The Poverty Trap

Joan DeMartin
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A Podcast for those who are fed up with the inequality baked into America's system and want to collectively make change. povertytrap.substack.com

  1. 6 DAYS AGO

    Pockets Of Poverty...

    Welcome to The Poverty Trap, a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more informed and more compassionate…” Amy B. __________________________________ “They’re tired of living in a third-world country…” That is how the residents of McDowell County, West Virginia described their current situation: like “living in a third-world country.” Once you see this — water as dark as coffee coming from their faucets, a 45-minute drive to get a gallon of milk, little to no healthcare options, you’ll wonder if this is really 2026 in America. The 13-minute segment, shown above, was reported by CBS 60 Minutes and first aired on February 22 of this year. There are persistent pockets of poverty throughout the United States, located mostly in southern and southwestern states and specifically in several counties within these states, a smattering of other areas where once booming industries have simply gone away for one reason or another, and most Indian reservations. 309 Counties Had Sustained High Poverty for Two Decades According to a U.S. Census Bureau report published earlier this year, based on data through 2024: In 309 or almost 10% of U.S. counties, mostly in the South, poverty rates stayed at 20% or more for two decades, according to the recently released American Community Survey (ACS) 5-year estimates. The latest ACS release allows us to compare changes in poverty rates in most of the nation’s 3,144 counties and county equivalents in five-year periods over the span of 20 years: 2005-2009; 2010-2014; 2015-2019; and 2020-2024. In this analysis, counties are considered in sustained poverty if their poverty rates remained at 20% or higher in each of the four nonoverlapping 5-year periods. [Emphasis Added] This map produced by the U.S. Census Bureau shows the counties in “sustained poverty” over a twenty year period. McDowell County West Virginia is the southern most county in the state and is at the tip of a good-sized pocket of counties extending from southern Ohio into Kentucky and Tennessee. McDowell county was one of our country’s largest coal producers, but the demand for coal decreased as the need for clean energy increased, and the coal companies abandoned the mines, the area and the people. Coal companies also abandoned the clean-up of mine waste, along with the old, failing infrastructure carrying water into residents’ homes that the companies initially installed. Now, the cash-strapped county is responsible for replacing the pipes and cleaning up the environmental contamination from the mines. And neither the West Virginia state legislature nor Congress wants to allocate money or hold the companies accountable to clean up the mess. By the way, McDowell County is considered the poorest county in West Virginia with over 37% of its population living below the poverty line. What is it about these particular areas of the country, drilling down to specific counties, that keep them consistently poor? And if we know this abject poverty has persisted in the same areas for decades, why haven’t elected officials acted to help? Here is how the West Virginia Water Research Institute, part of West Virginia University, is trying to help ____________________________________ Let me know your thoughts in the Comment Section, below. I’d also appreciate it if you could like, share and restack this post—let’s get the word out! The Poverty Trap is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Poverty Trap at povertytrap.substack.com/subscribe

    9 min

  2. 19 MAR

    Mortgage Foreclosures Are Increasing...

