During the pandemic, many low income families took advantage of government stimulus and aid programs. This assistance was a lifeline for many – and offered a powerful lesson in what it really takes to solve poverty.
Recent research indicates that pandemic assistance programs cut the poverty rate in HALF! Pandemic aid was a blessing for many. But it also revealed that capitalism’s standard solution to solving poverty has been misguided for decades.
Poverty levels dropped dramatically for all groups – and showed that when people have more money, they are able to escape poverty.
But this makes you wonder: most of these people had jobs before the pandemic. So why weren’t their wages enough to keep them out of poverty?
During the 2020 pandemic shutdown, many people made more money on employment than they did at work. With stimulus checks, child tax credit payments and unemployment benefits, many people finally pushed past the poverty line.
It took a global disaster to show that most low-income families just couldn’t work their way out of poverty.
Pandemic assistance showed that poverty has a simple solution: people need more money!
It’s near-impossible for low-income people to work their way up in our current system. Wages need to go up, the cost of living has to go down, or something else dramatic needs to change if we ever want to solve poverty!