Poverty in America is not inevitable but rather created by unjust systems.

American poverty is such a long-term problem that it can seem inescapable. However, the United States is a rich country and has the means to ensure that all its citizens can afford basic necessities. Rather than being inevitable, Desmond asserts that poverty is created by unjust systems. Desmond asserts that public and private systems in the United States operate in ways that keep people poor. To argue this point, he details the inequities in government programming, tax structure, corporations, banking, and real estate. For example, Desmond illustrates how corporations keep wages for ordinary workers low in order to keep stock prices high, maintaining that a system that values shareholders over employees naturally leads to poverty wages. Similarly, he asserts that the real estate market is set up to be an investment for affluent people that relies on keeping high rents for low-income people. Zoning laws also prevent building affordable housing in wealthier areas, effectively barring poor people from the benefits of education in more affluent schools. Taxes are structured to benefit the affluent and siphon money from low-income people. Poverty persists, Desmond argues, not because it is natural but because these unjust systems in combination create and perpetuate it.

Affluent people benefit from systems that maintain poverty.

Although most people claim to oppose poverty, affluent people in the United States benefit from conditions and systems that sustain poverty, Desmond asserts. As consumers, affluent people enjoy low prices made possible by depressed labor costs and low-paid contractors and gig workers. The housing and banking industries also serve affluent people at the expense of poor people. By limiting mortgages for low-cost properties, banks effectively trap most poor people into renting, says Desmond, which prevents them from building equity and costs them long-term. Meanwhile, the landlords making money from their rent are likely affluent people who can afford to buy income properties. The United States’ tax system is also structured to help affluent people at the expense of poor people. While income tax rates are higher for the wealthy, they are very low by historical standards. Meanwhile, many tax breaks are designed to benefit the affluent more than poor people, including deductions related to mortgage interest and college savings accounts. In addition, poor people spend proportionally far more of their income on sales tax, leaving them effectively taxed at a higher rate than the wealthy. These taxes contribute to public goods and services, which the affluent also benefit from. 

Americans can eradicate poverty if they choose to do so.

Throughout the book, Desmond argues that it is possible to end poverty in the United States. Poverty rates have remained largely steady for decades, suggesting that it is a permanent problem. However, Desmond states that poverty persists primarily because affluent people benefit from systems that keep others poor. If, instead, privileged people decided to sacrifice some of that unfair advantage to make the country more equal, America could end poverty. Desmond supports this point by showing that policy changes have had positive effects on the poverty rate, citing the example of pandemic relief programs focused on unemployment and rental assistance. Despite the massive damage to the economy caused by COVID-19 in 2020, by 2021 relief spending had lowered the number of Americans living in poverty by 16 million fewer than in 2018. This change shows that directing government funds to people in need can effectively lower the poverty rate. 

Desmond urges affluent Americans to become “poverty abolitionists,” lending their political power to efforts to change tax and funding structures that currently benefit the well-off more than the poor. In addition, he encourages people to support efforts to create mixed-income neighborhoods by ending zoning laws intended to keep poor people out of richer areas. Concentrating low-income residents in areas away from more affluent neighborhoods leads to worse outcomes for their children in addition to isolating them from conventional banks and other institutions affluent people take for granted. Laws that prevent erecting apartment buildings, or houses under a certain square footage, for example, ensure that those communities will only contain wealthy people. He also believes that Americans can convince corporations to pay fair wages by shopping for products based on company policies. Many people already take environmental concerns into account when shopping, and paying similar attention to labor issues could make purchasing decisions a tool for economic change. Although poverty seems to be a problem that cannot be solved, Desmond argues that the nation has the power to end it.

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