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CNN Saturday Morning News

Americans Under the Poverty Line; Argument Over Tax Cuts; Bermuda Braces for Igor

Aired September 18, 2010 - 09:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, top of the hour here now.

Almost 44 million Americans are living in poverty right now. That's one out of every seven of us. And you need to be mad about it.

Hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. This time every CNN SATURDAY MORNING we spend this 9:00 Eastern half hour on one hot topic that's been in the news this week.

And today, the new census numbers that came out this week that show more Americans than ever are living in poverty. Joining me this half hour is going to be a pastor and author who wants all of us to be ticked off about poverty.

Also, we'll take you beyond the numbers. Introduce you to families that don't need a government report to tell them that they're struggling.

Let's start with those numbers if you missed them. These came out just a couple of days ago showing the poverty rate in this country. This graph shows you really the past 20 years in the country. It goes back 1991 to 2009 where we are now.

We saw in 2000 there, we had the lowest measurable rate there. The lowest one that we captured here is 11.3 percent was our poverty rate. Well, you see where we have gone over the years, we have steadily ticked up to 2009 where we're at 14.3 percent. That's the highest we have seen. The highest that's been recorded.

Now, a lot of people ask the question, as well. We talk about poverty, living in poverty. What does that mean to be poor? What does that mean to be living in poverty these days? Well, let me show it to you.

Now the Census Bureau defines it as this, if it's a four-person household, your income is $21,954 or less, you're considered to be in that poverty line. Next, for a two-person household making $13,900 or less, and also for one-person household if you are making $10,956 or less.

Those are all defined as poverty. Let's start, though, with a major group that's suffering quietly in this recession. Children and adults. I spoke to a professor, Tim Smeeding, the director of the Institute for Research on Poverty. When the census first went public, this is on Thursday, I talked to him. Here was his perspective about the numbers.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROF. TIMOTHY SMEEDING, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH ON POVERTY: They've lost jobs and they can't find work. The younger people who have less education are less able to get into the labor market. Older, experienced workers are coming back if anybody is coming back. They're less likely to get unemployment compensation because they haven't had a permanent job for a long time.

And this big increase in poverty despite the fact that many of them avoided poverty by moving back in with their parents or with their sister or brother. So it's essentially what we're seeing is a lot of young people starting out their lives in their 20s having children and not being able to support those children or to support themselves because of the lack of job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, Professor Smeeding there, he says the situation would've been worse this year if it hadn't been a drop in the poverty rate for the elderly, but he does believe it's going to get worse next year. Unemployment insurance for millions of Americans, possibly going to expire. When that happens, he says the rate could go up to 15 percent at least the poverty rate.

I have given you the numbers. I have read all those to you and now you know the numbers. But now I want you to know Tanisha, Ann and Joyce, these are three working mothers all struggling right now to literally put food on the table.

Listen to how they describe poverty in America.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANN VALDEZ, LIVES BELOW POVERTY LINE: There's so much going on and there's no jobs available. No one wants to live the way we have to live.

JOYCE WASHINGTON, SINGLE MOTHER: Poverty is not a look. Poverty is a way of life. And, yes, I am living it. When I go paycheck to paycheck and figuring how to spend that last penny, that's poverty.

TANISHA PHILLIPS, SINGLE MOTHER: I have faith that I am going to make it just by praying. I really try not to focus on what I don't have and try to make the best of what I do have.

VALDEZ: I live on approximately $5,000 a year, which would come down to maybe $100 every two weeks for me and my 11-year-old son, Brian. And you cannot live any poorer than we do.

My son said that he wasn't deprived of anything as a child. And that's because I gave everything I can to my children. If I had to go without, it's OK as long as my children had.

PHILLIPS: There's so much more I want for my kids. So much further in life. I want them to be better than me. So I have to show an example. And right now, I feel like I'm not showing the example because it's a lot that I can't do for them. It's a struggle.

