A time of giving: change the odds this holiday season.

• Author: Gochnour, Natalie
• Position: Economic Insight - Statistical data

Like many of you, I have a favorite holiday song. It speaks to the opportunities provided to many and the indignities afforded a few.

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Wide disparities in income are a common and unfortunate side effect of market economies. The variation is particularly troubling during the holiday season when those with deep pockets shower the ones they love with expensive clothing, electronic gadgetry, the latest novelties and any number of things, things, things. Meanwhile, those with little in their pockets hunker down, hoping for hope, and hurting for better days.

As I write this column, The Road Home in downtown Salt Lake City is providing emergency shelter and personalized case management for some 1,000 Utah residents. The Bureau of the Census estimates that 13.5 percent of Utahns, or 374,860 people, live in poverty. And, even with a relatively low unemployment rate of 5.2 percent, 70,400 Utahns will go to bed tonight without the wages, security and dignity of a job. Several thousand more have dropped out of the labor force because they are discouraged.

During the holiday season the contrast between rich and poor makes me particularly uncomfortable. One Utah drives nice cars, shops at the Apple Store, lives in five-bathroom homes, dines on spiral cut hams and enjoys a rich material life. The other Utah suffers for want of food, clothing, shelter and personal dignity. Most of us lie somewhere between the two extremes and feel a nagging sense of discomfort about our good fortune when we see people around us struggle.

My commute takes me along State Street, where I occasionally stop at an inner-city grocery store to pick up items for dinner. The store is located in close proximity to a small trailer park, tattered-looking apartments, a Title I school and some not-too-wholesome looking storefronts. The grocery store differs from the one near my home in the suburbs in several notable ways.

For one, the store seems busier in the first week of the month after public assistance funds arrive. Second, unlike the filled-to-the-brim shopping carts in more affluent neighborhoods, the carts in this store contain only a few items. The customers appear to exist in a one-to-two-day planning horizon, which...