    Welcome to The Poverty Trap, a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more informed and more compassionate…” Amy B. __________________________________ The least pleasant event anyone wants to experience, aside from death, is losing their home. Not to sound overly dramatic, but from personal experience, the foreclosure process oftentimes can make you wish you were dead. I fought foreclosure for years, then sold my home for exactly what I owed on the mortgage during the worst of the Covid crisis. With hindsight, it might have been better for me if I had just ridden out the foreclosure moratorium in place at the time, and then let the home be sold at auction. I survived with the help of good friends, my pets and a tough law firm, which was able to correct, on my behalf, the illegalities of the “puppy mill” foreclosure process after the fact, win compensation and a bit of extra money from the foreclosing bank as punishment for violating the law. But losing one’s home is indeed a traumatic experience. In fact, foreclosure rates high one the scale of traumatic life experiences and can leave lasting physical and emotional scars. At that is exactly what is happening today in our country. As of February 2026, foreclosure rates have increased 20%, year over year. In 2025 and into the first quarter of 2026, over 400,000 U.S. homeowners went through the nightmare of foreclosure. The five states with the highest foreclosure rates are Indiana, South Carolina, Florida, Delaware and Illinois. There are many valid, substantive reasons for the increase in foreclosures in the last 15 months: we are trapped in a declining economy with slowed hiring, rising costs for everything, including mortgage interest rates, home insurance, property taxes, HOA fees, utilities and home repairs that make keeping a home precarious at best. Making the situation worse is the elimination of the Affordable Care Act subsidies, which allowed low and middle income earners to purchase health care at semi-affordable prices. Now, yearly costs for health care premiums are estimated to total between $23,000—$40,000 for a family of four. The choice in 2026 for many Americans looks like it’s between keeping your home or buying health insurance. Here’s what a 2026 article from Nolo has to say about the increase in foreclosures — it primarily blames rising home-related costs, soaring prices overall and job losses for the steady increase in home foreclosures, with a gloomy future predicted: Foreclosure activity in the U.S. is expected to trend higher in 2026. …in 2025, there was a marked, sustained increase in both foreclosure starts and completions. According to a September 2025 report from ATTOM, foreclosure filings in the U.S. have surged nearly 20%. This upward trend could be an early indication of more trouble to come in 2026. Yet, there seems to be a lack of expert analysis for this increase in foreclosures. Otherwise reliable property data sites, like ATTOM, are simply calling this recent increase in foreclosures a “market correction” or “normalization” of foreclosure filings. The ATTOM article noted above lays out its reasoning about rising mortgage foreclosures: The increase reflects a continued normalization of foreclosure activity following the historically low levels seen during and immediately after the pandemic period. While filings have risen, foreclosure activity remains well below levels recorded during the housing crisis, with strong homeowner equity, tighter lending standards, and ongoing housing demand continuing to limit widespread homeowner distress…Despite these increases, overall foreclosure activity remains far below the levels seen during the housing crisis, suggesting the current rise reflects a normalization process rather than widespread homeowner distress. What this piece fails to mention is “during and immediately after the pandemic period”, there was a national foreclosure moratorium of federally-backed mortgages in place, so of course there were historically low levels of home foreclosures during the pandemic. The same occurred during the housing crisis of the Great Recession, when there was not only a very short foreclosure moratorium, there also was an extensive federal program in place (HAMP) to help those who fell behind in their mortgage payments stay in their homes. Once HAMP fully kicked in a year or two after it was initiated, foreclosure rates dropped considerably. Is it a valid comparison to say that today’s soaring foreclosure rates aren’t really so bad because the rates are still much lower than during a time of near economic collapse? Is it accepted thinking that banks naturally will “correct” a temporary downturn in home foreclosures which occurred during two national crises by ramping up foreclosures years later? While the data on mortgage foreclosures are no doubt correct, the analyses fail to mention the cost to the individual and to our country, of hundreds of thousands of people losing their homes—the cost of the trauma, shame and continuing economic hardship of hardworking Americans whose paychecks can’t meet the rising price of everything. ———————————————— Please share your thoughts on the steady increase in foreclosures in the U.S., and how we should handle it. Should there be another foreclosure moratorium, given the massive increase in the cost of everything, the elimination of the health care subsidies, the war? Is it good thinking to compare this increase in home foreclosures to, say, the pandemic when there was a moratorium on foreclosures? We will all benefit from your ideas, so please leave a comment below! The Poverty Trap is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Poverty Trap at povertytrap.substack.com/subscribe

