bashoGWSS1

Dear President Elect Obama,

In response to your request to examine economic strategies and policies that would benefit the working poor, especially those mothers that fit that classification, I have thought long and hard about all options available and what issues need to be dealt with in order to make progress in this situation. One of the first problems that should be addressed, and possibly the most important to look at in order to move forward in this area, is to convince the people in general that people who are poor are not also lazy. For many it is common sense to them that to be poor means you must be lazy and just don't work. They ignore the conditions that these working poor live in, what they have to live with day after day, how difficult it is for them to find a good job since most employers are unwilling to hire them. Your first task should be to work to convince the general public that the working poor are not lazy. They are not drug addicts or idiots or and of the other generalizations that many associate with them. You must get the people to understand that the working poor are just normal people like you and like me who have lived through unfortunate circumstances that have possibly prevented them from having the money to go to college which would prevent them from getting a better job. These people may simply have been born into a poor family and then found it extremely difficult to work him/herself out of the 'poor' status. These poor people also most likely do not have adequate money for transportation, for enough good food, or even for proper living quarters or clothes which could also hinder his/her chances to get a good job and therefore earn enough money to not be considered poor anymore. So first, convince the general public that the working poor are good people like you and me who are just living in unfortunate circumstances.

Even more so, you must convince the general public that the group of women who are working poor can still be good mothers despite her financial situation. These mothers love their children just as much as a mother who is middle class with a substantial income. They, like all the working poor, just are living in unfortunate circumstances that they are trying their best to get out of. These mothers may even work harder than others so that they can try and provide a better future for their children. An idea, perhaps, to help alleviate the idea that these working poor mothers are not good mothers is to examine the way in which the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) is run. Since this is the organization that decides if a mother is good or not, and since this is the organization that decides that a mother is a bad mother wrongly a lot and imposes almost impossible qualifications for these good, proclaimed bad, mothers to regain possession of her children, examining the way in which this organization works and then improving it could be a big step towards getting rid of the idea that poor mothers are bad mothers or at least alleviate the stress that these so called 'bad' mothers have to deal with once 'caught' for supposedly mistreating their children.

Another good step to make would be to give tax breaks employers if they employ poor people. This will help get more poor people out working better jobs, therefore helping them earn enough money to get out of their poor status, and will encourage many of the employers to hire poor people who they may have originally shunned and set aside while hiring supposedly much more qualified candidates (ie. middle class workers).

These first steps will put you on the right track for further improvements relating to the working poor and how society runs where poor people are concerned and I hope I was able to assist you adequately on this issue. Good luck!

~Ariel Orcutt