Robert Greenstein, founder and executive director of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, spoke at the Center for American Progress on Friday, December 5 about CAP’s proposed economic recovery package. Referring to the current recession as probably the longest and deepest since World War II, Greenstein highlighted the severe unemployment crisis and its relationship to poverty. CBPP recently released a report predicting the number of people in poverty will rise by between 7.5 million and 10.3 million.
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On Monday, December 8, the Center for American Progress Action Fund will host two panels on how the Obama administration can use its existing authority to best promote the interests of workers. Governor Jon Corzine will keynote the event, discussing the steps New Jersey is taking to protect workers’ rights and how the Obama administration can draw on state innovations.
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From our friends at the Food Research and Action Center

Congress is on recess until December 8th, but more layoffs and pay cuts are happening every day, and hunger is growing every day. Here are four ways that you can act over the next few days to initiate meaningful solutions to eliminate hunger in our communities.
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A new report published by the Ontario Association of Food Banks outlines the economic cost of poverty in Ontario, and across Canada. Citing the Center for American Progress Task Force on Poverty’s report “From Poverty to Prosperity” as well as a study of child poverty in the United Kingdom, the Canadian study estimates that in Ontario alone, poverty costs between $10.4 billion and $13.1 billion every year, or about $2,900 per household.

“The Cost of Poverty: An Analysis of the Economic Cost of Poverty in Ontario” comes in advance of the official presentation of a government-sponsored poverty reduction plan.
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A new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities highlights the expected increase of Americans living in poverty, and some of the tools the current and new president and Congress can use to help ease the crisis, including an extensive stimulus package:

Like previous recessions, the current downturn is likely to cause significant increases both in the number of Americans who are poor and the number living in “deep poverty,” with incomes below half of the poverty line. Because this recession is likely to be deep and the government safety net for very poor families who lack jobs has weakened significantly in recent years, increases in deep poverty in this recession are likely to be severe.
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By the Center for American Progress’ Alexandra Cawthorne

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its annual report on food security in America yesterday, which showed that one in eight Americans—over 36 million people—struggled to feed themselves during 2007. And that was even before the economic downturn.
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By Kate Bell

In 1999, U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair announced a target to eliminate child poverty within a generation. Nearly 10 years later, a raft of policy initiatives have been introduced, and significant progress has been achieved on cutting poverty. The political discourse has moved from one where poverty was barely acknowledged to one in which tackling child poverty is a widely accepted goal. Challenges remain if the government is to hit even its interim target of halving child poverty by 2010, but the United Kingdom’s experience shows that setting an ambitious goal can inspire radical action.
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Low-income Americans are especially feeling the pinch of rising expenses and the floundering economy. Many families try to meet the high cost of housing, energy, and health care before they deal with staggeringly high food prices. An estimated 35.5 million Americans, including 12.6 million children, are now food insecure. From September 2007 to September 2008, the cost of food rose 7.6 percent. In a post-election Alliance to End Hunger poll, 58% of American voters said they have been impacted by rising food prices. These higher food costs are the most dramatic for low-income people—between September 2007 and September 2008, the cost of the Thrifty Food Plan (a U.S. Department of Agriculture estimate of the cheapest necessary food) rose 10.3 percent.
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A press release from the Congressional Progressive Caucus, chaired by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) announced the expanded caucus’ priorities for the next session. Among the top issues the caucus will take up is “reducing poverty and promoting economic fairness, including raising the minimum wage to a livable level” and “creating millions of ‘green’ jobs.”
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From the Center for American Progress

Arguments for ending child poverty often rely on a feeling that it is simply wrong to allow any child to miss out on the experiences that so many take for granted. But now new research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in the UK shows that a high child poverty rate imposes a substantial drag on a country’s overall economy.
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