    14 min

  3. 26 FEB

    The Power Of Song

    Welcome to The Poverty Trap, a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more informed and more compassionate…” Amy B. ___________________________ We often forget that music is more than a means of deriving pleasure. In every generation of protest, music has played a key role in defining injustice, the struggle for equality, and the desire for peace. National Women’s History Museum My last post, Power Of The People: Political Protest Then And Now, talks briefly about America’s history of political protest and provides both historical and very recent examples of how people coming together to protest publicly and peacefully can make their opinions heard by the elected officials who represent them and us. It is literally the most powerful tool we the people have to affect change in our personal lives, our community and our country. Yet there is another element, when joined with public protest, that adds an exponential impact to our power. And that element is music—songs that tell a story and push back against government policies and laws we disagree with, and even stop violence perpetrated by our government against neighbors, friends and family. Music is the emotional connection between the people and the cause. One example is folk music, which has been long associated with protest movements in the United States, from its earliest beginning in the late 18th century, to its “revival” after the Depression, through the 1960’s and 1970’s, and straight to today. Acoustic singer-songwriters in the folk music tradition remain the voice of outreach and protest. Listen to what is considered one of the best folk songs, written and performed by Woody Guthrie: And Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ In The Wind” is right up there with the best. Here it’s performed by Peter Paul and Mary at The March On Washington, 1963…with a bit of commentary from the singers. And here’s a very recent tribute to folk music and protest—a segment on CBS Sunday Morning featuring the singer Jesse Welles, titled “Keeping the spirit of American folk music alive”. This cool, young guy from Arkansas is quickly becoming a national treasure. Let’s not forget the powerful force of Black spirituals and Gospel music to rouse emotions and move people to tears and to action. Listen to Mahalia Jackson sing two hymns at The March on Washington, 1963: ————————— Today we have rousing music from Minnesota community members, who call themselves the “Singing Resistance”, and who were profiled by CNN’s Anderson Cooper. Hear them lead protestors in song: And then there is The Boss. A likely billion fans world-wide, including me, are just plain lucky he never quits. Springsteen wrote this anthem to honor two slain American citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and to salute the remarkable citizens of Minnesota. In fact, Springsteen just announced a 20 arena/stadium tour across the country, starting in Minneapolis, Minnesota called “ The Land of Hope and Dreams Tour”. For now, peaceful public protest (along with protest songs) against ICE and this Administration’s policies are working, at least in Minneapolis. Listen to “Border Czar” Tom Homan announce ICE’s withdrawal from Minnesota—Hallelujah! https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/watch-live-border-czar-tom-homan-holds-news-conference-in-minneapolis. See also Axios story on ICE withdrawal: https://www.axios.com/local/twin-cities/2026/02/12/trump-ice-metro-surge-ends-minneapolis ———————————————————— Let me know your thoughts on the power of music, lyrics and singers to propel protest movements. Did any of you fight the good fight to nab Springsteen tickets? What do you think of ICE’s withdrawal from Minnesota? All comments are welcome below—thanks! And if you have an extra moment, please “Like” and “Restack” this post—it will give The Poverty Trap and me a boost! The Poverty Trap is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Poverty Trap at povertytrap.substack.com/subscribe

    9 min

  4. 11 FEB

    Power Of The People

