From 2000 to 2004 (the most recent data available), the percentage of Texas children living in poverty increased from 22 percent to 23 percent and remains well above the national average of 18 percent. In Lubbock, the percentage of children living in poverty rose from 23.2 percent to 23.8 percent.
To be considered living in poverty by state standards in 2004, a family of three would have to make less than $15,219 per year.
1 in 10 children live in extreme poverty (50 percent of the poverty level), a 10 percent increase since 2000.
1 in 2 children live in low-income families (200 percent of the poverty level), a 9 percent increase since 2000.
In 2004, only 75 percent of two-year-olds in Texas were immunized, down from 78 percent in 2003. Only Nevada had a lower percentage of immunized children (71 percent).
The percentage of low-birth weight babies increased 7 percent from 2000 to 2003. Texas' ranked 22nd on this indicator.
Texas' infant mortality rate increased 16 percent from 2000 to 2003, causing its national ranking to fall from 9th to 22nd for this indicator.
OK, let me pull something out of that barrage that should kick you in the stomach. The poverty line for a family of three is $15,219 - which for a standard 2000 hour work-year, works out to $7.61 an hour.
10% of our children live in homes that make HALF of that. That means that, in a single-earner family, they worked less than half of the year (full-time) or they worked all year at less than half-time employment (at $7.61 per hour).
HALF of our children live in homes that make less than twice that. Conservatives will tell you that isn't bad - living on twice the poverty level. It's surely not as bad as living on half of poverty level wages. But it isn't that good, either.
Consider that a family of three, if comprised of two parents and a child, would simply have two full-time jobs at $7.61 an hour to make that.
Here's what they would get to pay for:
1) Housing - a cheap 2 bedroom/1 bath apartment in Lubbock starts at around $400 per month - annualized to $4,800 per year.
2) Utilities - in most all-electric apartments, you pay the electric and they pay the water. Avg. cost - $120 a month or $1,440 a year
3) Car - Lubbock has no public transportation, so to get to work this family needs a car. That means a car payment, insurance, gasoline, repair costs, maintenence costs - average it out to $50 per week - $2,600 per year. That's if they manage to share one car to make it to two jobs. If you take a more realistic scenario where they have two cars, then you at least double it - $5,200.
4) Food - for three people, living on a lot of rice and beans, I'll estimate $120 per week. That's $6,240 a year.
5) Clothing - one man, one woman, one child - that's a prescription for buying a lot of clothes just to be able to get back and forth to work. If they spend $100 a month (have you seen the prices for kids clothes lately?) that would be $1,200 per year.
6) Childcare - My first wife and I used to provide childcare at the unreal price of $1.50 per child per hour. Let's say the couple can find a similarly (economically) braindamaged couple to keep their child for 45 hours per week - 40 hours of work plus a half-hour before and after work for drive time. That's $67.50 per week, or $3,375 per year.
At this point, the family has piled up, by my calculations, just under $20,000 in yearly expenses if they had one car. With two cars, it comes to slightly over $22,000. At twice the poverty level, they are left with just about $150 per week that isn't going to these basic expenses.
Now notice what was left out.
No school expenses. No entertainment expenses. No dinners on the town. No money set aside for laundry at the laundrymat or to purchase/rent a washer and dryer. No trips to the doctor for anyone.
That giant sucking sound you hear is the middle class rapidly being pulled into outright poverty.
What has Rick Perry done to expand childcare services, medical services, or anything that would help these folks out? Nothing. Adios, Mo-fo.
What has Randy Neugebauer done that would help these folks? Nothing. But he's sent billions to Iraq.
What has Senator Wondertwin Barbie-doll Hutch done to help these folks? Nothing. But she voted to ban flag-burning.
Look, our government doesn't need a housecleaning so much as it does an enema. We have the means to ensure prosperity and hope to all Americans - even those living in poverty in Texas. What we lack is any leadership with any sense of responsibility for delivering that prosperity and hope.
This should be job one for anyone running for office this year. Lift our children out of poverty. Give our children life and health. Forget the partisan divide that has hardened our hearts and work together for the least of these among us.
Or get the hell out of the way of those who will. |
