Caring for the poor

If a poor family in Arkansas falls on hard times, and no one is around to care, did it really happen?

This is a disturbing question. We know many families in Arkansas struggle to pay their bills. How would you know if a mother is working two jobs when you see her stocking the shelves at Walmart, or if a child is hungry? Our elected officials don’t care, they have sold their souls to the Orange man and the super-rich. They are not blind, they just don’t care.

Caring for the wealthy is easy

Trump promised to create jobs and great wealth. Jobs have been lost due to the trade war with China and his refusal to join the free trade Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement. Trump does not care about poor families in America or anywhere else. Ethnic origin, religion, ethical values, and culture, are irrelevant to Trump, as long as you have a fortune.

Investors like Carl Icahn enjoy special care. A few days before Trump announced 25 percent tariffs on steel, Icahn sold $31 million of stock in a Wisconsin company making steel cranes. Last month, EPA granted Icahn a hardship waiver for his Oklahoma oil refinery. Icahn avoided paying tens of millions of dollars to meet EPA biofuel standards.

Why would work requirements benefit the unemployed?

Arkansas Works 2.0 goes live next week, June 1. Arkansas is the first state in the nation to experiment with the poor, “Able-Bodied Adult Without Dependents” (ABAWD), between 30 and 50 years old. Gov. Asa Hutchinson says the new program is a great opportunity to join the digital era work force, using emails to sign-up and a DHS portal to report their work hours every month. To keep Medicaid benefits at least 80 work hours per month are required. For example, the work hours for June 1 – June 30 must be reported online by July 5. The three-strikes rule applies: people failing to meet the requirements three times will be out of the program for the rest of the calendar year.

Arkansas Works 2.0 is based on flawed logic. The new program does not provide training, transportation, work clothes or anything else needed to find a job, making it impossible to comply with the requirements. There is no cause and effect relationship. Goofy and Pluto are both dogs, drawn with the same face and shape, but one walks upright and talks, the other wears a collar and walks like a dog. Logic does not apply to cartoons.

Caring for the homeless is hard

Homeless families are all around us, but they are invisible. Some shelters provide temporary assistance but separate men and women. Walmart parking lots are home for many families who live in their cars. How would they find out about the new requirements, get an email address and learn to use the DHS portal and report on time? By adding unfeasible requirements, Arkansas Works will eliminate all the homeless and most of the ABAWD’s from the program.

What could go wrong?

Arkansas Works is said to be experimental. But experiments have clear goals and a pilot test to show the new process meets the desired goal and makes the necessary adjustments. Pilot tests are small-scale, with every step documented for the review. Gov. Hutchinson could find someone on his staff to go homeless for a few weeks, with enough time to learn the ropes, and sign up as requested. The pilot results after 3 to 6 months would show if the new process works. Without a pilot, the program will fail.

Caring for all

Arkansas is making it impossible for people in need to get Medicaid. The US economy is weak, real unemployment is 30 to 40 percent, and bilateral trade negotiations are giving China and other countries the lead. The TPP is not dead, the eleven remaining countries signed TPP-11 without US participation.

Food stamps, available housing, and many other welfare programs are at risk to distract Americans from two existential threats: raging climate change and nuclear winter.