    Welcome to The Poverty Trap, a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more informed and more compassionate…” Amy B. One Big Thing: Peaceful, public protests are the single most powerful tool a democratic republic has to affect change. __________________________ In 2026, the American people are demanding our government keep its “Hands Off!” our people, streets and places of business in even greater numbers since last April 5, when the first “Hands Off!” National Day of Action rally was held in Washington, D.C. and in over 1200 other locations across the country. The protests were organized by Indivisible, MoveOn, and Third Act, which led over 150 groups, like civil rights organizations, labor unions, climate activists, veterans groups, Planned Parenthood and the American Federation of Teachers in protest against President Trump’s policies, including Elon Musk’s “DOGE’ and its random firings of hundreds of thousands of federal workers. Organizers estimated that nearly 5 million people in all 50 states and more in other countries marched and chanted in protest that spring day. NPR put together photos of the rallies from across the country here, and it is inspiring. Less than a year later, millions more Americans have taken to our streets to show their displeasure with President Trump’s unprecedented and often illegal, actions and policies enacted in his second term. The two “No Kings” rallies —the first on June 14, 2025, drew more than 5 million protesters, and the second gathered nearly 7 million people in rallies across the country. According to Ezra Levin, the co-founder of Indivisible, and one of the organizers of both the “Hands Off!” and “No Kings” rallies, the third “No Kings” rally is planned for March 28, 2026, and is in response to the: “secret police force terrorizing American communities.” He expects at least 9 million people for this third spring effort, but I think we’ll soon be talking much larger numbers given ICEs killing of 2 American citizens in Minneapolis, and the massive, near-constant protests in sub-zero weather by thousands of brave Minnesotans. We can’t assume, though, that most or even many Americans are aware of these current rallies against the Trump Administration, or even that our right to peaceably protest our government’s words and actions is written into our constitution. People across the country, both those who vote and those who do not, simply don’t have the time or make the time to stay informed about politics and other news stories that don’t directly affect them. I personally know formally educated and intelligent citizens who think it’s unseemly, or perhaps unnecessary, to take to the streets and question our government’s actions. But when masked, armed men show up by the thousands in their city, rip people out of their cars or shoot citizens dead on their street corners, they look up, get angry and then, well, publicly protest—not just in the communities where this violence is happening, but across the country and the world. How would you feel if you saw this scene in your community? Why It Matters: Because our constitution and the rule of law matter. We the people are our government, and when our government goes astray, tries from the top down to destroy itself, it is only the collective voice of the people that will stop its implosion. According to Britannica, “The following graphic and table highlight the largest protests in U.S. history; each marks a significant moment of collective political and social activism. The key word describing this graphic is “collective”. “…collective political and social activism.” When Americans show up in the millions to protest government policies, we usually prompt change. And today, we can document injustice ourselves with video and photo devices we carry in our pockets, giving evidence to our collective presence . Still photos of injustice, particularly those captured by professional photo journalists, remain as powerful as ever, despite today’s crucial cell phone documentation by private citizens. These two photos are particularly important to me because each captures moments of protestors’ incredible bravery . Incidentally, here is the First Amendment to our constitution in full, courtesy of Congress.gov. First Amendment Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Congress also provides annotations to help explain every section of the constitution—there’s no excuse for not having a basic working knowledge of a pretty great piece of writing…is there? —————————————— First, which of the largest single-day protests listed in the Britannica chart above do you think had the most impact, regardless of numbers of people attending? How do you feel about public protests in general, taking to the streets in a collective challenge to government authority? Have your thoughts changed about protests in the last few months? I’d love for you to share your thoughts with me and our readers in the Comment Section below: The Poverty Trap is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Poverty Trap at povertytrap.substack.com/subscribe

