What Can Gloria Bromell Tinubu Do For You If She's Elected To Congress?

A little over a week ago we introduced South Carolina congressional candidate Gloria Bromell Tinubu. We didn't really get into her fascinating biography just some political background. Below is a guest post she did for us based on some of the unique planks in her campaign platform. First though, it's worth knowing that Gloria, the seventh of eight children, was born to a farmer and a maid in Georgetown County's Brookgreen Gardens and raised in Plantersville on a family farm that her great grandfather purchased in 1883. Neither of her parents finished elementary school but they were determined to see that their children got the education and opportunities they never had. Gloria worked hard to make that dream come true, first by earning an undergraduate degree from Howard University, and later by becoming the first African American to receive a PhD in Applied Economics from Clemson University. She's never forgotten the lessons she learned from her parents about the value of hard work and the importance of family and community. As a young wife and mother, she took in laundry to help make ends meet. As a high school teacher, she played an active role in the lives of her students. And, later, as a tenured professor and chair of the Economics department at Spelman College, she worked in the local community as a member of the Atlanta City Council and the Georgia Board of Education.

Perhaps you remember Alan Grayson complaining back in March how Congress is filled with people who don't know much and musing about how nice it would be if more Members did know… something. "I’m really getting tired of listening to people who don’t know what they’re talking about," he wrote. "For four years, I worked as an economist. As far as I know, I’m the only Member of Congress who can make that claim. Roll Call did not uncover anyone else. And believe me, whenever I start to talk economics in a Congressional hearing, the eyes glaze over. Quickly." OK, let's get Grayson another smart-as-a-whip economist he can work with! In fact it was when Gloria told us about some of her economist ideas that we got most interested in her candidacy. And that why we asked her to do a guest post.


American Families Deserve a Raise: Policies for Prosperity and Self-Sufficiency
-by Gloria Bromell Tinubu,
Democratic Nominee for Congress, South Carolina’s 7th Congressional District
www.gloriabromelltinubu.com

Americans need a raise and they’ve needed one long before the most recent recession. While some Americans have adequate income to meet their basic needs, there are millions of Americans who are above the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), but lack sufficient income to cover basic living expenses. According to a recent study by the United Way, these Americans facing economic distress are routinely “overlooked and undercounted.”

For more than four decades now, millions of Americans have struggled to meet their basic needs without having to rely on public or private assistance. Millions more have seen their wealth totally eroded with the recession of 2007 that brought about massive declines in the value of housing, a dominant source of wealth for most Americans, as well as a decline in savings, purchasing power, and the value of investments. Many Americans continue to be underpaid, underemployed, and unemployed and suffer from inadequate income and assets which prevent them from realizing their full potential and their version of the American Dream. As a member of Congress, I would work cooperatively with other members to support two policies that would result in greater economic opportunity and essentially a raise for Americans.

First, I would support Henry Ramos’ approach called “Invest for Success,” which calls for federal legislation to be passed that would establish a new social contract with working families. For tax-paying families earning less than $75,000 (I would be willing to go up to less than $100,000), a five-year tax holiday (I would propose a 7-year tax holiday) for families who invest in asset building (education, home ownership, job training, business start-up or expansion) and debt-reduction such as paying down college loans or medical expenses. By allowing more families to hold on to their incomes, it provides more economic freedom of choice for middle-class and lower income taxpayers to build their own personal household assets while fueling the economy as well as their faith in the American Dream.

Secondly, I would push for the adoption of a National Self-Sufficiency Standard to replace both the outdated Federal Poverty Level (FPL) and the Federal Minimum Wage (FMW). The Standard, created by Dr. Diana Pearce to address the short-comings of the FPL, serves as a gage for measuring basic economic well-being of families. It defines the income working families need to meet their basic needs without relying on public or private assistance given their unique family composition and where they live. While the FPL is based on only food costs and the Federal Minimum Wage does not account for differences in cost of living across different geographical areas, the Standard is based on all basic needs-- food, housing, childcare, health care, transportation, miscellaneous costs, and net taxes, and has been calculated for 37 states on a per county basis.

The Standard can be used by policy makers, service providers, educators, and businesses as a guideline for setting wages, determining eligibility for services, and evaluating program effectiveness. Because it measures real costs of goods and services purchased in the free market, the Standard is higher than both FPL and FMW. If adopted, it would be a much deserved raise for American families.