Poor in Cook County

Poor in Cook County and regressive taxes

Okay I am “outing” as a poor person in Cook County. Since moving here seven years ago I have been unemployed, underemployed, and bankrupt. No, I was not born to the “culture of poverty” but I might as well have been. Thirty-plus years of a professional career in the Cities resulted in several new jobs: as housekeeper, then entry-level, part time work ending in layoffs.

So. I am stuck here now, with four cats and a dog and no place to go. I can’t meet my basic living expenses, which are at least 30 percent higher than they were in the Twin Cities metro area. Has anyone compared costs at the grocery store, gas station, and public utilities with other places? I pay huge taxes on gas, phone calls, and virtually everything I buy in addition to the staggering costs of food and energy just to survive.

I refuse to eat starchy, fattening macaroni dinners from the food shelf and also to feed junk food to my small companions. I don’t have water or septic and frankly, I stink.

And yet, I am told by the seven major employers of young strong people at the resorts that it would be to my advantage to increase taxes on food and beverages and recreation because this would mainly affect the “marks”: i.e., the tourists.

Not so. Though it may be very occasional, I sometimes meet friends for coffee in town-- a treat I can scarcely afford as a poor person in Cook County. I am not a sports fan but my friends who like to play golf or ski will have to pay more for the privilege that once was seen as part of our good life. When I first moved to Minnesota some 40 plus years ago, almost everybody was proud to live in a place where folks took care of other folks. Taxes were paid and people got benefits from them. Super high quality education for kids and even for college students at low cost was maybe the most important but not the only bennie in the state run by the Bean Feed Party of giants like Hubert Humphrey and Walter Mondale. We took for granted that our environment, our forests, our lakes and rivers were a sacred trust for all to enjoy, quietly and peacefully, and without charging the poorest people extra.

It’s a very sad decline today to see the likes of Norm Coleman and his ilk who change their stripes every time the wind blows and who bow to the greedy rich at every turn.

Yes indeed, Cook County has major problems.... There is not enough infrastructure to support the tourist demand in the summer season and so foreign workers descend on us in the summer, gladly working for wages that would not support my puppy. Residents who can’t for one reason or another work three to four jobs find they can’t make ends meet. And in winter, like now, us poor folks can’t afford to buy wood or pay for electricity to keep us warm.

So, what solution is proposed by the biggest and richest employers? Subsidize, just like the U.S. Senate demands that business owners get breaks for paying people the barest of minimum wages. Impose new sales taxes on almost everything.

And, what is a real solution that works for those of us (female, single, elderly) who can’t cope? Yes, there needs to be support of our economy (think, grants from both government and foundations) and yes, we are far behind the rest of the state in gaining this support. But, please do not build critical economic incentives on the backs of those least able to bear the cost.

Poor but honest in
Grand Marais