    14 min

  5. 20 JAN

    Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. And Today's Political Climate...

    This post goes out to both free and paid subscribers, but if you are not already a paid subscriber and value this effort and our growing community, please consider upgrading to a paid membership. Thank you! And a hearty “thank you” to my latest free and paid subscribers—I appreciate your support! I’m reposting below, The Poverty Trap’s Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. tribute from last year that included several past years of tributes to Dr. King. There’s always more to read and learn about this man’s incredible life and legacy, so I’m including a few new writings and stories I discovered in the last few days. — The New Yorker is celebrating its 100th year, and periodically publishes memorable articles from its archive. In the latest issue, it re-published an article from 1987, the second year America celebrated the King federal holiday. The author, Jonathan Schell, visited a second grade class in Manhattan to hear what youngsters had to say about Dr. King. One young student named Ian nailed it: “He didn’t fight with fists. He fought with words and stuff”… https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1987/02/02/school-holiday-martin-luther-king-jr — Today’s Fresh Air on NPR discusses “How racism costs everyone” and explores a question researched by Heather McGhee: “Why do so many Americans believe that progress for one group means loss for another? https://www.npr.org/2026/01/19/nx-s1-5680178/how-racism-costs-everyone ———————————— JOAN DEMARTIN FEB 01, 2025 This post goes out to both free and paid subscribers, but if you are not already a paid subscriber and value this effort and our growing community, please consider upgrading to a paid membership. Thank you! And a hearty “thank you” to my latest free and paid subscribers—I appreciate your support! Photo Credit: Walter P. Reuther Library, Archives of Labor and Urban Affairs, Wayne State University. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speaking in Cobol Hall, Detroit, June 23, 1963. Read and listen to the full speech, here. “The price that this nation must pay for the continued oppression and exploitation of the Negro or any other minority group is the price of its own destruction. For the hour is late. The clock of destiny is ticking out, and we must act now before it is too late….” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., June 23, 1963. Is the United States heading toward its “own destruction”? I originally planned to share my previous three posts published on MLK, Jr. Day with some additional current commentary, and closer to the actual date of Martin Luther King Day on January 20, 2025. But the timing this year coincided with President Trump’s inauguration and his flurry of shocking (but not unexpected) executive orders. Given the statements of the current president on “DEI” and race made in just the last few days, I’m glad this tribute to Dr. King is published belatedly on February 1— a more auspicious day for Black history than I realized. According to a post published today by the historian, Heather Cox Richardson , President Gerald Ford officially proclaimed February 1, 1976, the first Black History Month: “… asking the public to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of Black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history.” Also on this day in 2023, the family of Tyre Nichols buried their 29 year old son after he was severely beaten by police during a traffic stop. Ms.Richardson closed her post with this alarming information: In 2025 the U.S. government under President Donald Trump has revoked a 60-year-old executive order that protected equal opportunity in employment and has called for an end to all diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. This February 1, neither the Pentagon nor the State Department will recognize Black History Month. [Emphasis added] After ordering all federal agencies to immediately end their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) polices during the first few days of his presidency, Donald Trump held a press conference the day after the D.C. plane crash on January 29, and with out knowing what caused the tragic accident, blamed it on President Obama, President Biden and their “insistence” on hiring a diverse workforce, including women, people of color and the disabled, and singled out the Federal Aviation Administration (F.A.A.) for its supposed hiring of more diverse workers, thus making flying less safe: Of the F.A.A. under Mr. Obama, Mr. Trump said: “They actually came out with a directive, too white.” At another point he quoted from the website of the F.A.A., which he said indicated that the agency was looking to hire people with disabilities, including “hearing, vision, missing extremities, partial paralysis, complete paralysis, epilepsy, severe intellectual disability, psychiatric disability and dwarfism,” and said that they “all qualified for the position of a controller of airplanes pouring into our country.” The fact is that every applicant for any federal job must meet the standards and qualifications written for that position. President Trump didn’t just imply that non-white employees made flying less safe, he said so directly: Asked directly how he came to the conclusion that diversity had something to do with the crash, Mr. Trump replied, “because I have common sense.” President Trump also is reversing the policies of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, “which was established by the passage of the 1957 Civil Rights Act, which bars discrimination against all people in the United States, with a focus on vulnerable groups”. According to recent reporting by NBC news: Former Justice Department officials and advocates told NBC News they expect the new administration to swiftly carry out sweeping reversals of most major Biden administration civil rights policies. Already, the Trump-run department has issued a memo freezing all action in civil rights cases, including filings and settlements, and withdrawn from multiple cases filed during the Biden administration. These actions do not simply reflect a change in a different administration’s policies, but actually change the clear meaning and intent of the Civil Rights Act, itself. And with that context, you may want to have a read or re-read of my past posts published to honor Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. — Last year I focused on MLK, Jr. and poverty. “ ‘There is no deficit in human resources; the deficit is in human will.’ MLK, Jr. in his Nobel Peace Prize lecture presented December 11, 1964, where he addresses the failure to end poverty.” Martin Luther King, Jr. and Poverty JOAN DEMARTIN · JANUARY 24, 2024 Read full story — In 2023, I discussed MLK Jr.’s focus on the importance of public service. “I’m also not particularly thrilled to join the chorus of those who extoll his virtues on this one day in January, the approximate day of his birth, 94 years ago on January 15, 1929. And I can’t help but remember those many members of Congress who fought against marking the day of his birth with a national holiday and a day of service to our nation. It took nearly two decades of marches, petitions and Congressional wrangling for President Reagan to finally sign the bill into law in 1983, and the first MLK Day was not celebrated until the third Monday of January, 1986.” The Spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. JOAN DEMARTIN · JANUARY 16, 2023 Read full story — In 2022, I wrote about MLK, Jr.’s push for a universal basic income to eliminate poverty. “In 1967, Dr. King wrote what was to be his final book, Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community?, in which he laid out his plan for a guaranteed income for all citizens, and reiterated this idea later that year as part of his address to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference convention.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. JOAN DEMARTIN · JANUARY 20, 2022 “I am now convinced that the simplest approach will prove to be the most effective — the solution to poverty is to abolish it directly by a now widely discussed measure: the guaranteed income.” Read full story ___________________________________ Leave your thoughts on the latest updates, previous posts, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and how his ideas contrast with our current administration’s new “policies” on race…or any other relevant ideas you would like to share in the Comment Section below. The Poverty Trap is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Poverty Trap at povertytrap.substack.com/subscribe

    7 min

  6. 15 JAN

    U.S. Poverty In 2025...

