"Asset Poverty" on KERA

You can watch last night's "One Crisis Away" program on KERA TV-13 right here!

One Crisis Away on KERA tomorrow evening. . .

Here's a notice about what will air Thursday evening, March 27 on KERA TV 13 here in Dallas.

Beyond understanding "asset poverty"

Recent studies of the Dallas community indicate that between 30 and 39 percent of the population live in "asset poverty."

"Asset poverty" exists when a person or a family doesn't possess cash reserves adequate to sustain them for 3 months at the current, nationally defined poverty line.  For a family of four that line stands at $23,550 in annual income.  These statistics demonstrate the fragility of our economy at the street level. 

After participating in the "One Crisis Away" public forum week before last, sponsored by the Communities Foundation of Texas, KERA, the Thompson Family Foundation and other underwriters, I came away with a familiar feeling.  I've been invited to weigh in, as a panelist on "asset poverty" more than once.  My role is always to report and reflect on the status of folks even lower down the economic ladder. 

At times my presence in the middle of these discussions feels like a big disconnect. 

With 10% of the Dallas population living at one half the poverty level (that is $23,550 divided by 2 for a family of four), my concerns and focus usually come off being somewhere else. I don't always, actually I seldom provide satisfying answers to the predictable questions.

Of course, I recognize that the economic realities of our entire community are welded together. 

Truly, we're all in this together.  It's just that if I am face down at the very bottom of the economy with virtually no assets, the canons and proposed solutions that are truly helpful for folks up the ladder don't really resonant. 

After the engaging forum last week I started thinking (normally a really scary development!). 

Maybe what we need is a study of "asset wealth."  The "asset poverty" analysis provided a scorecard type summary of the reality facing families on the precipice of falling deeper into poverty. 

But, what would "asset wealth" look like when faced with similar, cataclysmic events?

For the sake of illustrative comparison, how would a family of four fare who enjoyed a liquid asset base of $1,000,000? 

How long could such a family survive at the poverty line?  Some would quickly say that such a family couldn't survive at all due to past experiences!  But, for the sake of the illustration we seek, how long could an asset rich family survive at this benchmark? 

509.5 months.

Or, almost 43 years. 

These startling numbers set me to thinking, again already! (Sorry!)

What can, could or would wealthy families be able to do to assist their neighboring families who live in "asset poverty"? 

I mean, if I have nearly 43 years with which to work, couldn't I share a year or two with families who work hard and play by the rules? 

I mean, wouldn't I want to share from my abundance for the sake of the health and well-being of my entire community?  Especially in view of the almost certain fact that my current position will allow me to continue earning and adding to my net wealth even if I do nothing but spend the principal of my wealth?

Aren't we in this together? 

For certain, asset poor families need to do their part.  And, there was much talk in the forum about the responsibilities of the "asset poor."

But the scale of our problem leads me to believe systemic forces are at work here.  Asset rich families need to do their part as well, and that means they need to do more, act more responsibly and support new, scalable solutions. 

Part of that response should involve more aggressive philanthropy. 

But a larger, more sustainable part must come from the coordinating function of public policy reform. This is how a truly free and noble society is intended to work.

There is just no other way to really change this undeniably worsening reality. 

Asset Poverty: "One Crisis Away"

COMMUNITIES FOUNDATION OF TEXAS & KERA PRESENT 

‘ONE CRISIS AWAY’

On February 27 @ 7pm KERA’s Krys Boyd Moderates Free Public Forum
on Asset Poverty in North Texas at Dallas City Performance Hall 

DALLAS/FORT WORTH – Imagine being so close to the financial edge that a single life event could push you and your family over. According to a study by the Corporation for Enterprise Development, 29 percent of North Texans are classified as "asset-poor" – meaning they don’t have sufficient assets to live for three months at the federal poverty level if they lose their income. KERA, the North Texas public broadcasting station, and Communities Foundation of Texas (CFT) present One Crisis Away, a free public forum discussing asset poverty in North Texas at Dallas City Performance Hall on Thursday, February 27 at 7 p.m.

The free public forum is the culmination of the ongoing One Crisis Away news series launched by KERA News in November 2013, following four families bravely telling their stories of living on the financial edge. The news series includes radio and video stories; conversations on KERA FM’s Think; and a television program of the public forum scheduled to broadcast Thursday, March 27 at 7 p.m. on KERA TV.

“KERA partnered with Communities Foundation of Texas to build awareness around the growing issue of asset poverty,” said KERA President and CEO Mary Anne Alhadeff. “Almost one-third of all North Texans are a step away from financial ruin, which means it could be your friends, neighbors or family members. Or, it could be you. One Crisis Away explores what living with ‘asset poverty’ means and elevates public dialogue about this increasing reality.”

