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The Tavis Smiley Show’s “Poverty in America” – Seniors

Posted by on Oct 19, 2011 in News, The Tour | 1 comment

Published 19 October, 2011 07:05:00 The Tavis Smiley Show

Medical expenses draw the largest percentage of a senior’s income. (Photo courtesy of flickr user ma neeks).

9 million older adults don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Making ends meet is a daily struggle.

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9 million older adults don’t know where their next meal is coming from. Making ends meet is a daily struggle.

Story from The Tavis Smiley Show. Listen to audio above for full report.

Although the poverty rate for seniors has remained stable over the last several years at 9.7 percent, millions of other older Americans struggle to make ends meet every day.

About 9 million older adults don’t know where their next meal is coming from — unsure whether to pay for medications or food. On average, seniors are spending $1,500 less per year on food, while spending about $3,000 more per year on health care and insurance, comapred to seniors 10 years ago, according to data from the census bureau.

Government programs like Social Security have successfully kept about 14 million senior citizens above the poverty line, according to the 2010 U.S. Census. But they’re becoming increasingly costy and are facing mounting criticism from politicians.

“We know that government programs such as these make a difference in poverty,” says Patrick McCarthy, president of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. “However government cannot do it alone.”

McCarthy would like to see changes in the private sector as well.

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Older Americans ages 50 to 59 who have lost work and don’t yet qualify for social programs have been especially hard hit, says Emily Allen, vice president of the AARP foundation. Allen and McCarthy note that lack of job security and the unwillingness of the private sector to hire have negatively impacted Baby Boomers.

“The reality is that a lot of this poverty is being driven by massive losses on the job front and by the long-range erosion of pay,” says Patrick McCarthy, president of the Annie E. Casey Foundation. “They have fewer benefits, they’re less likely to be in stable jobs with more turnover — all of [these factors] have swollen the ranks of those who live on the edge of poverty.”

Allen agrees.

“We’ve got to have Social Security and Medicare secure,” Allen says. “People are really lacking that social safety net right now and truly falling through the cracks of the system.”

Learn more at the  Tavis Smiley Show’s Web site. Don’t miss our look at how poverty affects children and families. Also, make sure to learn about how poverty is leaving 1 in 6 Americans hungry.

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“The Tavis Smiley Show” is a weekly show offering a unique blend of news and newsmakers in expanded conversations, along with feature reports and regular commentators. “The Tavis Smiley Show” is produced by Tavis Smiley productions, and distributed nationwide by PRI.

“Patt Morrison” on KPCC The Poverty Tour: A Call to Conscience

Posted by on Oct 12, 2011 in News, The Tour | 0 comments

Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

Authors Tavis Smiley (L) and Dr. Cornell West attend Time’s 100 Most Influential People in the World Gala at the Frederick P. Rose Hall at Jazz at Lincoln Center on May 5, 2009 in New York City.

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Princeton University professor Cornel West and broadcaster Tavis Smiley have been two of President Obama’s most outspoken critics.

West has called the President a “black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs” and “someone who was using intermittent progressive populist language in order to justify a centrist, neoliberalist policy”—some pretty strong words from a man who supported the President in the 2008 campaign. So what caused the riff? With 50 million Americans—one in six—living in poverty and a black unemployment rate that is double that of whites, both Smiley and West believe that the Obama Administration isn’t doing enough to help make the economic playing field more equal.

In an effort to put a human face on the economic crisis, the two joined forces in August 2011 for The Poverty Tour—a bus tour of 18 cities across nine states. Smiley called what he witnessed both “inspiring” and “heartbreaking,” noting that “Americans who were recently middle class are now considered the ‘new poor’.” What ideas do West and Smiley have for President Obama to combat poverty in America and how economically and politically feasible will they be to implement? Does the President have any special obligation to address those suffering in the black community? Given the state of the economy and the political realities Obama has to grapple with, is West and Smiley’s criticism of the President justified, or unproductive?

West has called the President a “black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs” and “someone who was using intermittent progressive populist language in order to justify a centrist, neoliberalist policy.” Some pretty strong words from a man who supported the President in the 2008 campaign. So what caused the riff? With 50 million Americans, or one in six, living in poverty and a black unemployment rate that is double that of whites, both Smiley and West believe that the Obama Administration isn’t doing enough to help make the economic playing field more even.

