Bloomberg's Poverty Party

Written and reported by Matthew Blake:

One might expect that a briefing on the latest federal poverty data by an ostensibly liberal Washington, DC think tank would explore some of the root causes of poverty in the country---broken social services, AIDS and other diseases not being treated, record-high incarceration rates. It would also seem timely to mention the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina and what it revealed about poverty in America.

But the Brookings Institution's "Poverty and Income in 2006" event in Washington today--coinciding with the release of the US Census Bureau's annual data on poverty--mentioned none of those things. Instead, bizarrely enough, it became a celebration of all things Michael Bloomberg, even edging into an impromptu event to draft the New York City Mayor to run as a third party candidate for President.

Brookings Senior Fellow and moderator Ron Haskins set the tone by stating, "A lot of people in Washington talk about poverty, but only mayors and governors do." Therefore, Sawhill concluded, Bloomberg "is the perfect public official" to be the first keynote speaker in the event's seven year history.

Bloomberg began by praising Brookings for being an institute above partisan politics, made a joke about how he was not running a stealth campaign for Attorney General and then launched into a 15-minute speech---about New York City education policy.

He finally got around to directly addressing poverty, rhetorically asking the crowd "How do you do it?" Bloomberg has presented himself as an alternative to the Republican right, but the former Democrat-turned Republican-turned Independent was quick to show that he's no liberal, either. "You can't fight poverty without fighting the principle causes, which are poor education and dependence on government," he said. In respect to the latter, Bloomberg alleged that the 1996 federal Welfare Reform Act is the prime example of government effectively establishing the proper incentives in helping its most vulnerable citizens.

"It's about breaking taboos like requiring mothers to work," Bloomberg said in reference to both the Welfare Reform Act and his own city policy to give the newly employed $150 a month in cash if they stay on the job. "You have to stick your neck out and try policies even if its results are unknown."

Bloomberg's poverty policy in question includes expanding the earned income tax credit in ways he hopes will end the "marriage penalty" and giving the aforementioned "conditional cash payments" to adults who obtain and keep new jobs. It garnered the adulation from Sawhill and the other assembled Brookings fellows who spoke when Bloomberg---and about 300 of the assembled crowd of 400---left.

"About Michael Bloomberg's proposals--I would just say amen," said Rebecca Blank, an economist and visiting fellow at Brookings. "I agree with it completely."

Senior Fellow Gary Burtless echoed Blank's words: "I think Michael Bloomberg is absolutely right in his proposal."

In the spirit of intellectual diversity, Brookings invited conservative commentator Robert George, whose New York Post columns have been caustically critical of the Mayor's conditional cash payment proposal. But even George had kind words for the Mayor, light-heatedly asking whether Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel or former Georgia Senator Sam Nunn would be his Presidential running mate.

Leaving the national press club, this reporter was swarmed by advocates with "Draft Bloomberg" posters and business cards. No word yet on whether they also received fellowships at Brookings.

Comments (31)

1. Bloomberg: ...You can't fight poverty without fighting the principle causes, which are poor education and dependence on government,"

   Blake: ....broken social services, AIDS and other diseases not being treated, record-high incarceration rates....

   Between the two B-men, one of incredible wealth and one (presumably) not so, they listed 5 root causes for Poverty!

   I think there is a SEED cause they missed....far tougher to mention and address. The tendency for young poors to engage in unprotected sex leading to pregnancies....which they birth, and keep, to have a sense of owning `something' entirely their own.....and doing it again and again....closing themselves off from pursuing proper education during their critical teen to early twenties life periods. This self-destructive behavior is a function of family dynamics where parental guidance is lacking or non-existing!

   Posted by Happy at 08/28/2007 @ 6:14pm

2. Posted by MARYBRETBRAD 08/28/2007 @ 6:31pm

   Aggressively promoting safe sex, as opposed to abstinence education which is clearly not working and will never achieve any results.

