Introduction
Poverty is an intricate social issue, covering several socio-economic factors and perpetuating the enormous gap between high- and low-income populations worldwide. In his text, Desmond acknowledges the frustrating truth of poverty, established and deteriorated by human dignity exploitation in various forms in the USA: labor, consumer, and housing. The author argues that poverty is not just a lack of finances but the disguise of slavery – exploitation – accommodated by a lack of choice.
Housing Exploitation
The author starts by delving into the history of housing exploitation to justify its unjust and discriminating tendencies. Starting from the Panic of 1837 and the Great Migration, “the least-paid people were forced to pay the highest,” twice as much as their white tenants (Desmond 64). As they needed housing, their unscrupulous landlords charged the unjust rent for the worst slums. This historical tendency has grown into housing exploitation for all vulnerable groups.
The text urges that increasing rental costs do not reflect rising operating costs since these numbers do not even match; a 14% increase in Alabama and Birmingham hit hardly Black families in multifamily properties of poor neighborhoods (Desmond 65). The past events positioned people of color as the most vulnerable group, having no access to decent housing.
However, the housing issue is disseminated disproportionally across different social groups. While “poor neighborhoods generated roughly $50 a month in profit,” the exact amount is generated by affluent neighborhoods despite differing property tax bills, advocating for inequity in the USA (Desmond 66). Despite slight differences in rental costs, people in poverty do not view moving to a better neighborhood as an opportunity since they face many obstacles trying to enhance their housing quality. As an illustration, poor renters provide conviction records or bad credit histories, holding vulnerable families in a poverty trap (Desmond 69). Hence, exploitation in various forms forces vulnerable populations to stay in the circle of debt, depriving them of any chance for improvement.
Institutional Exploitation
Further, the text discusses social institutions that perpetuate exploitation in all its manifestations. Primarily, banking systems exploit poor populations by introducing fees and minimum balance requirements (Desmond 71). This condition resulted in the fact that “compared to white families, Black and Hispanic families were nearly five times more likely to lack a bank account,” and most have been accused of fraud (Desmond 72). Such deceiving methods are supported by check cashing stores, including Walmart, and predatory lenders, never allowing the poor to have some money in their pockets (Desmond 73). This intertwined structure justifies that social and economic systems create exploitation and poverty.
The author argues that the problem is not just increasing costs but also the people’s mindset that takes advantage of the poor’s condition. Even though “when states raised minimum wages, families found it easier to pay rent,” accommodating the vulnerable groups’ better adjustment and finance allocation, other people play on this help, increasing renal costs (Desmond 79). It can be speculated that increasing costs correlate with enhancing profits for payday loaners who increase fees to the extent that the poor pay much more than the borrowed sum (Desmond 75). Until the societal groups cooperate to stop exploiting people experiencing poverty, by all means, the poverty will not be resolved.
Conclusion
To conclude, Desmond emphasizes that the exploitation of people with low incomes is not accidental but rather a result of systemic inequalities and a lack of options. The author argues that addressing poverty requires cooperative understanding and addressing these exploitative systems. After acknowledging various forms of exploitation, society is responsible for creating equitable housing, labor, and market conditions for impoverished people without blaming them for their conditions.
Work Cited
Desmond, Mathew. Poverty by America. Random House, 2023.
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