The poor are still with us

MELTDOWN. Recession. Crisis.

Economic developments of the last several months have gotten everyone's attention. People are losing their homes as their mortgages are foreclosed. Workers are losing their jobs, and often their family's health insurance, as unemployment rises to its highest level in 16 years. People who have never done so before stand in line at food pantries to receive donated canned goods and diapers.

Millions of middle-class people are in danger of becoming . . . poor.

The poor. Remember them?

In this year's campaign, the candidates spoke a lot about the middle class. This is no surprise. A majority of Americans describe themselves as middle class, and middle-class people vote and make campaign contributions at much higher rates than poor people.

Furthermore, there is no understating the uncertainty and dread for millions of people who wonder if they will be the next to be laid off, whose homes and 401k plans have lost a third or more of their value, and who worry over how they will make their next car payment or afford their children's educations.

However, it was just three years ago that Hurricane Katrina reminded us that there were many Americans who didn't own cars, who couldn't even afford the bus fare to get out of New Orleans. People whose lives were marked by evictions, lack of routine medical care, unsafe streets, and failing schools long before Wall Street's unregulated binge upset the world's economy.

Our government has rescued some banks because they are "too big to fail," and is contemplating doing the same for the auto industry. But we have countenanced or ignored the economic failure of millions of Americans - over 37 million, according to the Census Bureau - for too long.

The point is not to pit the middle class against the poor - we have Lou Dobbs for that. But just as President-elect Obama intends to use the economic crisis as an opportunity to deal with America's longstanding energy, infrastructure, and healthcare problems, he should take the same approach to the problem of poverty.

Some of the elements of the economic stimulus plan can be designed to lift millions out of poverty while boosting the overall economy. Rebuilding crumbling infrastructure and performing energy retrofits on homes and buildings will require hundreds of thousands of trained workers in both urban and rural areas. The federal government should provide this training to people who have been shut out of our economy for lack of marketable skills. Also, because poor people tend to live in the draftiest dwellings with the oldest, most energy-wasting appliances, a national program to achieve greater energy efficiency should reduce their utility bills as well.

The new administration's plans for extending healthcare access should also help provide an economic floor under our most vulnerable households. The uninsured working poor often do without care or medicine, become sicker, and as a result may lose their jobs and deepen their economic distress. Research suggests that health expenses cause between one-fifth and one-half of personal bankruptcies.

Another critical element of our economic competitiveness is education. The new administration should support efforts to identify the key factors that cause a small number of "outlier" schools in poor communities to succeed and should do what is necessary to replicate these success stories. To claim that America cannot afford quality public education for everyone would amount to surrender in the global economic competition.

Furthermore, America should promise any student who graduates from high school that she will be able to attend college. Period. There is a sense in many families, and not just the poorest ones, that college is an unattainable dream. A public commitment to make college affordable for everyone will motivate countless students and their families to do what it takes to qualify for college.

Candidate Obama made "Yes We Can" the slogan of his campaign. President Obama needs to take advantage of the current crisis to make sure that "We" includes all of us.

Jim Gomes, a guest columnist, is the director of the Mosakowski Institute for Public Enterprise at Clark University.