Just trying to see if my checks are going to last long enough for me to provide for my kids, get diapers, pay bills, you know, just pay rent. I'm really just playing it day by day, trying to see if I'm going to be able to survive, trying to see if my kids will still be here with me. Make sure they're not going to be taken from me. Because I was in the system. They look at you differently being in the system.

So they feel like, well, since whatever your parents did to you, whatever happened to you in the system, you're going to do the same to your kids. And not being able to provide. Not knowing if you're going to have a home the next day, not knowing how much your check is going to be. Are you going to be able to pay your rent? To have somewhere to stay? To just have food. Having just the normal things in life.

WASHINGTON: I would like everyone to understand that it's not just hitting the very poor, poor. It hits everybody. Even someone like me that's working and trying hard to take care of their family. And I'm not talking about not just any family, my kids are great kids. But it hits us hard, harder.

I want them to see a face on how this economy is affecting us. When we lost the house and could no longer stay here, my family found ourselves in a shelter for single mothers. That was - I think that was the hardest thing that has ever happened to me, even going through what I went through with my daughter with a bone marrow transplant. Living in a shelter is a humbling experience.

Having to get food from a food bank is humbling, but to have to live in a shelter with your children, you don't ever want to be like that. So, we stayed there for a month and about a month and a half and my landlord came to us and said some money is better than no money.

So with the grace of god we were able to come back into the same house that we were in. What makes me happy is when Erin wakes up in the morning with a smile on her face. My daughter in college running track and field, my son playing football. Maya in the play. She's my thespian. My kids make me happy, my faith makes me happy.

VALDEZ: Never judge a book by its cover. Never make assumptions. Come outside. Meet the people in your community where you live. Meet the people in the communities where you work and meet the people in the communities where you represent.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See the face of poverty.

VALDEZ: See the face of poverty.

WASHINGTON: I have no idea how I manage every day. But we managed to pull it together. I try to do it with - with god's help. And a lot of hope that I 'm going to make it through. And every day I turn around and looked at we made it through another day.

PHILLIPS: There's so much more that I feel I can do for my kids, but I can't do it without money. These days money goes a long way. I know money can't buy you happiness, but it can get you out of a lot of trouble.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So - and we want to thank Tanisha, Joyce, and Ann for sharing those stories with us. It's not easy to do.

It's not just about a poverty line and the number there as you hear there. A lot of families are struggling. Where are they struggling necessarily in the country?

Let's start with the richest and poorest states here. The richest states in the country in the northeast, with the Census Bureau Statistics showing Mississippi, Arkansas, West Virginia have the lowest median incomes. The top five rounded out by Tennessee and South Carolina. Families there making in the first three less than $40,000 a year.

New Hampshire, New Jersey, they're around $65,000 a year. And rounding out the top five of the richest, if you will, that's - I should say the highest median incomes Connecticut, Maryland, and Alaska.

So you see where people are making more money than others. So you know the numbers now. You know the poorest states. You've heard stories from those three women -- Tanisha, Joyce and Ann. What are you going to do about it?

Coming up next, one man who says people ought to be ticked off about poverty in this country. My discussion with famed author and pastor Max Lucado after a quick break.

It's ten minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Thirteen minutes past the hour now.

Poverty and hunger -- social issues so huge, so daunting to imagine overcoming them, but there's got to be a way to reduce the gap between those who have and those who don't.

One pastor from Texas asking us to get upset about poverty and do something about it. Pastor Max Lucado has now - with a new book out called "Out Live Your Life: You Were Made To Make A Difference." He joins us now.

Pastor Lucado, thank you so much for being here. You want people to be upset. Why do we all need to be upset about this?

PASTOR MAX LUCADO, AUTHOR, "OUT LIVE YOUR LIFE": Yes, a little righteous indignation would do us all some good. I think at its core, the problem of poverty is not a lack of charity, but it's really a problem of the lack of justice.