   Stop fighting Roe vs. Wade. It sounds harsh, and I am by no means suggesting abortion as a substitute for birth control, but the population most likely to need abortions is poor. Women will get more opportunities to advance themselves, plus the offspring of this class is likely your future, impoverished, criminal population. Off-handedly, abortion results in a reduction in crime and poverty for the future generations.

   Posted by MATTMAN at 08/28/2007 @ 7:00pm

3. Bloomberg is a Bush-Republican pretending to be an independent. But don't take my word for it, listen to Mayor Mike tell it in his own words here [nyc.gov]

   Posted by Metteyya at 08/28/2007 @ 7:32pm

4. That massive shift to the Left in politics that Ms vanden Heuvel postulated seems to have faded.

   The Brookings guys are going ga-ga over somebody who ENDORSES the Welfare Reform Act. "The Nation" writers must be pulling their hair out!

   Posted by Mask at 08/28/2007 @ 7:48pm

5. Posted by HAPPY 08/28/2007 @ 6:14pm

   slow down there dude................

   not just poor people do the reproductive deed.

   i'm sure there's a whole bunch of (i assume) well-off kids from your neighbourhood (sub-division?) doin' it at this very moment.

   the difference is that when they get pregnant, mom AND dad (he's not in jail, he gets to buy the kids stuff on the weekend) can and will pay for the abortion.

   "ship the girl off to visit 'grandma' for the weekend and we'll all forget about this horrible mistake and get her back on track to go to harvard."

   some of the very people who tell you they are vehemently anti-abortion have gone through this.

   Posted by frosty zoom at 08/28/2007 @ 9:18pm

6. "The Nation" writers must be pulling their hair out!

   Posted by MASK 08/28/2007 @ 7:48pm

   and their posts. too: where is the salary gap post?

   if WE mess up a post, ain't no takin' it back

   Posted by frosty zoom at 08/28/2007 @ 9:21pm

7. Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 08/28/2007 @ 9:21pm

   They own the place, they make the rules. Fair enuf.

   Posted by Mask at 08/28/2007 @ 10:21pm

8. Posted by MASK 08/28/2007 @ 10:21pm

   yeah, i know

   kinda just wanted them to give US a mechanism to retrieve mistaken posts.

   BTW you are a ............ :~].

   a whole day has passed and no straw nuthin'

   HOORAY

   Posted by frosty zoom at 08/28/2007 @ 10:36pm

9. Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 08/28/2007 @ 10:36pm

   Huh? Am I a what?

   Posted by Mask at 08/29/2007 @ 11:06am

10. Posted by MASK 08/29/2007 @ 11:06am |

    just commenting on the flood of insults and obscenities here of late

    actually, on an earlier post i called you a:

    faggotwopchinkniggerfruityflyqueerboyspicdagomickcarpetmuncherpakicamel jockeyspearchuckerhonkeybeanerfroghymiemacacasquawsnowbackwetbackfag

    that's it!

    i'm tired and my soul aches

    ....and now mr fox in socks, sir

    our game is done.

    thank you for a lot of fun, sir.........................

    THEODOR GEISEL

    :+]

    Posted by frosty zoom at 08/29/2007 @ 12:19pm

11. Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 08/29/2007 @ 12:19pm

    Oh. No, not gay, just anti-homophobe. Also male, despite the BIZARRE obsessions of WILL and HSUBFOOLS that I am female.

    BTW, would be proud to be either. If I was gay or a women, love to see Empty SPENCE fumble all over himself explaining how "it's okay to call a gay guy LIKE MASK a 'fag'...but not others"!

    heheh

    Posted by Mask at 08/29/2007 @ 12:26pm

12. Posted by MASK 08/29/2007 @ 12:26pm

    well, i'm glad to see that HSUBFOOLS is back posting and nary a phallus of grass in sight.

    perhaps my plea: @ 11:50pm here: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat/allcomments?pid=226927&rpg=5 was heeded.

    i hope so, my brain was getting itchy from all that straw.

