Poverty, by America

The term “welfare” applies to programs such as food stamps or unemployment checks, benefits the government provides to those in need. Such programs are frequent targets of political controversy and often attract stigma for those who need them, with program recipients often depicted as lazy, greedy, and a burden on hardworking taxpayers. Desmond introduces the term “invisible welfare” to both combat the stigma associated with the term “welfare” and point out the hypocrisy surrounding it: It is actually “invisible welfare” programs for the wealthy, such as subsidies for mortgages and tax cuts, that cost the government the most money. Such programs allow wealthy people to become even richer while preserving the illusion that the poor are the real drain on the system.

“Predatory inclusion” refers to the practice of extending to poor people the characteristic benefits of middle-class life, such as housing or bank accounts, in a manner that actually makes them worse off. Landlords in poorer neighborhoods charge a higher percentage of rent compared to maintenance costs relative to wealthier neighborhoods since their tenants have no other option. Payday lenders charge exorbitant interest fees to exploit those in need of immediate money for emergencies. Desmond argues that privileged people often have little to no understanding of how such systems disadvantage the poor.

Current laws make it extremely difficult for workers to organize, forcing employees at powerful businesses such as Amazon to attempt unionization at one single location at a time. To improve the power of workers, Desmond calls for entire sections of industries, such as fast food workers or other retail businesses, to elect a group of representatives to represent industry workers as a whole and push for changes nationwide. He calls this proposed reform “sectoral bargaining.” This reform would vastly increase the number of represented workers and would allow the United States to gain a degree of equity in the workplace that its fellow democracies have already achieved.