Your previous segment put a face on the problem of poverty. These are real people. And these are people who are willing to work, who are willing to do their share. They're not lazy. They're not working off the system. They're doing their best to do their best. And I think our response is to roll up our sleeves and do what we can to give them a fair shake.

HOLMES: What is it then, Pastor Lucado? We don't seem to be spurring toward action? We're not taking that action you're talking about. And I guess what makes the difference - what would happen if we did actually get mad about it?

LUCADO: Well, I think we're a little intimidated by the problem. You know, we hear these statistics, not just the ones you shared, T.J., which are powerful. And the news we just heard. But the international statistics of 975 million people today are hungry and 1.75 billion people today are living on less than $2 a day. And 27,000 people will die today of preventable diseases.

These are daunting statistics. And I think - I think they impact many of us and we say I can't do - I can't fix this. And so I won't do anything. Well, that's just - that's just the exact wrong response. We can't do everything, but all of us can do something. We can find something that we can do in our own communities and I believe around the world.

And if we could all do just a little more, well, I'd love to see the response. I really believe that the solution to this is some voluntary generosity.

HOLMES: How do we do it? People wondering what they can do. We hear these huge numbers. You, me, we're a couple of individual guys. Everybody feels like that. I'm just one person with this massive issue. So what do you recommend people do?

LUCADO: Let's take the initiative in our own lives first. Look around in your own neighborhood. You'll be surprised how many people you know in your own neighborhood, in your dormitory, in your apartment complex who are in between jobs, who just got laid off. You just be sensitive to those people.

There are some single moms, there are some elderly people who are just down the street from you. You can cut their grass, you can anonymously give them a sack of groceries. You can do something like that. You can help some people right there in your own community.

Each of the cities in the United States has some type of inner city mission. Some better than others. But each one of our cities has some sophisticated inner city missions. We can volunteer, we can help, we can give our time and we can give our money. And across the country - across the world, I'm a big proponent of child sponsorship. I'm trying to help World Vision find sponsors for 25,000 kids. I think that's the easiest access we have to help the hurting poor around the world. HOLMES: Sir, it sounds like and you certainly believe we need to take this - almost we expect government to help us in so many ways. Should we in some ways just forget about government and not expect them to help solve this problem? Government and governments around the world really and this needs to be a movement of people of individuals of neighbors to solve this problem not lawmakers, not world leaders?

LUCADO: I agree. As long as we depend on the government, it's going to be a faceless bureaucratic solution. If we can adopt it ourselves, then I think we have an opportunity to really make a difference. As a pastor, I think about the first sermon of Jesus and the last sermon of Jesus. The first and final sermon of Jesus Calls to care for the poor.

Here's an opportunity for us to roll up our sleeves and really live like he would live. To be the hands and feet of god in a hurting world. What an opportunity this is. The statistics are overwhelming, but the opportunity is even greater.

HOLMES: Well, Pastor Lucado, we appreciate you being here. The new book is out. And I want to remind people, the book, all the proceeds are going "Out Live Your Life," all the proceeds are going to non-profit groups, other organization to help some of the families like we just highlighted here on the air.

Pastor Lucado, we appreciate you taking the time out with us. We appreciate the message, as well. Hopefully some people are listening. It's a good one that a lot of people need to hear. So we appreciate you. You have a good rest of the weekend.

LUCADO: Thank you very much. You too.

HOLMES: All right. We have been telling you out there how many more Americans are in poverty. Now let's turn in the other direction here to talk about America's wealthiest.

The president says no tax cut extension for the richest Americans. Republicans say that's not fair. But also it's not good for the economy. Give you a little background on this. A decade ago, then President George Bush championed a sweeping set of tax cuts. Those tax cuts saved millions of dollars for taxpayers. Rich Americans who pay the most taxes got some of the biggest savings.

