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. 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...

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. A few poor choices and mistakes, combined with a lot of “No’s” on job applications contributed to the loss of my home and later, my unfortunate ability to meet the incredibly low income limits for both Medicaid and f...

* 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. “ Public lands eligible for sale in the bill encompass over 250 million acres, including local recreation areas, wilderness study areas, inventoried roadless areas, critical wildlife habitat and big game migration...

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. The history of “we the people” protesting our government and its policies has been a strong and fairly successful one, steeped in the human desire to be free and to affect societal change. The U.S. is a representativ...

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. Enjoy this clip of Senator Joni Ernst (R Iowa), trying to explain to her constituents how they would be “protected” under President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill”…that slashes Medicaid by over $700 billion. __________...

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. “In moments of candor, they [the founding fathers] acknowledged that it was simple avarice or greed to continue to exploit enslaved labor.” Jeffrey Rosen, president and CEO of the National Constitution Center, Philad...

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. I put together an end-of-month, link round-up highlighting a few of my favorite Substacker’s recent posts, and one from The Poverty Trap published in September of last year. I believe there’s a common thread running...

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. I don’t believe the title of this post is the least bit dramatic. It is, unfortunately, simply factual. I’ve included below the full post I wrote in September of last year, after the first and only presidential debat...

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. An 18 minute clip from The Daily Show: Jon Stewart interviewing Mathew Desmond, Pulitzer Prize winning author of Evicted , and most recently author of Poverty, By America. Well worth your time if you want to better u...

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 collectively make change. __________________________________________ State Minimum Wages Play A Part: Millions of American Workers Are Not Earning Enough To Afford Any Kind Of Housing. “Twenty states have a minimum hourly wage of $7.25, the federal rate that...

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 collectively make change. ____________________________________________ “Republicans and Democrats don’t need to come together, they need to come to the rescue.” Scott Galloway, CNN February 26, 2025 ____________________________________________ Still photo fro...

“Elon Musk and his fellow oligarchs believe government and laws are simply an impediment to their interests and what they are entitled to…” Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent, Vermont 2/10/25 Elon Musk @elonmusk CFPB RIP 4:41 PM · Feb 7, 2025 49.6M Views This is the communication a “special federal employee”, Elon Musk, used to let the world know he was going to unilaterally kill off a government...

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! Photo Credit: Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University....

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! UAW workers strike for “a fair shot” — Dec. 10, 1945: In Detroit, striking UAW members, carrying windb...

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 for 2025. Thank you! Credit: Unsplash The Poverty Trap’s three most popular posts in 2024 have a common theme: By one method or another, America’s economic system is “rigged” in favor of the wealthy and ag...

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa and A Happy Holiday Season All Around! ‘The name Scrooge has become a synonym for a misanthrope. He treats his employee terribly, disdains those less fortunate than him and turns away those collecting donations for the poor. His sole concern is his own material enrichment.” The New York Times, Opinion , Roger Rosenblatt, December 24, 2024. Just imagin...

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! Area on The National Mall and Memorial Parks , District of Columbia, late October 2024. Photo Credit: Joan DeMartin “For more than 200 years, the National Mall has symbolized our nation and its...

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! “For many Americans, the middle class is a matter of identity, aspiration and lifestyle as much as it is about wealth.” NPR, July 7, 2016 . I wrote this post just about a year ago because I was...

This post goes out to both free and paid subscribers, but if you are not already a paid subscriber and value this effort and enjoy our growing community, please consider upgrading to a paid membership. Thanks in advance for your financial support of my work —it’s what allows me to keep researching and writing! Graph courtesy of Gallup, from its article titled: “Far Fewer in U.S. Regard Childhood V...