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Unemployment is at record lows, but the uninsured rate is growing; the economy is expanding, but so is poverty. A thread and a column about why conservative promises about trickledown economics didn’t pan out. houstonchronicle.com/business/colum… @HoustonChron #txlege
@HoustonChron The rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer despite a record-long economic expansion and massive tax cuts. And nowhere is America’s economic divide more evident than in Texas.
@HoustonChron Houston employers have complained for years about a workforce shortage, with the unemployment rate below 4.5% for two years. Companies should offer better pay and benefits. But Houston’s uninsured rate is the worst in the, more than double the national rate of 8.5%.
@HoustonChron San Antonio’s economy is strong. The unemployment rate has averaged less than 3.5 percent for two years. But the city’s poverty rate has grown to 20 percent of the population. Statewide, Texas has the 15th highest poverty rate. expressnews.com/news/local/art…?
@HoustonChron After a decade of GDP growth—the longest in U.S. history—the facts show that trickledown does not work. The U.S. labor market is far from perfect, and without intervention, produces the extreme income inequality dividing our nation today politically, economically and culturally.
@HoustonChron People cannot escape poverty without access to specific prerequisites necessary for improving their lives. These include food, shelter, clean water, peace, good government, health care, education, banks and enough money to reach a job.
@HoustonChron Our state provides as little food assistance as possible to the needy. For a single mother to qualify for food stamps, she must earn less than $2,264 a month, and the most she can expect to receive is $353 a month. About 14 percent of Texas households do not have enough food.
@HoustonChron Texas ranks 36th in the nation in public education spending, which explains the 35th place in reducing poverty. Only 40 percent of Texans have any formal education beyond high school, and 17 percent are dropouts.
@HoustonChron As for health care, 11 percent of Texas children are uninsured, which sets the stage for chronic health problems that will impair their ability to learn and hurt their lifelong earning potential.
@HoustonChron Lastly, Texas leads the nation in people without bank accounts, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Almost one in 10 Texans do not have a bank account, and 24.2 percent are under-banked.
@HoustonChron People judge the world through their economic lens. If they have well-paying jobs, people tend to approve of their political leaders, consider their society healthy, and offer aid to others. But when people are stressed about money, they become pessimistic and protective.
@HoustonChron For most of the 20th century, the government ensured access to basic health care, education and financial services. The last decade proves that markets will not provide these things on their own, and nor will Americans tolerate it for very long.