But over the long-term, all Americans will get the bill for the cuts. $1.7 trillion in revenue to the government that they did not collect. Now, unless the president and Congress can agree on a long- term plan, the cuts are set to expire at the end of this year. And we'll all see our taxes go up. Many economists say that would be a huge blow to our still struggling economy.

Adding to the pressure here, campaign season. Not a good time to be talking about higher taxes. And also, not a good time to try to get Republicans and Democrats to agree on anything in Washington.

Well, the Republican party's weekly address to Americans this morning touches on the issue of tax breaks for the wealthier Americans while House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is against continuing the tax cuts for the wealthy, Representative Greg Walden says allowing the taxes to go up for wealthy Americans will hurt the economy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. GREG WALDEN (R), OREGON: Republicans want to stop all of the tax hikes that are set to take effect on January 1st. Now for his part, President Obama proposes raising taxes on half of small business income in America. The economists and frankly a growing chorus of Democrats in Congress agree with us that raising taxes on anyone in a struggling economy, especially small businesses is the exact wrong thing to do.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: I don't know if anybody here wants their children or grandchildren deeper in debt with our fiscal deficit so that we can give a tax cut to the high end. I don't even know why this is such a big discussion. The middle class should have a tax cut. 97 percent of the people, let me enlarge that, 100 percent of the people get a tax cut. 97 percent of them make $250,000 and below.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, again, yesterday, President Obama talked about the need to continue tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 a year. He cited new data indicating the income of middle class families declined by almost five percent between 2001 and 2009. We're going to take a turn here and talk about the weather. We need to talk about weather because we've got some tropical troubles on this Saturday morning. Hurricane Igor looming in the Atlantic. And residents of Bermuda right now getting set for possible landfall.

The latest on this category two storm coming your way. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: 25 minutes past the hour now. We are tracking this storm. Hurricane Igor in the Atlantic. Also keeping a close eye on tropical depression Karl. But first Igor here, it's on track to bring strong winds, heavy rains to Bermuda sometime Sunday night. And that is where our Reynolds Wolf is right now.

Reynolds, they're used to storms. They're used to getting them. Is this almost routine for them, if you will, any reason to have any fear about this storm than the others?

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, you know, I've got to tell you, T.J., I don't think storms like this will ever be routine. I mean, you can kind of wrap your mind around and know it's coming, but you're never quite 100 percent prepared.

But they're as prepared as they can be. We're also prepared. We're on a situation right near Elbow (ph) Beach, we're on the very southern end of the big island. A place that was hammered by a storm back in 2003. To be more exact, we're talking about Hurricane Fabian. But from our vantage point, I'm going to move very slowly because we are on a big system here.

You'll notice a little bit of a green area behind me. It appears to be a stone wall. That's kind of a lip. We're up on a little bit of a plateau here and then it drops down towards the beach. We were down at the beach moments ago. Here's what we saw. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF: Here's another look at the deteriorating conditions at Elbow (ph) Beach here in Bermuda. You see the waves are coming in. Steve, watch your feet. I was speaking to the photo journalist Steve (INAUDIBLE), and we're trying to give you a better perspective. The waves continue to come in. Some of these are just mammoth in size off the distance, closer to shore. Some of these five to seven feet, and as the winds continue to pick up, these are going to get bigger.

High tide comes in early this evening. Then again around dawn tomorrow. So that coupled with a storm surge of five to seven feet could be very interesting. You see some of the waves pounding up against these rocks over here in the distance. It's amazing to see the power of these things. And some of the waves have actually been coming right up against the structure here, against this part of the building.

If you look at the building itself, many of the windows have the hurricane shutters up, getting ready for what is at this time the strongest storm in the planet.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF: It remains the strongest storm on the planet right now. It is a category two as we speak. But there is the possibility that there could be some rapid intensification before it makes landfall possibly in this area some time Sunday night and early into Monday morning. But it is a mammoth storm. It's going to be affecting us long before then and, of course, after.

That's the latest on this storm. We'll be talking more about that and so many other subjects coming up. You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)