Marc McGovern, Cambridge City Councilor, Chairman of Spending Other People's Money Committee
Former social worker, vigorous advocate for the psychiatric industry, Cambridge City Councilor McGovern promotes income distribution for poor residents of Cambridge. He does not advocate that public officials contribute part of their taxpayer salaries to help ease poverty. Politicians seldom spend their own money, when they can spend other people's money. McGovern cites statistics as politicians love to do, without explaining what they mean. The City Councilor uses uncertain certitude when he says, "As anyone residing in Cambridge knows, it takes far more to reside in our city." More than what? Where? How much does it cost to live in a homeless shelter, or on the streets?
He elaborates on the "effects" of poverty, saying they are well documented. But he ignores a well documented fact that politicians refuse to recognize. The fact that single parent families are more likely to live in poverty than two parent families. The rate of single parents of black American families is an outrage in the USA. This is not a new problem. Daniel Patrick Moynihan recognized it many years ago. Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams often write about it. Here's the latest from Williams.
[From Williams' article]
In 1950, female-headed households were 18 percent of the black population. Today it's close to 70 percent. One study of 19th-century slave families found that in up to three-fourths of the families, all the children lived with the biological mother and father. In 1925 New York City, 85 percent of black households were two-parent households. Herbert Gutman, author of "The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom, 1750-1925," reports, "Five in six children under the age of six lived with both parents." Also, both during slavery and as late as 1920, a teenage girl raising a child without a man present was rare among blacks.
[. . .]
The black illegitimacy rate in 1940 was about 14 percent; black illegitimacy today is over 70 percent, and in some cities, it is over 80 percent.
[. . .]
Each year, roughly 7,000 blacks are murdered. Ninety-four percent of the time, the murderer is another black person. Though blacks are 13 percent of the nation's population, they account for more than 50 percent of homicide victims. Nationally, the black homicide victimization rate is six times that of whites, and in some cities, it's 22 times that of whites. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, between 1976 and 2011, there were 279,384 black murder victims. Coupled with being most of the nation's homicide victims, blacks are also major victims of violent personal crimes, such as assault, rape and robbery.
[. . .]
If it is assumed that problems that have a devastating impact on black well-being are a result of racial discrimination and a "legacy of slavery" when they are not, resources spent pursuing a civil rights strategy will yield disappointing results.
http://jewishworldreview.com/cols/williamns082714.php3
Blacks Must Confront Reality
By Walter Williams
Published August 27, 2014
[From McGovern's article]
A recent study completed by the Cambridge Community Development Department indicated that Cambridge has a poverty rate of 14.4 percent for individuals and in certain subgroups, such as black and Latino, the poverty rate is as high as 30 percent. It is important to keep in mind that this study uses the federal standards of poverty. By federal standards, an individual earning less than $11,670 and a family of four earning less than $23,850 in combined income is living in poverty. As anyone residing in Cambridge knows, it takes far more to reside in our city.
[. . .]
The effects of poverty are well documented. Health issues, mental health issues, hunger and poor nutrition, homelessness and housing instability, substance abuse, crime, poor education, are all impacted by poverty. Children living in poverty are more likely to die in infancy, more likely to have hospital stays, more likely to repeat a grade in school, more likely to drop out of school, and more likely to engage in violence or other maladaptive behaviors. A community can be judged on how well it cares for its most vulnerable. In Cambridge, we do a very good job caring for those in need, we have many programs designed to support our neighbors, but we can do better.
[. . .]
The goals of the Income Insecurity Commission are as follows.
http://cambridge.wickedlocal.com/article/20140916/NEWS/140917204
GUEST COLUMN: A tale of two cities – Income insecurity right at home
By Councilor Marc McGovern
Posted Sep. 16, 2014 @ 2:03 pm
CAMBRIDGE Chronicle
