For a period after World War II, American families could get by on one income. The GI Bill helped mostly white men go to college and buy homes, boosting them into the middle class. Though many women chafed at the sexist culture that would only allow them to be housewives, at least somebody was home with the children.

By the late 1970s, the cost of cars and college had risen so much that families began to need two incomes to reach the middle class. Feminist victories meant mothers could work outside the home. Women of color had been forced to do so all along. But who was left to take care of the children? The question was hardly asked in the US, and never answered.

In the 1980s, Reagan made wealth a sign of virtue. Preachers aided and abetted him, telling congregations that if they were good people, God would make them rich. If you had no money, it was a sign that you didn’t deserve to have any money. Americans were taught that poverty was the fault of poor people. Government could not be expected to help people who were not worthy of help.

Reagan attacked unions, helping corporations prevent workers from getting organized. As union membership fell, so did real wages. Costs rose but minimum income stayed the same. Rich feminists fought to break into top jobs but forgot about the poor women who had taken over their former duties, housework and child care.

Rich children got nannies. That’s why so many poor Black and immigrant women are pushing white babies around in fancy strollers. Their own children are back home taking care of one another, or staying with their elderly grandparents, or warehoused in somebody’s living room watching tv all day. Under Reagan, if poor women stayed home to care for their own children, they were shamed as “welfare queens,” even though government subsidies were and remain about half enough to live on.

The worst torture for a parent is to be unable to meet their children’s needs. A poor single mother can’t provide safe housing, nutritious food, medical care, or decent education for her kids. It’s a wonder they’re not all alcoholics or drug addicts or prostitutes. America doesn’t give them a lot of choices.

The gospel of wealth has created four decades of life getting harder for low-income American families. The rich are admired for their money, no matter how they got it. The poor get blamed for their poverty. Most internalize this public shaming, feel they must be stupid and lazy to be so poor, and learn to expect nothing from government. The rich assume their charity provides help when necessary, though private giving meets only a tiny fraction of the real need. Government food help gets cut by billions, and charity contributes millions. This does not compute.

And where is the help for poor children, whose parents are desperate, either home without resources or working without childcare? Who gets them online for school during the pandemic? Who makes sure they eat breakfast and lunch? Who arranges safe play dates so they can develop real relationships with other children? Who is taking care of them?

Nobody. That’s who.