Pope Francis “The poor and the earth are crying out.� Who are the poor in the US and CA?

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<p><em></em>Pope Francis calls for action to care about climate, care about creation, and care about the poor in his encyclical on caring for our common home. Climate change and environmental degradation disproportionately impact the poor and disadvantaged, and cannot be solved without addressing poverty and inequality. The Pope intricately weaves moral and spiritual teachings with science, economics, and politics, addressing environmental values as well as human dignity and human rights.</p> <p>“A true ecological approach,” writes the Pope, “<em>always</em> becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, <em>so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor</em>.” ¶ 49 (original emphasis).</p> <p>Who are the poor and disadvantaged in the U.S. and in California?</p> <p><strong>Poverty, Race, and Ethnicity</strong></p> <p>People of color disproportionately suffer from poverty and income inequality. The official poverty level in the US from 2007 to 2011 is about 25% for African Americans, 26% for Native Americans, and 22% for Hispanics, compared to 11% for non-Hispanic whites, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.</p> <p><a href="http://www.cityprojectca.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/poverty-2007-2011-census.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-38031 alignnone" alt="poverty 2007-2011 census" src="http://www.cityprojectca.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/poverty-2007-2011-census-1024x696.jpg" width="414" height="280" /></a></p> <p>According to the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality, 22.0% of Californians lived in poverty in 2011, using the California Poverty Measure. There is wide variation in poverty rates across California, with especially high rates in counties with high housing costs, such as Los Angeles County (26.9%).</p> <p><strong>Wealth Inequality, Race, and Ethnicity</strong></p> <p>Pope Francis writes about economic inequality:</p> <blockquote><p><span style="color: #000000;">[W]e should be particularly indignant at the enormous inequalities in our midst, whereby we continue to tolerate some considering themselves more worthy than others. We fail to see that some are mired in desperate and degrading poverty, with no way out, while others have not the faintest idea of what to do with their possessions, vainly showing off their supposed superiority and leaving behind them so much waste which, if it were the case everywhere, would destroy the planet. In practice, we continue to tolerate that some consider themselves more human than others, as if they had been born with greater rights. </span>¶ 90.</p></blockquote> <p>There are wealth inequalities based on race, color, and national origin. According to Prof. Thomas Piketty, “The United States to this day is a country of extremely brutal inequality, especially in relation to race, whose effects are still quite visible. [B]lacks were deprived of civil rights until the 1960s and subjected to a regime of legal segregation . . . .  This no doubt accounts for many aspects of the development – or rather nondevelopment – of the U.S. welfare state.”</p> <p><img alt="pew wealth race 2015" src="http://www.cityprojectca.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/pew-wealth-race-2015.jpg" width="310" height="525" /></p> <p>The wealth of <strong>non-Hispanic white households</strong> was 13 times the median wealth of <strong>black households</strong> in 2013, compared with eight times the wealth in 2010, according to the Pew Research Center. The wealth of non-Hispanic white households is now more than 10 times the wealth of <strong>Hispanic households</strong>, compared with nine times the wealth in 2010. The Great Recession, fueled by the crises in the housing and financial markets, was universally hard on the net worth of families in the U.S. Although asset prices have started to recover, not all households have benefited alike, and wealth inequality has widened along racial and ethnic lines.</p> <p><strong>Income Inequality</strong></p> <p>Income inequality has exploded in the U.S. and in California since 1980. There are extreme income inequalities for the top 1% and the 10% in the U.S. Income inequality is even worse in California, as shown in the following chart. A large portion of this increase in inequality is due to an upsurge in the labor incomes earned by senior company executives and successful entrepreneurs.</p> <p><a href="http://www.cityprojectca.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/saez_CAdemocrats15-top-1-.jpg"><img class="size-large wp-image-37966 alignnone" alt="saez_CAdemocrats15 top 1" src="http://www.cityprojectca.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/saez_CAdemocrats15-top-1--1024x791.jpg" width="419" height="322" /></a></p> <p>The share of the top 1% in the U.S. national income rose dramatically from less than 10% in the 1970s to about 17-23% in the 2000s-2010s. The pattern of inequality is generally similar in California, with the top 1% receiving over 25% of the income in 2012. The top percentile included families with income above $394,000 in 2012. The bottom half includes families whose income falls below about $50,000. Blacks and Latinos are disproportionately excluded from the top incomes.</p> <p><strong>Pope Francis writes: “Hence every ecological approach needs to incorporate a social perspective which takes into account the fundamental rights of the poor and the underprivileged.” ¶ 93. We agree.</strong></p> <p> </p> http://cityprojectca.us1.list-manage1.com/unsubscribe?u=5610e76723269afdbb48ea5a0&id=7dfe973081&e=aabb61bfc1&c=a8c3ec5170