Everyone knows the somewhat embellished story of Marie Antoinette proposing that if the peasants had no bread and were therefore starving, then “Let them eat cake!” This level of being out of touch with everyday people and their needs did not die with the French monarchy.
This week the Berkshire Eagle of Pittsfield, MA reports that Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alfonso Jackson told a congressional committee he doesn’t talk about housing the poor because “being poor is a state of mind, not a condition.” The irony of such a comment is the fact that HUD’s mission specifically includes that they will “increase access to affordable housing.”
Lest you think this is made up, here are comments by one of the Congressional Representatives that was present. Nor are such comments out of character for Mr. Jackson. If you’d like to know more about Mr. Jackson, try the official HUD biography, but don’t look too hard for the part about growing up and overcoming poverty.
It seems obvious that Mr. Jackson meant to invoke the famous saying “Broke is a state of wallet; poor is a state of mind,” and it’s inevitable baggage that being “broke” can be fixed with good old fashioned work. Under this logic, if you are continually broke, it is your own darn fault. No bread? Let them eat cake. No jobs? Let them start their own businesses. Nowhere to live? Let them… uh, well, apply for a grant to build low income housing? The Berkshire Eagle put it best: “as a personal philosophy, it’s admirable. But as public policy, it stinks.”
They go on to point out that “This newspaper has observed before that liberal government doesn’t give away tax money for love of poor people, but out of the enlightened view that a modicum of economic justice is an insurance policy against social unrest.” Housing is not the only area where this expectation that the poor — I mean the “broke” — should pull themselves up by the bootstraps. The number of people whose healthcare plan is “hoping we don’t get sick” has grown to 43 million. Next time you are in a crowd of people, think about the fact that one in 6 does not have health insurance.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe that health insurance drives up the cost of healthcare. But, we live in a country where health insurance is just short of a prerequisite for getting care outside community clinic or emergency room. It should be patently obvious that working and paying the bills and not coming out “broke” on a regular basis is predicated on a certain level of health. Most jobs are almost impossible to do from a hospital bed. And since ignoring little health problems until they become big health problems is a way of life for way too many people in this country, health insurance will remain a need rather than a luxury for the foreseeable future. Oh, and before you start on how you aren’t one of those people, let me point out that some of those people are sick with communicable diseases. Have a nice day.
The Bush Administration seems to have a very shortsighted view of what this Marie Antoinette philosophy will do — or as Paul Krugman prefers to interpret it, Dooh Nibor economics (reverse Robin Hood). Yes, the nobles were terribly rich and powerful. But in the end, some of them really lost their heads.
Oh, and if you really must eat cake? Alton Brown’s book on baking comes out in September.