    (please no comments on how the straw got there. reading was close enough)

    Posted by frosty zoom at 08/29/2007 @ 12:56pm

13. Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 08/29/2007 @ 12:56pm

    Poor ol' HSUB getting anxious. His prediction (see below) of impeaching Cheney and Bush is rapidly approaching its expiration date...as is his prediction of the announcement by Al Gore that he's running again.

    Time after time, when Democrats state (quite clearly) that they aren't in favor of impeachment, HSUB translates it into "the Truth" whereby they mean the exact opposite. From Pelosi to Conyers to Feingold to even Al Gore.

    He's obsessed by it because (in my view) his almost-religious view of "justice in the Universe" by which all the wrongs are righted...Bush and Cheney impeached and Gore assuming his "rightful place" as President, as if the last 7 years never existed.

    Anyway...here's what he's said-

    BLOG | Posted 01/02/2007 @ 02:22am Comments for "Ford, Cheney, Checks and Balances" by John Nichols

    Okay...translated.....you're calling for Bills of Impeachment out of the House of Reps by late October 2007? yes?----Posted by MASK 01/02/2007 @ 4:18pm

    Sounds about right. Or is that left to you?---Posted by HSUBFOOLS 01/02/2007 @ 4:20pm

    Posted by Mask at 08/29/2007 @ 1:59pm

14. Posted by MASK 08/29/2007 @ 1:59pm

    'fraid karma seems to be the only justice left. impeach, maybe. convict, not enough votes.

    NEW YORK TIMES, August 32, 2011

    "EX-PRESIDENT BUSH KILLED BY FALLING METEORITE"

    that's what i call a falling [ee]rock

    WYOMING TIMES, January 30th, 2112

    "DICK CHENEY CELEBRATES 171st BIRTHDAY"

    a fate worse than death

    Posted by frosty zoom at 08/29/2007 @ 2:11pm

15. Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 08/29/2007 @ 2:11pm

    I guess that's what inspires myths of an after-life. Justice denied in this mortal coil and the simple mind reels from the idea.

    Actually for politicians, Bush and Cheney's "punishment" will be appropriate....history. Bush, like Lyndon Johnson, returns to his ranch in Texas, scorned by the public after fighting a quaqmire war. Johnson died within a few years of leaving the White House, bitter and ostracized. Bush, a reasonably young man for a President, will endure DECADES of that.

    Though it should be remembered that liberal historians like Doris Kearns Goodwin have tried to "improve" the historical view of LBJ...pointing to "The Great Society" and civil rights as somehow mitigating his role in expanding the Vietnam War. Liberals in general often try to paint the war as more "Nixon" than "Johnson"...despite the fact that more American casualties occured under Johnson.

    Either way, the names "Bush" and "Cheney" (especially the last) will be INFAMOUS in American history for centuries.

    Posted by Mask at 08/29/2007 @ 4:36pm

16. an ostensibly liberal Washington, DC think tank would explore some of the root causes of poverty in the country---broken social services, AIDS and other diseases not being treated, record-high incarceration rates.

    I would add broken public education system to the root causes of poverty, especially in the inner-city.

    Bloomberg's solution to everything seems to be the almighty dollar, when upon closer analysis, the solutions to the root causes of poverty that he doesn't address requires much more effort and a structural change in our government.

    Paying a poor black kid a $100 a month to stay at his minimum wage job at McDonalds doesn't educate or train him so he can get a better job, buy a house, provide for his children, and live with dignity.

    Only from a "business point of view" does it appear to be better that the kid is at McDonalds and not on welfare, and this is the point of view that we have been getting too much of from these business-oriented Republicans and closet-Republicans like Bloomberg.

    When are we going to get the poor kid's point of view?

