Poverty, by America

Matthew Desmond does an incredible taking us through the history and causes of the poverty crisis in America. There's a systemic issue of people, especially those in privileged positions, to think of others in poverty as fundamentally their fault. Matthew demonstrates how this is absolutely untrue. We as a society need to wake up, recognize the problem before our eyes, and take responsibility that we're a contributor to this problem. As Matthew points out, we don't need to outsmart poverty, we just need to outhate it. Recommended reading for everyone.

This is more of a pamphlet (180-some pages) than a full-length book. The first half summarizes the situation described in lengthier books, like Evicted (his other one), Scarcity, and Random Family, while the second half is more prescriptive. I wasn't entirely buying the latter part but I appreciated the survey in the first half, and I would recommend further reading on those topics, starting with the above books.

Poverty abolitionism. Blends description of the exploitative two-tier society we all participate in, earnest responses to socioeconomic myths about destitution and welfare, and policy possibilities for undoing the ways society and government actively perpetuates both wealth and poverty.

Stirring, enlightening, crucial.

What he said.

Buy this book, read it, keep it handy. Attend local meetings. Talk to representatives. And, little by little, keep doing more.

(I was surprised he never mentioned the role of churches in keeping people poor; nor universities. Then I realized the need for the book to be finite.)

The author is not wrong. He talks about issues, however, in a way that cannot actually work to resolve the issue. Basic human psychology needs to be factored in - you need to grapple with loss aversion and things to find a means that people will accept. You cannot just talk about the ends.