The Poverty Trap

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one paid subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more informed and m...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one paid subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more informed and m...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more i...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more i...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more i...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more i...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more i...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more i...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more i...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more i...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more i...

This post goes out to both free and paid subscribers, but if you are not already a paid subscriber and value this effort and our growing community, please consider upgrading to a paid membership. Thank you! And a hearty “thank you” to my latest free and paid subscribers—I appreciate your support! I’m reposting below, The Poverty Trap’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. tribute from last year that includ...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more i...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more i...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more i...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one, kind “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one, kind “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Why You Might Want To Subscribe: Here’s what a new, “founding member” subscriber had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more in...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Chronic Illness has increased dramatically in the United States over the last several decades, particularly Heart Disease, Obesity, Hypertension and Type 2 Diabetes. And when healthcare is unavailable or unaffordable...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. “ Let us move forward with faith in ourselves, in our intelligence, in our indomitable spirit. Let us develop respect for all living things. Let us try to replace violence and intolerance with understanding and compa...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of...

I first published this post on Labor Day 2024 and wanted to share in again with all of our new subscribers to The Poverty Trap in the last year. I’m also adding a brief update on what is happening tomorrow a we celebrate the American worker in 2025…and protest this Administration’s policies that gut the American workforce: This article published in Newsweek on August 29, 2025, discusses the over 9...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Join us! “I hope that people will take away that the institutions of government can function very well by exercising kindness, fairness, and compassion in their deliberations. We live in a very contentious society,”...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. “…they [middle-income earners, like teachers, nurses and other skilled workers] can afford only 21.2 percent of all available listings. That’s up from 20.8 percent a year ago — but a far cry from the 49 percent they...

Welcome to The Poverty Trap , a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. You might not immediately think of Mariner Finance, which does business in 27 states, as a predatory lender. After all, the company touts its community service , waves its banners at Major League Baseball games, and...