    Welcome to The Poverty Trap, a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more informed and more compassionate…” Amy B. One Big Thing: The most important actions in 2025 affecting poverty across the spectrum—from the poor to the middle class—came from the unprecedented policy choices of the federal government. It started with the firing of 220,000 federal workers and additional drastic cuts to federal agencies, continued with on-again, off-again tariffs, followed by slashing of all programs that help the poor, like Medicaid, food stamps and home heating and cooling assistance, elimination of the Affordable Care Act subsidies followed by rising costs, overall. 2025 was not a good year for Americans living in poverty, paycheck-to-paycheck or simply trying to make ends meet, and certainly not a banner year for the country’s economy, with an increasing unemployment rate and rising inflation. I and many others who write about poverty are emphatic that it is our government’s policy choices that perpetuate the cycle of poverty, rather than the individual choices of the poor themselves. One important example is the decision to let the temporary expansion of the child tax credit expire at the end of 2021. The expansion considerably increased the amount of the child tax credit and extended the full amount to the lowest income families, who previously did not qualify — a low income tax payer couldn’t receive the full tax credit because…they didn’t make enough money to deduct the full credit! This temporary child tax credit expansion decreased the childhood poverty rate by nearly half—to 5.2% in 2021. According to a report published by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in October 2025, based on the most recent data available from 2024, the childhood poverty rate is currently 13% — today, approximately 10 million children in the United States live in poverty. Here’s what the Foundation also said about the impact of public policy choices on the poor and childhood poverty in particular: This report, which ana­lyzes U.S. Cen­sus Bureau fig­ures from the annu­al Sup­ple­men­tal Pover­ty Mea­sure (SPM), reveals that more than 1 in 8 chil­dren in this coun­try lived in pover­ty in 2024. With­out the sup­port of gov­ern­ment pro­grams and poli­cies, the child pover­ty rate would near­ly dou­ble — under­scor­ing how vital these efforts are to help­ing fam­i­lies make ends meet. Among chil­dren liv­ing in pover­ty, 61%, or 5.9 mil­lion, lived with at least one employed par­ent in 2024. For those organizations that helped the poor, 2025 was a year of chaos, according to an end-of-year report from NPR. Tariffs, swiftly changing government policies, like letters cutting funding and then restoring it (including aid to food pantries), the longest government shutdown in history and suspension of SNAP (food stamp) benefits made it nearly impossible to provide consistent help to poor individuals and their broader communities. Take this head-spinning example from just the last few days. On Tuesday January 13, the Trump Administration sent hundreds of letters to grant recipients cancelling nearly $2 billion in funding for mental health and addiction treatment across the United States. After public outcry and meetings with elected officials, the administration restored the funding one day later, according to NPR reporting: A Trump administration official has confirmed to NPR that sweeping cuts to mental health and addiction programs worth more than $2 billion are being reversed…Public health advocates said their organizations were breathing a sigh of relief but were also alarmed and shaken. “It was a day of panic across the country. People are deeply alarmed but hopeful that this money is being restored,” said Hannah Wesolowski with the National Alliance on Mental Illness…Public health officials around the U.S. described the last 48 hours as chaotic. And living the American Dream? A 2025 report from Investopedia says you might as well fuhgeddaboudit, cause it now costs $5 million over a lifetime for a family of four, if you dare to own a home, a new car, send your two kids to college… and actually retire. Read the details here. Why It Matters: This is a moral issue. There is no doubt that the government’s policy choices, like the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”, which dramatically cut government aid to the poor and eliminated health care subsidies, will increase poverty in the United States. Add to those cuts the near stagnant wage growth, the slowing job market reported in 2025 and continuing into this year, and it looks like the poor and even the middle class will lose ground in 2026. If we know that a simple tax credit (regardless of cost) will reduce the number of our nation’s children living in poverty by millions, and we purposefully choose against it, and at the same time choose to slash other help for the poor, including ripping away health insurance for millions of working families…what do those choices say about the people we elect? ________________________________ What say you about last year’s policy choices impacting poverty in the United States? The constant chaos? What are our options going forward? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the Comment Section below—thanks! The Poverty Trap is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Poverty Trap at povertytrap.substack.com/subscribe

    10 min

  7. 1 JAN

    The Poverty Trap's Most Popular Posts: 2025

    Welcome to The Poverty Trap, a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one “founding member” subscriber recently had to say aboutThe Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more informed and more compassionate…” Amy B. Wishing Our Substack Community A Happy And Healthy New Year! I want to thank our Substack community for your support in 2025—your reading and sharing of The Poverty Trap helped make this year our most successful yet! Most of all, your insightful and thoughtful comments added so much to my posts and to the conversation on The Poverty Trap— I am so grateful for you, and what we can do together to make the lives of those living in poverty a bit better, and in the process, make our country better. ___________________________ Here are the posts you read, shared and commented on the most in 2025! — In January, you “enjoyed” this post on Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s history and legacy in the context of today’s world of anti-DEI, ICE raids and soaring reports of violent racist and anti-semitic attacks. — In March, we scored two hits with you: The first post titled “The Working Homeless”, which discussed how millions of Americans could work full time and still be literally homeless, struck a chord. The second post titled “Thoughts on Poverty” and featuring an interview between Mathew Desmond (author of “Poverty By America”) and Jon Stewart garnered over 1.3 thousand views and many interesting comments—particularly once we all learned how little money and effort it would take for our government to pull the majority of Americans out of poverty. — And concluding our round-up of your favorite Poverty Trap posts for 2025…. This post from November titled “I Was On Medicaid And Food Stamps...And This Is What Will Happen When These Already Meager Programs Are Cut” sparked a great conversation about the impending cuts to our country’s social safety net. ———————————————— I appreciate each of you and hope you all will continue to join us next year on The Poverty Trap! In the meantime, why not scroll our archives and share with your friends and family? I’d love to hear your thoughts on these and other posts in the Comment Section below. The Poverty Trap is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Poverty Trap at povertytrap.substack.com/subscribe

