In the article “Living on $2 a day: Exploring extreme poverty in America,” written by Lauren Feeney, interviewer Hari Sreenivasan, from PBS News Hour, speaks with Katherine Edin, coauthor of $2.00 A Day: Living On Almost Nothing in America to get a better grasp at the real issues of poverty that need to be uncovered. Sreenivasan poses questions at first addressing what most Americans believe is true about welfare, government policy, and poverty, then asks what the reality of people living on $2.00 a day is like. The reality, Edin, mentions, is that they are not surviving. No one can on such a low budget. To hear her explain just how these 1.5 million Americans are getting by, it is disturbing, painful, and calls for action.

In the interview, Sreenivasan asks Edin, “How do we get out of it?” Edin’s first solution is to expand work opportunity, and I think this goes without saying, but after the recession in 2010 many of the middle and lower class citizens would accept this as a foolproof solution. But she goes on to say more about these job opportunities. They cannot just be low minimum wage working jobs, they must provide a family with “a little give” she states. Low-income families often have severe unfortunate situations occur during employment, so it is necessary for an employer to have compassion or a slight allowance of slip ups to ensure that these families can continue to be provided for. Improving relationships with employees and employers in these job opportunities was another solution not only mentioned in her book but during the interview as well. There is a need for a mutual understanding between low-wage workers and their employers and I highly suggest that Americans read about the exposed reality of these relationships in $2.00 A Day.

You can find the interview here: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/poverty/

Also please scroll to see the comments section of this article. Thoughts?

The Huffington Post has often been a part of my leisurely reads I come across with interesting and entertaining articles, but yesterday I found this article, which paired perfectly with what we had discussed in our previous class. The title “New California Law Gives Free IDs To Homeless People So They Can Access Housing, School” creates the idea that all California cities have begun giving IDs out at absolutely no cost. While this may be partly true, in another article I found from the San Diego Free Press regarding the same law, the writer points out that there are hidden fees within the documentation required to receive the IDs as well.

When further reading the Huffington Post article by editor, Eleanor Goldberg, she mentions the hardships of attempting to retrieve required identification necessary to attend school, join helpful programs and agencies, obtain financial assistance, and lastly, vote. Homeless people are not voiceless, and since Huffington Post is a popular source for my generation hopefully it will create more awareness. In fact, after reading this article, the next day, I found it floating around on Facebook. Homelessness is not something my generation often talks about, but needs to.

As discussed in class, we do not hear about the lower wage working class, or the homeless, because they do not vote. It is a voice that is not mentioned in the media, nor in political debates, in addition to a voice miscounted. I found a website that provides a manual of voting rights that was created during the project “You Don’t Need A Home to Vote” in 2012. It provides a clear list of each states ID and residency requirements. Although the state is moving towards the right direction, there are still underlying factors that prevent this population of people from voting.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/california-id-homeless-people_us_55ae9054e4b07af29d568b34

California Offers Free ID to Homeless People

http://www.nationalhomeless.org/projects/vote/Manual_2012.pdf (Suggestion: Begin from page 44)