The US Paradox Of Poverty Is Almost Impossible To Escape

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-us-paradox-of-poverty-is-almost-impossible-to-escape-2014-11


A waitress readies food at a local diner.

Fifty years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson made a move that was unprecedented at the time and remains unmatched by succeeding administrations. He announced a War on Poverty, saying that its “chief weapons” would be “better schools, and better health, and better homes, and better training, and better job opportunities.”

So starting in 1964 and for almost a decade, the federal government poured at least some of its resources in the direction they should have been going all along: toward those who were most in need. Longstanding programs like Head Start, Legal Services, and the Job Corps were created. Medicaid was established. Poverty among seniors was significantly reduced by improvements in Social Security.

Johnson seemed to have established the principle that it is the responsibility of government to intervene on behalf of the disadvantaged and deprived. But there was never enough money for the fight against poverty, and Johnson found himself increasingly distracted by another and deadlier war—the one in Vietnam.

Although underfunded, the War on Poverty still managed to provoke an intense backlash from conservative intellectuals and politicians.



Read more: http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/it-is-expensive-to-be-poor/282979/?single_page=true#ixzz3KYTHldK6

[CanonRay]

1. There would have been plenty of money

if we hadn't blown it all in Viet Nam.

[woo me with science]

2. There is plenty of money now.

It is being looted by billionaires and warmongers.

[unrepentant progress]

5. There is always plenty of money

The United States uses fiat currency. It can always create as much money as it wants. Inflation is only a worry if the money supply exceeds demand. And no, the U.S. does not need the Fed to create the money either. Nor do we need to collect taxes so the government can spend. To say that the federal government does not have enough money is to reinforce the myth that our economy is still in the 18th-19th centuries, or a weak attempt to justify structural poverty.

[Scuba]

3. If we can't afford to educate our children, to heal our sick or care for our elderly ...

... just what is it the defense budget is defending?

[brer cat]

6. +1000

Well said, Scuba.

[xchrom]

7. ...

[woo me with science]

9. Thank you.

It is defending the cabal.

[99Forever]

10. And that sir...

.. is the obvious paradox.

Our overstuffed military "defends" our "freedumbs" to starve or die from easily cured sickness.

[Triana]

4. "conservative intellectuals" - is that like, a Unicorn? n/t

[xchrom]

8. !

[Electric Monk]

11. k&r

[Odin2005]

12. It's only "almost impossible" because there is no socialist proletarian class consciousness...

...in this country. As long as almost all Americans think Capitalism is the only way, we are fucked.