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Published on Monday, April 2, 2007 by The Christian Science Monitor
The War On Poverty is Winnable
by David R. Francis
The United States could dramatically reduce poverty – if it really wanted to. Instead, the number of American households in severe poverty (those with incomes less than half that of the official poverty level) has been growing, not shrinking.
“Poverty persists, not because we lack effective antipoverty policy options, but because we lack the political will to expand our policies,” says Sheldon Danziger of the National Poverty Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
...
“There’s rising public concern about growing inequality,” notes Peter Edelman, chair of a poverty task force at the Center for American Progress, a “progressive” think tank in Washington. His group will report later this month with recommendations for reducing poverty. “We know a lot more today [about] what to do,” he says.
Nor would a serious antipoverty effort be inordinately expensive, he says. Its costs could be met by ending the “unnecessary and undeserved tax cuts” given the wealthiest Americans this decade, he claims. Winding down the Iraq war would also free funds to help the poor.
But will Washington step up such efforts? “There are no shakers and movers and lobbyists for the poor,” says Neal Wolman, a social scientist at Manchester College, North Manchester, Ind.
Several observers speculate that a Democratic Congress and a Democratic president, should that occur, would be more likely to tackle poverty. “It takes presidential leadership,” says Mr. Danziger. “It’s not going to happen on its own.”
Mr. Edelman and other poverty experts get some encouragement from the fact that Britain, under Prime Minister Tony Blair, has greatly reduced poverty by adapting or expanding various anti-poverty measures, some developed in the US. The proportion of British children living in poverty, for example, fell to 11 percent of the population in March 2005, down from 24 percent in 1998. Children’s poverty in the US has been rising for the past few years to 17.8 percent in 2005.
Complete at LINK
The War On Poverty is Winnable
by David R. Francis
The United States could dramatically reduce poverty – if it really wanted to. Instead, the number of American households in severe poverty (those with incomes less than half that of the official poverty level) has been growing, not shrinking.
“Poverty persists, not because we lack effective antipoverty policy options, but because we lack the political will to expand our policies,” says Sheldon Danziger of the National Poverty Center, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
...
“There’s rising public concern about growing inequality,” notes Peter Edelman, chair of a poverty task force at the Center for American Progress, a “progressive” think tank in Washington. His group will report later this month with recommendations for reducing poverty. “We know a lot more today [about] what to do,” he says.
Nor would a serious antipoverty effort be inordinately expensive, he says. Its costs could be met by ending the “unnecessary and undeserved tax cuts” given the wealthiest Americans this decade, he claims. Winding down the Iraq war would also free funds to help the poor.
But will Washington step up such efforts? “There are no shakers and movers and lobbyists for the poor,” says Neal Wolman, a social scientist at Manchester College, North Manchester, Ind.
Several observers speculate that a Democratic Congress and a Democratic president, should that occur, would be more likely to tackle poverty. “It takes presidential leadership,” says Mr. Danziger. “It’s not going to happen on its own.”
Mr. Edelman and other poverty experts get some encouragement from the fact that Britain, under Prime Minister Tony Blair, has greatly reduced poverty by adapting or expanding various anti-poverty measures, some developed in the US. The proportion of British children living in poverty, for example, fell to 11 percent of the population in March 2005, down from 24 percent in 1998. Children’s poverty in the US has been rising for the past few years to 17.8 percent in 2005.
Complete at LINK
Some developed in the US...JRE's Poverty Center!?! I remember JRE's visit to the UK talking about poverty with Tony Blair.
