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Venture Capitalism For The Poor

Nov 27, 2015
by Caroline Miller
Getting Jobbed, Mariana Chilton, the invisible economy, the invisible poor, the resilience of the poor, venture capitalism for the poor, Virginia Sole-Smith
2 Comments

I wish I could mandate that only those who have lived in poverty be allowed to make laws regarding the poor. In “Getting Jobbed,” Virginia Sole-Smith outlines the absurdities that result when myths about the poor are translated into law by the Congress.  (Harper’s, October, 2015, pgs 52-55)  Too many of our elected leaders assume people are poor because they are lazy.  In that ignorance, they  create legislation which  discourages rather than encourages people from finding permanent jobs or obtaining an education that will  lift them out of poverty.  Take the 1995 Welfare reforms, for example.  In an effort to get people off the government’s assistance rolls, it created rules that dropped them into an underground economy where they became invisible.  

When the bill was enacted, 14 million Americans received welfare. Today that number is 4.2 million.  Did we solve our problem?  No.  Then where did all the people go?  Answer: They became moonlighters, doing subsistence work that keeps them below the federally defined poverty line and gives them little opportunity to advance themselves. (Ibid pg. 55)  

Without a safety net, the poor found shelter in our prisons, in alleyways and streets, in their cars and a lucky few moved in with relatives.  Their days are spent piecing together a subsistence wage, selling meals out of their kitchens,  acting as beauticians in their homes, working as housecleaners, gardeners or babysitters. They aren’t lazy.  Often, they work two or three jobs at a time without the benefit of labor laws to protect them.

Mariana Chilton, a public health professor and the director of Drexel’s Center for Hunger-Free Communities, has a idea worth pursuing. Why not legitimize these invisible industries and help workers flourish.  Why not provide micro-business loans like those that exist in  3rd  world countries?  We should harness the entrepreneurial spirit the poor exhibit,  offering them guidance and education to help them succeed.   The result might lead to  taxable income.  Call Chilton’s plan a form of poor man’s venture capitalism.

Foolishly, American don’t want to admit that our welfare reforms have done nothing about the poor except make them invisible. Today, they struggle on their own, proving they are survivors.  Given real opportunity, they could become contributors to our society.  Heaven knows we don’t need another start-up tech company.  The nation hungers for affordable homecare, services not only for the elderly but for families who require basic assistance as well.  We should think of the working poor as having uber entrepreneurial potential, and we should create laws that give them a boost.

house cleaner

courtesy of yahoo.com

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2 Comments
  1. Pamela November 27, 2015 at 2:53 pm Reply
    Excellent piece, Caroline. I am sharing on my FB wall!
    • Caroline Miller November 28, 2015 at 8:23 am Reply
      Thank you, Pam. I am delighted you thought well enough of the piece to share it. Perhaps it is and idea whose time has come.

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Contact Caroline at

carolinemiller11@yahoo.com

Portland, Oregon author Caroline Miller had distinguished careers as an educator, union president, elected official and artist/advocate.

Her play, Woman on the Scarlet Beast, was performed at the Post5 Theatre, Portland, OR, January/February 2015

Caroline published a serialized novelette, Marie Eau-Claire, on the website, The Colored Lens.  She also published the story Gustav Pavel,  a parable about ordinary lives, choice and alternate potential, on the website Fixional.co.

Caroline has published four novels

  • Ballet Noir
  • Trompe l’Oeil
  • Gothic Spring
  • Heart Land

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