back to work if your schooling is being paid for and you get a never ending stipend to boot?
5. Why isn't there a fair reporting of what the GA DID increase in the form of expanded unemployment to the prior full timers?
6. What is the obligation of the "poor" to be responsible for their own choices and actions? Gaming of the system has become, well, a game and a very fruitful one at that.
Obligation ??
Uh, exactly how did I incur this obligation?
Did I fail to pay for services rendered? Did I borrow from the poor?
Please do not confuse charity with an obligation, whether it is a voluntary, individual charity or a mandatory, collective form, it is still charity and the attitude that it has become an obligation to continue it reveals that it is no longer appreciated. When charity is seen as an obligation, it has outlived its usefulness.
We may choose, either individually or collectively, to help those less fortunate, but we have no obligation to do so and we should never for a moment forget that, nor should those who benefit from that charity.