“Refrigerator Poor”

There are those among us who believe that poverty in America is basically nonexistent.   Their argument is that those in need do not meet the true threshold of poverty because they have access to a refrigerator.  Their concept is simple. No community support for sustenance should be granted if the needy possess any convenience or comfort.  They are quick to point out that programs to help the “refrigerator poor” do more harm than good because they stifle initiative by encouraging further dependence.  They also argue that those in need would find a way to survive without government programs, although they cannot provide specific information as to how this would be accomplished.  They argue that this increased level of pain and suffering would lead to stronger more independent individuals and a stronger America.

Their collective wisdom always comes equipped with the support of world and historical references.  They point out that real poverty exists in Haiti and Africa.  This narrow focus is designed to support their contention that there is no real cause for concern in America.  They always return to the assertion that someone, somewhere, is always more needy, i.e.; nineteenth century England would make the starvation in Africa look like a horn of plenty.  As a result the definition of poverty is continuously modified to correspond with their preconceived notions rather than dealing with the realties.  It therefore becomes impossible to clearly establish an accurate definition applicable to the American experience.   Without this definition an intelligent discussion becomes futile.   

So how do we establish poverty in America?  

Michael Harrington’s 1962 definition of poverty is yet the most apropos for America.  In his milestone book “The Other America,” he defines it as; “That dream (the American dream) has never been just about income, of course, but about self-determination.”  As Harrington observed; “poverty is more than lacking minimum standards of health care, housing, food and education. “Poverty,” he wrote, “should be defined psychologically in terms of those whose place in the society is such that they are internal exiles who, almost inevitably, develop attitudes of defeat and pessimism and who are therefore excluded from taking advantage of new opportunities.”    

At the heart of Harrington’s work is the realization that the American poor suffer through greater levels of despair than experienced elsewhere in the world.  Their frustration is compounded because of their American experience.  The American fabric encourages dreams and ingrains a sense of pride for excellence in achievement and standards of living.  This leads to increased humiliation through their loss of dignity and respect.  Meanwhile, their frustration is dramatically exacerbated as they struggle to reconcile their loss of liberty in the richest country in the world – the one that guarantees and most cherishes freedom.  

Amartya Sen, who was awarded the 1998 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, argued that economists should think of poverty as that which deprives people of the opportunity to develop and use their capabilities – a further validation of Harrington’s thesis some 36 years later.

The “Refrigerator Poor” scholars refuse to accept that American standards of living and the deprivation of the American Dream have any validity in solving the poverty problem in America.   They are perfectly comfortable not only dismissing Harrington and Sen, but in dismissing the fact that these were the very same concerns that propelled the labor movement.  That movement was never about starvation but quality of life and standard of living.

 

There is no rational that can effectively dispute the fact that an affluent middle class was the most significant factor in making America the greatest country the world had ever known.  As the poverty levels defined by Harrington continue to escalate and the middle class continues its erosion into the working poor, a strong viable America will evaporate.  Poverty by American standards has nothing to do with Haiti, Africa or South America.  The American experience, by its very nature, has always demanded a far more humane and committed approach to standards of living.  

Any definition void of despair and the decaying expectations for achieving the American Dream will only proliferate the ugliness.  Any intelligent solution to the crippling malaise of poverty – any effort to resuscitate the American dream for the nation’s poor - will never be accomplished in any discussion that includes refrigerators.