When you have people making babies without making preparations to raising them. Cases like one man with 9 kids by 5 different women - and an income that barely supports one.

For those of us who don’t feel like tracking down and buying the book, I did find this very interesting bit (PDF), a transcript of a short talk by Gilens in which he summarizes some of his findings on media representations of poor people. You are correct that African-Americans are overrepresented in stories about the “undeserving” poor, but Gilens also found that 1) this overrepresentation is even greater in relatively good economic times (reinforcing the stereotype that poor African-Americans could get jobs if they really wanted them) 2) ordinary middle-class African-Americans are just about invisible in the media.

It’s been a few years since I read the book, but I remember somewhere are 65-75% of the people pictured in association with welfare coverage in news media were black. Blacks were even further overrepresented in stories about the “undeserving poor”–for example drug users who spend their welfare checks to get high, single mothers who have never been employed are teenage mothers, have multiple “baby daddies”, etc.

The stories of the “deserving” poor–widows, disabled veterans, married couples laid off at their jobs, etc– had a much higher percentage of whites.

You’re right, Kate, sorry, I was thinking of CommonHealth, which is for people with disabilities and has premiums but no income limits.

IIRC more white people than any other ethnic group are on welfare, but there are a lower proportion of whites on welfare than on other ethnic groups. I remember talking to my late father-in-law on this topic and he found the first statement very hard to believe.

I think that’s right, Ron, and your FIL had/has a lot of company. Some years ago I worked with a woman who was convinced that every African-American woman had 5 kids by age 18 and then spent the rest of her life happily on welfare. (This was before AFDC became TANF.) Pointing out to her that specific African-American women we personally knew were demonstrably not on welfare (they worked in another office of the same company) had no effect.

I would be interested in knowing what effect AFDC -> TANF has had on family and child poverty, in the population as a whole and broken down by ethnicity. I could probably look this up, but, Rachel, do you have anything up your sleeve?

I think actually anyone can qualify for MassHealth

At least as of last year, this was not true. My family was on Mass Health for a while. You have to be below 200% of the poverty line to qualify. Better than medicaid, yes, but not an overall sliding fee scale - unless it has changed since last year.

No, I wasn’t in North Hampton last weekend :) We only get up that way once every couple of months. I do love me some Bueno Y Sano though - I’m glad they opened one there in addition to the one in Amherst :)

IIRC more white people than any other ethnic group are on welfare, but there are a lower proportion of whites on welfare than on other ethnic groups. I remember talking to my late father-in-law on this topic and he found the first statement very hard to believe.

Yes, we have one, but it’s kinda crappy now, due to less state funds. There’s a giant donut hole at the $1000 mark. Basically if you get sick, make sure it costs less than $1K or is really really expensive, or you’re hosed. It’s better than some states, but it’s not what it used to be.

Also, from the way people complain about Teh Mexicans and Teh Somalis around here, you’d think the state was 90% nonwhite. I used to try and remind people of all the white, American-born people who use welfare, but it didn’t work; eventually I just started telling them I don’t work for the INS.

Kate is absolutely right that economically MA is almost like two states east and west of the CT river. (Were you in Northampton last Wed, Kate, by any chance?) The dividing line might even be a little farther east.

To Ron’s last question: I don’t know, but I recall reading during the Clinton-era welfare debate that contrary to popular belief the typical welfare recipient was a white woman with one or two children.

It also seems that it’s much harder to escape poverty if you’re a single parent, or a child in a single-parent family.

IIRC there’s a strong correlation between the level of poverty among children and the percentage of children in single-parent families. I wonder what the correlation is between single-parent families and non-non-Hispanic white families (forgive the double negative, please)? How do these two correlations compare to the one given?

Would it be true that the states with the highest poverty have the smallest economy and thus a lower income/revenue base to tax? You can’t spend money you don’t have.

As far as cost of living variations, I would add that there is tremendous variation within states. For example a person in upstate New York can rent a 1 bedroom apt. for $500 dollars, person in New York city will be paying $1000 or more dollars for a comparable size apartment.

Or in Massachusetts–where Kate L. lives I’d venture to say a one bedroom is somewhere in the neighborhood of $600, but in Boston the same apartment would be more like $1000.

My brother rents a whole house in small town southeastern Ohio for $400 dollars, and in small town northwestern Ohio, I rented a one bedroom apartment (about 6 years ago) for $360. (It’s probably more than $500 now.)

The COL differences between rural and urban areas are huge, but the ability to get a good paying job is also dramatically different. I think the same thing can be said for states–getting a good paying job in Mississippi is harder than getting a good paying job in California.

BUT, I’m getting off topic. Sorry.

ANyway, one reason it is important to look at the correlation of race and poverty by state is because welfare systems are so varied by states. And invariably, the states with the highest poverty and also a lower %white population have the worst welfare systems.

MN has a universal health insurance system - it’s much more expanded than medicaid… the other welfare programs offered in MN are much more progressive than in, say, Mississippi, where there’s a higher concentration of poverty and also more people of color. So, the state variation is important.

Even with a bit of slippage…. Happydance.

heh ;)

p.s. Anyone else remember “hampster dance?” I now have the song stuck in my head.

I’m curious, though. We all know, I think, that poverty is correlated with race in the U.S. Do you think we learn anything new by figuring out that this is true at the state level and not just at the individual level?

But then, my perspective is skewed because I’m in Western MA which has a lot of really dilapidated towns/cities. They just haven’t recovered from the manufacturing mass exodous.

ETA: Except the academic communities in North Hampton and Amherst - they are an annomly though.