 

Guests:

 

Tavis Smiley, broadcaster, author and co-host of the Smiley & West show on PRI

Cornel West, Class of 1943 University Professor at Princeton University, New York Times best-selling author and co-host of the Smiley and West show on PRI

Poverty ambassadors blast Herman Cain’s views on racism

Posted by on Oct 10, 2011 in News, The Tour | 0 comments

Poverty ambassadors blast Herman Cain's views on racism
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Washington (CNN) – GOP hopeful Herman Cain drew concern from some black opinion elites Monday after expressing his views on racism and how it affects the upward mobility of African Americans.

“People sometimes hold themselves back because they want to use racism as an excuse for them not being able to achieve what they want to achieve,” Cain, the only African-American vying for the Republican slot on the 2012 ticket,  told CNN’s Candy Crowley on Sunday’s “State of the Union.”

Appearing Monday on “CNN Newsroom,” PBS host Tavis Smiley and Princeton University Professor Dr. Cornell West –the brain trust for the 18-city “Poverty Tour” that aims to highlight the plight of poor people– begged to differ.

“There are disparities in this country in every [socioeconomic] factor that we follow.  In every aspect of our human endeavors in this country there is a racial disparity element that’s a part of it. It’s almost silly to respond to [Cain] because the evidence is so overwhelming,” Smiley said in the interview with CNN anchor Suzanne Malveaux.

“There’s disparity in healthcare. There’s disparity economically.”

West, taking a sharper route, also challenged Cain’s understanding of the economic issues that affect black Americans, saying, “Black people have been working hard for decades. I think [Cain] needs to get off the symbolic crack pipe and acknowledge the evidence is overwhelming.”

According to a survey released Monday by the Institute of Politics at Harvard University and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint-Anselm College, 20% of likely Republican primary voters in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire said they would definitely or probably vote for Cain. In this poll, the former businessman and conservative radio talk show host came in second after former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney.

Steady at the number 2 spot, Cain fared similarly in another New Hampshire state poll released Friday, and again in a national survey released Monday. These polls show his stock in the GOP presidential nominating field is rising.

Smiley referenced this political shift, saying that Cain’s comments about the insignificance of racism can be attributed, in part, to how these views will resonate with Republican voters.

“Herman Cain is trying to get the GOP nomination,” Smiley said. “When you’re running for the nomination of a Republican Party…these are the kind of statements that you make that play to your base. It’s politics.”

Smiley continued, saying that President Barack Obama’s rendezvous with racism should be noted.

“There’s no comparison in history for any president that’s had a budget the size of the Secret Service budget now just to protect Barack Obama and we’re talking about whether or not [Cain] has a point about racism in America?”

Is President Obama Standing Up for the Poor?

Posted by on Oct 10, 2011 in News, The Tour | 1 comment

Tavis Smiley and Cornel West weigh in

Tavis Smiley’s and Cornel West’s “Poverty Tour” Airs on PBS

Posted by on Oct 10, 2011 in News, The Tour | 1 comment

In the television special, Smiley and West talked with Americans hit hardest by the recession.

By Britt Middleton
Posted: 10/10/2011 12:53 PM EDT

PBS talk show host Tavis Smiley and Princeton professor Dr. Cornel West embarked on a poverty tour in August, taking them through 18 cities and across 11 states to speak with Americans who have been hit hardest by the recession. Beginning Monday and concluding on Oct. 14, PBS will air The Poverty Tour, in which each night’s episode provides a glimpse into the hardships many Americans are forced to endure.

 

Both Smiley and West, who also host PRI’s Smiley and West show, have spoken out about concerns that President Barack Obama has failed to address the issues facing the nearly 50 million Americans now living in poverty, with African-Americans faring the worst. More than one in four Black Americans is now living below the poverty line.

 

Following each night’s episode, Smiley will speak with a leading anti-poverty advocate, including West, Feeding America CEO Vicki B. Escarra, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, economist Jeffrey Sachs and ethics and religion commentator Jim Wallis.

 

Visit PBS for local times and listings.