Have you ever wondered why so many people are in poverty in a nation with so much wealth? Osha’s guests, Joanne Goldblum and Colleen Shaddox, authors of
Broke in America: Seeing, Understanding, and Ending U.S. Poverty, will bust the popular myths about poverty and show how we can end poverty by addressing the policies that create it.
Nearly 40 million people in the United States live below the poverty line. Low-income families and individuals are everywhere, from cities to rural communities. While poverty is commonly seen as a personal failure or a deficiency of character or knowledge, it’s actually the result of bad policy.
Public policy has purposefully erected barriers that deny access to basic needs, creating a society where people can easily become trapped—not because we lack the resources to lift them out, but because we are actively choosing not to. Poverty is close to inevitable for low-wage workers and their children, and a large percentage of these people, despite qualifying for it, do not receive government aid.
In Broke in America, Joanne Goldblum and Colleen Shaddox offer an eye-opening and galvanizing look at life in poverty in this country: how circumstances and public policy conspire to keep people poor, and the concrete steps we can take to end poverty for good. In clear, accessible prose, Goldblum and Shaddox detail the ways the current system is broken and how it’s failing so many of us. They also highlight outdated and ineffective policies that are causing or contributing to this unnecessary problem.
Every chapter features action items readers can use to combat poverty—both nationwide and in our local communities, including the most effective public policies you can support and how to work hand-in-hand with representatives to affect change. So far, our attempted solutions have fallen short because they try to “fix” poor people rather than address the underlying problems. Fortunately, it’s much easier to fix policy than people. Essential and timely, Broke in America offers a crucial roadmap for securing a brighter future for all Americans.