After patrolling the
stories on The Huffington Post, I found an article that hits home for many. How
many times have you felt that even though you earn a good salary, you’re barely
able to pay for the necessities, let alone have a little fun every once in a
while? Jillian Berman with The Huffington Post wrote an article about the
federal poverty line. In this article Berman discusses with quality sources
that the federal poverty line doesn’t adequately reflect cost of living in
America. “The federal poverty line for a family of four was $23,283 last year,”
(Berman, 2013) well below what any family, even in the poorest of economies
needs to bring home in order to provide for their family.
Berman, relied on the Economic Policy Institute to use
a family budget calculator to accurately calculate what a family would need to
make at the bare minimum to survive in modern society. “For a two parent, two
child household, an average of $63,238 is needed to secure an adequate modest
living standard” (Gould, Wething, Sabadish, and Finio, 2013). There’s nowhere
in America where two parents earning the federal minimum wage, which amounts to
about $30,000 per year collectively, can make enough to support a family of
three or four, the analysis found.
According to another source, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, confirmed that
while the $23,283 poverty line is completely unrealistic, about 3.6 million
workers earned the federal minimum wage
or below last year. Raising minimum wage
is a step in the right direction to help families hit a level of basic economic
security that would allow them to live, even if it is only
paycheck-to-paycheck.
I found this article to be
heartbreaking especially when I read that so many people really do have to
fight everyday to survive. This eye-opening article had reputable references
that told a story about family lifestyle throughout the nation.
The Economic Policy Institute
(EPI), is a “non-profit, non-partisan think tank,
created in 1986 to broaden discussions about economic policy to include the
needs of low- and middle-income workers” (The Economic Policy Institute, 2013).
EPI proposes public policies that protect and improve the economic conditions
of low- and middle-income workers and assesses policies with respect to how
they affect those workers. This is a credible source according to the set of
guidelines established by the Criteria
to Evaluate the Credibility of WWW Resources because the website information is
current with an accurate business address, phone
number, and email addresses of workers linked to the non-profit. Berman
provides a link for the EPI and the site is rich with information on the
importance of their cause, as well as where more information can be viewed
regarding their work. Additional links showcase facts in the form of charts,
statistics, and surveys. These graphics are all backed up with additional
sources to verify the information is accurate.
The EPI also enlisted the work of several authors who
dedicated time and energy to the issue at hand, writing specifically on the
federal poverty line. They drew information from the government, as well as The
Public Welfare System, and the Ford Foundation.
The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics was
another source Berman referred to in her work. This is a government site that
is continually updated, posts information on the bureau, including address,
phone number, and areas of the department to contact. This is an authoritative
source that is a specialist on the field in question. Further documentation
from the Bureau of Labor Statistics was provided through a link on the article
Berman wrote.
Unrestricted web publishing can adversely impact the trustworthiness
and reliability of the news source where the information is taken from, as well
as tarnish the Internet as a whole. It is extremely important for the news and
public information to be validated and checked for accuracy because people view
these sources as more credible than other website by default.
Berman, L. (3, July 2013). Federal
Poverty Line Doesn't Adequately Reflect Cost Of Living In America, Analysis
Finds. Retrieved on July 2, 2013 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/03/federal-poverty-line-afford-to-live_n_3541338.html?ir=Business
Gould, Wething, Sabadish, and Finio. (3 July, 2013). What
Families Need to Get By: The 2013 Update
of EPI’s Family Budget Calculator. Retrieved on July 2, 2013 from http://www.epi.org/publication/ib368-basic-family-budgets/
The Bureau of Labor
Statistics. (2013). Economic Release. Retrieved on July 3, 2013 from http://www.bls.gov
The Economic Policy Institute. (2013). Research and Ideas for Shared Prosperity. Retrieved on July 3, 2013 from http://www.epi.org
Hi Gina,
ReplyDeleteThanks for your post for two reasons. First, the awareness of the significant gap between what the Federal poverty line is identified to be and what the Economic Policy Institute identifies it should be. That's both shocking and depressing to me; I agree totally that this is heartbreaking.
Secondly, thank you for using such a good example of how a story should be presented based on the guidelines we studied this week. You are definitely spot on that if statistics such as were reported were inaccurate, on a situation that is so serious, it would tarnish the credibility of the reporters, but would also inhibit progress in doing something about the situation.
I also want to say that when I first saw the numbers you wrote, and saw the significant discrepancy between them, I thought there must have been an error made. $30,000 is a lot of money!