    Posted by Metteyya at 08/29/2007 @ 7:42pm

17. Penury cycles down and through the generations who've forgotten or never learned of the so-called American Dream which arose from the Horatio Alger myth. Bottom line, as ever: "them that has, gets."

    Breaking the cycle of poverty costs more than the majority of Americans has ever been willing to pay, even in the heady days of the "War on Poverty" which was an ad campaign to help cover over the coup of 11/22/63. And so it (has gone and) goes.

    I do agree a "free and public education" is a key component of any possible solution, however.

    Posted by lewwelge at 08/30/2007 @ 12:02am

18. Justice denied in this mortal coil and the simple mind reels from the idea.

    Posted by MASK 08/29/2007 @ 4:36pm

    To be or not to be, that is the question;

    Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

    The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

    Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

    And by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep;

    No more; and by a sleep to say we end

    The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

    That flesh is heir to -- 'tis a consummation

    Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;

    To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub,

    For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,

    When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

    Must give us pause. There's the respect

    That makes calamity of so long life,

    For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

    Th'oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,

    The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,

    The insolence of office, and the spurns

    That patient merit of th'unworthy takes,

    When he himself might his quietus make

    With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,

    To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

    But that the dread of something after death,

    The undiscovered country from whose bourn

    No traveller returns, puzzles the will,

    And makes us rather bear those ills we have

    Than fly to others that we know not of?

    Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,

    And thus the native hue of resolution

    Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,

    And enterprises of great pitch and moment

    With this regard their currents turn awry,

    And lose the name of action.

    if only he hadn't skipped this class at yale. alas, it is we who must bear the consequences of his ignorance

    Posted by frosty zoom at 08/30/2007 @ 03:20am

19. Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 08/30/2007 @ 03:20am |

    Spock: Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 1.

    Gorkon: You have not experienced Shakespeare until you have read him in the original Klingon.

    Chang: taH pagh taHbe'

    Posted by Mask at 08/30/2007 @ 09:26am

20. Posted by MASK 08/30/2007 @ 09:26am

    "... a dream that became a reality and spread throughout the stars" -- Neocon Kirk

    "What are we looking at, a 20th century Rome?" -- Liberal Kirk

    ""Right out of hell, I saw it!" -- Commodore Decker, describing the Planet Killer (The Doomsday Machine--a hummer)

    "The mid-1990s was the era of your so-called Third World War" -- Spock (Space Seed) was that clinton vs the dress?

    "Ston, she is yours. You may find that having is not so pleasing a thing as wanting. This is not logical, but it is often true." -- Spock addressing mr. bush on iraq

    "The best diplomat that I know is a fully-loaded phaser bank." -- Lt. Cdr. Montgomery Scott ( in the tradition of tony blair (remember him?))

    "By golly, Jim... I'm beginning to think I can cure a rainy day!" -- McCoy Sept. 13, delivering his assessment on iraq to congress

    Posted by frosty zoom at 08/30/2007 @ 10:20am

21. Thanks, so much, for the Earl of Oxford's profound and poetic prose, Frosty!

    "The physicality of death destroys us (yet) the idea of death SAVES us." (Irvin D. Yalom)

    Breathe in friend...and out...

    Posted by lewwelge at 08/30/2007 @ 10:57am

22. Posted by FROSTY ZOOM 08/30/2007 @ 10:20am

    Bush doesn't have to take Federation advice....he could listen to the Klingons-

    Kang: "Only a fool fights in a burning house."

    Posted by Mask at 08/30/2007 @ 12:09pm

23. Now why does there seem to be any confussion about the economy, proverty,...:

    Stocks Mixed as Uncertainty Remains

    By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 36 minutes ago Shares were mixed today, with Wall Street taking few chances amid concerns that shrinking credit is hurting the economy and uncertainty about the Fed's intentions. Yesterday: Stocks Rally as Investors Chase Deals

    Strong Economic Growth Reported

    By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 9:02 AM ET The economy grew at its strongest pace in more than a year during the spring as international trade and business investment helped offset weakness in housing, the government said.

