Linda Chalfant-Allen’s Notes For Our August 12 Meeting

[Linda Chalfant-Allen]

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Subject: Notes For Our August 12 Meeting
From: Linda Chalfant-Allen
Date: Thu, July 19, 2020 2:53 pm MST
To: ReadingLiberally-SaltLake@johnkarls.com
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Dear John,

Re the First Short Quiz --

A. What do you mean by "non-books"? If the first page and/or the synopsis are interesting, I think most people who are interested in a group like this will, at the very least, skim further.

B. Don't you already give a summary or at least a review? The book description should suffice.

C. Personally, I like to start at the beginning, but for some, the end might be a place to focus the reading.

D.-E. No, I think there are other recommendations throughout the book which need to be added to those listed under D and E, which I will mention below. The recommendations are so intertwined that some of these seem to be smaller steps under more comprehensive categories. What is needed, in my opinion, is a multi-pronged, cyclical approach, where improvements in one area lead to benefits in others. E.g., education leads to better jobs and higher education, more jobs and increased wages increase taxes to help in other areas, increased income leads to families being able to afford better education for their children, which helps reduce poverty, which leads to improved health care, ad infinitum?

Thus, nos. 1 and 2 could be grouped under education. Nos. 5, 6 and 7 could be grouped under ending child poverty. No. 4, elimination of unwanted pregnancies, should be part of family planning and assistance to families suffering from abuse.

3. Universal health care--The authors point out that we spend much more on health care coverage for the elderly than for children--"American kids die at 55 percent higher rates than in other advanced countries." Selfishly, I worry what would happen to my health care under a universal system; to be perfectly honest, I don't need think I need all the expensive specialists and tests recommended by my doctors, but if they don't cost me anything extra, why not take advantage of them (better safe than sorry)? Is this a "welfare mentality"? That doesn't mean that I don't think health care should be available to everyone, or that exorbitant medical and prescription costs shouldn't be reduced. Health care needs to include educative and preventive measures; mental wellness and suicide prevention.

5-6. Homelessness--The authors make the point that we have greatly reduced homelessness for veterans, so why couldn't we do the same for children? I personally like the idea of a monthly allowance for children, but how do we ensure that the parents don't use it for drugs or alcohol? Are they talking about vouchers only for housing, or do they mean to include food, clothing and health care as well?

7. Baby bonds--I suspect we have more pressing needs right now.

8. A right to work is only one step toward eliminating joblessness and providing a living wage for as many Americans as possible..

F-T. A lot of (unnecessary?) emphasis on the authors' qualifications rather than on issues and recommendations. I am satisfied with the qualifications listed on the dust jacket.

U. I haven't been with the group long enough to comment (also too lazy too to look at all the previous campaigns).

V. Good question. I think the illustrations of real people make them easier to empathize with, and help to humanize the issues. Calvin, on the other hand, is appalled more by what "terrible" people some of them are, rather than by the problems that "made" them that way.. Personally, I was pleased to see the emphasis on so many white people because so often people tend to focus on social problems as primarily the purview of Black people.


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Recommendations from other sections of the book relate to:

Jobs and Wages--need for a higher minimum, "living" wage; "share the wealth"--the average CEO earns more than 300 times as much as the average worker; job training and assistance; turn people into taxpayers and reduce money spent on "welfare" benefits

Criminal punishment and incarceration--Decriminalize or reduce punishment for lesser offenses; more humane, shorter sentences, rehab, interventions; vast costs of imprisonment as compared to crime, treatment and foster care (social services); punishment and prisons as a response to poverty; absent fathers; 79% of women in jails have children; "poverty is the mother of crime"; number of people in jail or prison is 7 times what it was in 1970; a single murder can cost $3 million or more

Family and child programs--importance of family structure and stability; family planning and assistance; elimination of unwanted pregnancies; anti-abuse and neglect programs; "More children die each year in the United States from abuse and neglect than from cancer"; 'The U.S. is the most dangerous of wealthy, democratic countries in the world for our children'; America ranks 41 in child mortality; target at-risk youth; child care; "...child poverty costs the United States about $3 trillion each year in increased health, crime, prison and welfare spending [...and] reduced earnings"

Tax reform--Higher taxes on the rich and big companies, eliminate corporate subsidies, loophole, hiding assets overseas; antitrust legislation; limit individual and corporate donations to reduce their influence on lawmakers

Drugs--the U.S. has spent more than $3 trillion on the war on drugs, "money spent locking up two-bit users [and small-time pushers] rather than educating children"; treat addiction like a disease rather than a crime; 80% of opioid/drug addictions start with pain or anxiety prescriptions; punish big pharma companies, make prescription drugs less profitable--might reduce research, to be then funded by government?


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Miscellaneous Comments:

I like the idea of investing in people, "human capital", as perhaps our most important resource.

I know people would have fits, but I think kids should be given a choice of staying in school and going to college, job training/apprenticeship, the military, or a national youth service program to improve discipline, work skills, self-confidence.

One of my big recommendations would be an information campaign for both lawmakers and the general public. I was truly unaware of and shocked by many of the financial and other comparisons in the book. Maybe our group could be helpful in providing lawmakers and others with facts and figures such as the costs and consequences of not providing social programs, examples of money saved through organizational and individual efforts--Women In Recovery, Annette Dove's TOPPS, etc., unfavorable comparisons with other countries, the actual percentage of welfare "cheating" vs. its benefits, even little-known factoids such as a single crime costing more than $3 million.

Decades of social-policy mistakes

The role of luck in the "lottery of life"


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Just a few ideas which I hope might be included intend to raise in our group discussion.

Sincerely,

Linda