Another interesting read FIGHTING POVERTY Press-Republican Last month was the 50th anniversary of President Johnson’s War on Poverty. I wish we had made more progress after half a century. While we have spent tens of trillions of dollars to fight poverty, the proportion of our population living in poverty has barely budged. Had we not spent trillions, Columbia University researchers estimate the poverty rate would have been about 10 percentage points higher. We might conclude that massive spending ensured poverty did not get significantly worse. What happened to Johnson’s hand up out of poverty? Lately, I have been pondering the meaning of the American Dream. I first thought it afforded Americans the opportunity to climb the economic ladder. I don’t know if we have come near to realizing that dream. Ours is still a nation that offers little practical likelihood that the mass of those without money and resources can gain access to the best schools and then enter the highest echelon of American privilege. Rather, the American Dream may refer to an opportunity we all have to better ourselves, whether or not we avail ourselves of that opportunity. For many, this dream is academic. It requires an aspiration that is easily frustrated by a sense the system is rigged, or worse, by a failure to realize that greener grass even exists elsewhere. I am grateful that Johnson’s dream of eradicating poverty has produced social-welfare nets that keeps those most in need from descending toward complete destitution. I lament that we have failed to reach down to those held just above destitution and empower them to realize the American Dream of opportunity and self improvement. After tens of trillions of dollars of spending, it seems that the hand up is more elusive than ever. The trillions we have spent is actually the easy part. In America, we seem good at throwing money at symptoms rather than solving the disease. Could it be that our social-welfare net serves a more nefarious purpose? By papering over the problem, we created a culture of dependency that maintains the status quo. To truly offer a hand up would threaten the status quo that still defines one’s success based almost entirely on ancestry and pedigree. Under this thesis, our social-welfare system acts as economic apartheid. I do not at all advocate disbanding Johnson’s dream, even as I recognize others who prefer to preserve the status quo could seize on a call for redefining anti-poverty programs as an opportunity to eradicate them. If we ended our efforts to address poverty, we would surely squander a large share of our most important natural resource, the human capital of all Americans. Just before the Great Depression, Herbert Hoover claimed the U.S. was close to eradicating poverty. Four decades later, in 1967, 26 percent of Americans lived in poverty. Columbia University researchers found that, had we not waged Johnson’s war, the rate would have floated up slightly by 2012 to 29 percent. Instead, our welfare net has brought poverty down to 16 percent nationally, 15 percent in New York and 14 percent in Clinton County. We have dropped the poverty level by little more than a third since Johnson conceived of this vast social program. For a family of four, this poverty level is an annual income of under $23,000. In states offering the most supplements, a single mother with two children can receive cash and other benefits valued at over $35,000 per year, equivalent to an hourly wage approaching $18. We have stemmed worsening poverty, and we have reduced the poverty rate somewhat. But, we are far from realizing Johnson’s dream that offered the light of hope for those in poverty. Most telling is the discovery that this recession hasn’t moved our poverty rate. Those in poverty are disconnected from the mainstream economy. To truly solve the problem requires the path less taken. We must create opportunity that brings those in poverty into the greater economy. We can only do so by ensuring our children have 21st Century skills and our businesses are globally competitive. I sense we may be moving farther away from these goals. Until we address the root causes of poverty, we will continue to lose the war. Colin Read chairs the finance and economics faculty at SUNY Plattsburgh and has published a dozen books on global and local finance and economics.
Posted on: Tue, 18 Feb 2014 12:49:57 +0000
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