    Freddie Mac Profit Down 45 Percent

    By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 59 minutes ago The nation's second-largest buyer of home mortgages said its second-quarter profit declined partly as a result of larger provisions for bad loans.

    H&R Block Posts Loss on Mortgage Woes

    By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 10:00 AM ET The company said its quarterly loss ballooned to $302.6 million as it struggled with its mortgage lending arm and said it is trying to renegotiate the sale of the unit.

    Sears 2nd-Quarter Profit Down 40 Percent

    By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 16 minutes ago The retailer cited lower overall sales and weaker operating results from Kmart and its domestic Sears operations.

    Tiffany Profit Falls 10 Percent on Charge

    By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 10:00 AM ET The jeweler said 2nd-quarter net income fell to $37 million, hurt by a charge related to selling its Little Switzerland retail business, but sales beat expectations.

    Doctors Offering No-Interest Loans to Patients

    By MILT FREUDENHEIM Zero-interest financing for medical procedures has become one of the fastest-growing segments of consumer credit.

    Chrysler Operated at a Loss in Its Final Quarter as a Part of Daimler

    By MICHELINE MAYNARD and NICK BUNKLEY The automaker, now owned by the private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management, refused to state the size of the loss.

    Yahoo's New President Oversees a Shake-Up

    By MIGUEL HELFT Susan L. Decker, Yahoo's new president, is reorganizing the company's management ranks with a new division responsible for generating the bulk of the company's revenue.

    Judge Orders a Web Site Selling Tax-Evasion Advice to Close

    By DAVID CAY JOHNSTON A federal judged ruled that the Web site was not protected by the First Amendment because it incited criminal conduct.

    EMI Chief Leaves After Private Equity Takeover

    By JEFF LEEDS Eric Nicoli's exit came as Terra Firma Capital Partners, a private equity firm taking over the EMI Group, named executives from its own ranks to management positions at the music label.

    XXXxxxXXXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxXXXxxx

    And buried in the "Strong Economic Growth..." article, was:

    "In other economic news, the Labor Department reported that the number of newly laid off workers filing for unemployment benefits rose to 334,000 last week, an increase of 9,000 from the previous week. That gain caught analysts by surprise. They had been expecting a decline of around 2,000."

    Posted by hsuBfools at 08/30/2007 @ 12:10pm

24. Posted by HSUBFOOLS 08/30/2007 @ 12:10pm

    Sounds like Hillary can run on "It's the economy, stupid" again and "bringing back the Clinton prosperity" next year, huh?

    Posted by Mask at 08/30/2007 @ 12:18pm

25. Doctors Offering No-Interest Loans to Patients

    that is very telling of something gone terribly wrong

    Posted by frosty zoom at 08/30/2007 @ 2:42pm

26. I remember hearing her already address that a ways back on a stump. Yet big corp/lobby contributors do make for some conflicting dialog when dealing with poverty issues...

    However I think the old "Are you better off now than 8 years ago", will go a long ways considerring in most if not all catagories across the board, we're not better off.

    Posted by hsuBfools at 08/30/2007 @ 2:52pm

27. Posted by HSUBFOOLS 08/30/2007 @ 2:52pm

    Her linkage to the Clinton boom years is her "street cred" on economics issues. Merely has to harken back to those days and lay claim (despite small involvement) to her husband's legacy on the domestic economy and the budget.

    Like...uh....his former Vice-President would, IF he was running!

    Posted by Mask at 08/30/2007 @ 2:55pm

28. Another take on '90's welfare reform today:

    "Last November advocates, and a few critics, of welfare reform showed up in Washington, D.C. at a mostly celebratory forum sponsored by the Brookings Institution and the Annie E. Casey Foundation marking the legislation's tenth anniversary. Newt Gingrich, a primary architect of the 1994 Republican "Revolution" -- which took control of both houses of Congress for the first time in decades, leading the way to the passage of welfare reform -- was the Keynote Speaker. Gingrich the former House Speaker who was forced to resign his post over ethics questions and who currently has his eye on becoming the GOP's presidential standard bearer in 2008...