    7 min

  8. 17/12/2025

    Social Safety Net Programs: Part II

    Welcome to The Poverty Trap, a newsletter and podcast for people who are fed up with the inequality baked into America’s system and want to individually and collectively make change. Thinking about subscribing? Here’s what one “founding member” subscriber recently had to say about The Poverty Trap: “You do great work, Joan. I don’t always get to read your newsletter, but when I do, I leave more informed and more compassionate…” Amy B. Wishing Our Substack Community A Happy And Healthy Holiday Season! What Triggers A SNAP Application… (Chart below from the October 2025 report prepared by The Hamilton Project) ______________________ I’ve recently written two posts about the federal government’s cruel and short-sighted handling of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) formerly known as Food Stamps: * The first post centered on the government shutdown, the court orders to fund the SNAP program immediately, the refusal of the administration to comply with the court orders and some of the most persistent myths about SNAP recipients. You can read that post here. * The second post discussed the delayed, post-shutdown distribution of November’s SNAP benefits, the administration’s “manufactured chaos” surrounding the benefits distribution, and the onerous new requirements to receive SNAP benefits in the near future required by the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBBA). These new mandates include details of the expanded recipient work requirements and the increased cost sharing burden on the states. You can read that post here. Meanwhile, a recent report from The Hamilton Project discussing the likely impact of the OBBBA’s cuts to SNAP benefits on current and future recipients, states, and the general economy concluded that SNAP benefits as structured before the OBBBA act as an automatic economic stabilizer, but will not under the new law.: As economic conditions deteriorate, some policies—often referred to as automatic stabilizers—do not require any policymaker action at all to kick in. Historically, SNAP has been a key automatic stabilizer because when people lose their jobs or experience a decline in income and become newly eligible for SNAP, they can enroll in the program and quickly receive and spend benefits at grocery stores…An unprecedented mandate for states to pay for a portion of SNAP benefits will end SNAP in some states and inhibit SNAP’s ability to respond to recessions… In somewhat good news, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) survived the first round of initial proposed cuts to pass intact in the final budget bill —it is fully funded for FY 2026. WIC has been helping pregnant women and women with young children meet their demanding nutritional needs for over 50 years. Inexplicably, the House Republican majority, led by the Trump Administration, had proposed in earlier drafts of the bill to slash WIC’s supplemental payments earmarked specifically for fruits and vegetable in an attempt to cut the overall WIC budget. Another nonsensical change made in the OBBBA that directly impacts lower income families is the restructuring of the Child Tax Credit. It now gives more money for each child to middle and higher income earners than to the lowest tier of earners. Why? Because the lowest income parents don’t earn enough to take the full deduction allowed per child ($2,200). According to a 2025 report from the Urban Institute, the changes mean: …the CTC increased average benefits for families with middle- and high-incomes by about $200 and decreased average benefits for families in the bottom 20 percent of the income distribution by about $100. An estimated 19 million eligible children (30 percent of all eligible children) live in families that will continue to receive less than the maximum CTC because their parents do not earn enough. Note: Although the lowest income earners can receive a refund per child when they don’t earn enough money to deduct the full credit from their taxes…there is a cap on the refund. Read more about each of the federal programs to help the poor and when each was enacted here. ______________________________ I’d love to hear your thoughts on the changes the new budget will bring to federal poverty programs. The Poverty Trap is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to The Poverty Trap at povertytrap.substack.com/subscribe

    13 min
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About

A Podcast for those who are fed up with the inequality baked into America's system and want to collectively make change. povertytrap.substack.com

Information

  • Creator
    Joan DeMartin
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    130
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Joan DeMartin
  • Show Website
    The Poverty Trap