Moderated by KERA’s Krys Boyd, the One Crisis Away event will feature an in-depth discussion on asset poverty with three leading experts: Andrea Levere, president, Corporation for Enterprise Development; Alfreda Norman, vice president and community development officer, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas; and Larry James, president & CEO, CitySquare. Join the discussion by submitting questions for the panelists on Twitter @keranews using the hashtag #onecrisisaway.

“Asset poverty extends far beyond those living below the federal poverty line,” says Alfreda Norman, vice president and community development officer of Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. “One-third of those households that earn $45,655 to $70,000 annually is asset poor or has less than three months of savings, and one in five of those that earn $70,015 to $107,000 could not weather a job loss without falling into poverty.”

"These stories of local families bring the data to life. They give a startling revelation of how many of us are in or very close to serious financial trouble," says Brent Christopher, president and CEO of Communities Foundation of Texas. “We applaud KERA for creating programming that educates and empowers families in our community with the skills to sustain themselves through a crisis if or when the time comes.”

The One Crisis Away forum will begin promptly at 7 p.m. at Dallas City Performance Hall. The event is free but seating is limited and offered on a first-come, first-served basis. Doors open at 6:15 p.m., so arrive early for best seats. To attend the One Crisis Away free public forum, please RSVP by Tuesday, February 25.

KERA’s One Crisis Away project is funded in part by Communities Foundation of Texas, Allstate Foundation, Dallas Women's Foundation, The Fort Worth Foundation, Thomson Family Foundation, and United Way of Metropolitan Dallas.

Poverty, middle class and the cost of living. . .

This just in from The Huffington Post:

The Economic Policy Institute has just updated their cost-of-living budgets to reflect how much a family needs to earn to get by in 2013.

Looking at over 600 locations and estimating community-specific costs, EPI found that families need more than twice the amount of the federal poverty line to have a secure yet modest living standard.

"Our family budget calculations show that the real costs for families to live modest -- not even middle class -- lives are much higher than conventional estimates show and virtually impossible for families living on minimum-wage jobs," said Elise Gould, the Economic Policy Institute director of health policy research.

Read more here.

Insightful tool. . .

I found an insightful tool regarding family income and budgeting.  

Take a look here!

Looking for reactions!

An under-appreciated reality crushing our neighbors

In a ranking of the median wealth of its citizens, the United States comes in 27th in the world. Fifteen countries have a median worth of their citizens more than double that of the United States. The median wealth of a United States citizen is only $38,786. These numbers point up the growing challenge of basic household asset poverty. The long recognized measures of extreme poverty remain much lower, but the impact of these numbers from our neighbors just up the economic rung unsettle anyone who is paying attention to the state of our society.

Attacking the income disparity gap

Here's a fascinating essay comparing how the U. S. handled its income gap between the well-to-do and the bottom early in the 20th Century when William Howard Taft served as President.  The analysis quickly reveals how so much more conservative our nation has become, a trend that appears to be growing. 

Read the article and tell me what you think.


Radical Solutions to Economic Inequality

If only Americans today were as open-minded about leveling the playing field as we were 100 years ago.

By Beverly Gage|Posted Wednesday, Feb. 15, 201

In one of his last acts of office, President William Howard Taft attempted to solve the problem of inequality in America. In August 1912, on the cusp of a brutal third-place finish in the presidential election, he created a Commission on Industrial Relations to investigate “the general condition of labor in the principal industries.” Despite its fusty charge, the commission turned out to be one of the most sensational sideshows of the Progressive Era, a cross-country journey through the wilds of American class conflict. For three years, government commissioners traipsed from city to city asking capitalists, union organizers, and reformers what it was like to work in America, and whether the spoils of industry seemed to be distributed fairly among the rich and poor.

The commission’s answer, released in a 1916 report, speaks volumes about the persistent dilemma of inequality in the United States, and about the intellectual timidity of today’s political responses. “Have the workers received a fair share of the enormous increase in wealth which has taken place in this country…?” the report demanded. “The answer is emphatically—No!”

Their numbers bore this out. According to the commission, the “Rich”—or top 2 percent—owned 60 percent of the nation’s wealth. By contrast, the “Poor”—or bottom 60 percent—owned just 5 percent of the wealth.

Today, after a century of ups and down, we’ve landed back at those extremes, give or take a few percentage points. But what’s striking about the commission’s report, read from a 21^st-century perspective, is how limited our own debate about inequality seems by comparison. For the commission, inequality was a fundamental problem that threatened the entire fabric of American democracy. Today, by contrast, we’re busy debating whether a multimillionaire like Mitt Romney ought to pay a few more percentage points in federal taxes.

To read the entire article click here.

Beverly Gage, a Yale history professor, is the author of The Day Wall Street Exploded.

New study reveals startling picture of Dallas’ financial insecurity Assets & Opportunity Profile

A new report paints a tough, but realistic picture of life in Dallas at the lower levels of the economy.  It turns out that the numbers of people struggling with "asset poverty" are startling. 

Read the entire report on here.

More on this soon.