    Wendell Primus, currently a policy advisor to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, was an outspoken critic of the original legislation; he resigned from the Clinton administration over welfare reform. In his remarks, Primus maintained that "while many families had earnings gains under welfare reform, a significant number would have done better without welfare reform under the expanding economy of the 1990s," CNSNews.com reported.

    "In the aggregate, there is absolutely no evidence that it (reform legislation) increased household income," said Primus, pointing out that the rates of child poverty dropped more in the 1992-1996, pre-welfare-reform period, than they did in the post-reform period, from 1996-2000.

    http://www.mediatransparency.org/story.php?storyID=184

    XXxxxXXXxxXXXXxxxXXXxxXXxxXXxx

    U.S. child-poverty numbers worsening, Catholic Charities director says, as report released

    By Joshua Garner 5/29/2007 Catholic News Service (www.catholicnews.com)

    WASHINGTON (CNS) – When House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., hosted a national summit on child welfare, she shined a light on a problem that is all too familiar to officials of Catholic Charities USA.

    "The numbers are moving in the wrong direction," said Desmond Brown, director of health and welfare policy at Catholic Charities USA, about a new report released by the National Center for Children in Poverty to coincide with the summit.

    The report said 42 percent of U.S. children under the age of 6 – roughly 10 million – are vulnerable to poor health and substandard education, largely as a result of poverty and economic hardships.

    ...

    The National Center for Children in Poverty report – which compiled data in terms of how well each state met the basic needs of young children and families – found that access to quality health care, early learning opportunities and family economic support vary widely. While most states have maintained or increased health care eligibility since 2001, 33 states have decreased eligibility for child care subsidies.

    Most states recognize the importance of funding early childhood development, the report said, but the amount of money each state spends on early education programs fluctuates; New Jersey spends $456 million in preschool programs, for example, while Nevada spends $3 million.

    ....

    Though the 2007 poverty level for a family of three is $17,000, the report estimated that it would take twice that amount to provide basic necessities.

    While the national poverty rate has remained unchanged at 12 percent in recent years, Brown said there are 37 million Americans in poverty and the rate for minorities is nearly double the national average. The poverty rate for those under 18 has remained stagnant at 17.6 percent, and rates for the elderly are on the rise, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

    Brown attributed much of the increase in national poverty levels to economic recessions and tax policies.

    "There are a lot of misconceptions about people in poverty," he said. "Just because you're slightly above (the poverty line) doesn't mean your life is all that better."

    Catholic Charities USA had set a goal of cutting poverty in half by 2020, calling for strengthening of the nation's nutrition safety net, enactment of universal health insurance coverage, creation of more affordable housing and other policy changes.

    http://www.catholic.org/national/national_story.php?id=24209

    Posted by hsuBfools at 08/30/2007 @ 4:32pm

29. http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/8/22/33052/5990

    Posted by hsuBfools at 08/30/2007 @ 5:42pm

30. Frita, Bill may have married Hillary, but he picked Al for his VP, twice.

    Posted by hsuBfools at 08/30/2007 @ 5:45pm

31. Posted by HSUBFOOLS 08/30/2007 @ 5:45pm

    Sure, and like Hillary, Al (IF he ran) would run on the great economic policies of Bill Clinton.

    And, like Hillary, Al would have MAYBE one more thing he could say he actually DID about it (the tie-breaking vote in the Senate)....but not much else.

    And, like Hillary, Al (IF he was running and IF he did take credit for the Clinton economy) would have to explain why he supported NAFTA, GATT, the WTO and welfare reform...all loathed by the liberal base....just like he tried in 2000.

    Posted by Mask at 08/30/2007 @ 7:56pm