John Nichols
says Paul Ryan has taken as side in the war on poverty—against what works:
So, in Ryan’s opinion, the “war on poverty” that President Lyndon Johnson declared in 1964 as part of a broader Great Society initiative made matters worse.
But that’s just wrong.
How do we know? Census data.
In 1959, 22.1 percent of Americans lived below the poverty line.
In 1969, 13.7 percent of Americans lived below the poverty line.
The poverty level has varied since 1969. It has gone as high as 15 percent. But it has never again gotten anywhere near where it was in 1959.
What changed during the 1960s to dramatically decrease poverty?
“Centralized, bureaucratic, top-down anti-poverty programs” like Medicare (1965), Medicare (1965), the initiatives launched with the Food Stamp Act of 1964 and Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 programs such as the Jobs Corps (1964) and Head Start (1965).
Those programs worked.
Brilliantly.
They’re still working.
Brilliantly.
An honest political leader who really wanted to do something to finish the “war on poverty” would propose to expand them, with, for instance, an expansion of Medicare to cover all Americans, and a real Jobs Corps that would put Americans to work rebuilding the crumbling infrastructure of America.
But Paul Ryan does not believe that.
He says “the problem” started in the 1960s.
|
Blast from the Past. At Daily Kos on this date in 2008—Wall Street. Main Street. Why No Mention of Side Streets and Alleys?:
In the past few weeks, both from Republicans and Democrats, we’ve heard a great deal about the travails of Wall Street and the mythical Main Street in the acute economic crisis that has everyone who hasn’t already been downsized or foreclosed sitting on pins and needles. But far less—next to nothing, in fact—has been said about what’s going on elsewhere in America, in side streets and alleys where chronic structural economic problems dating back three decades continue to take a toll.
Today, about 20 percent of America’s children—13.5 percent of all Americans—live in what is a very flawed federal measure of poverty whose parameters haven’t been changed in more than four decades.
Some 28 million Americans now receive some amount of help from the Food Stamp program, known since the beginning of this month as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Soup kitchens everywhere are in tough straits. That’s because food prices have increased at a time when the numbers of people in need have risen and the people who donate, hampered by economic difficulties of their own, are contributing less.
At the other end of the scale, crunched state budgets mean reduced aid to higher education at a time when still-rising tuition costs are making it ever more difficult for people at the lower ends of the economic scale to do what every politician, social reformer and statistic says is a way out of those lower ends: more schooling.
|
Tweet of the Day:
Piers Morgan devotes show to Ann Coulter. Piers, trust Van Jones will be given that same hour next week, on eve of this election?
— @KatrinaNation via Twitter for iPad
It's Friday again on the
Kagro in the Morning show.
Greg Dworkin gave us the daily polling & punditry rundown, then were joined by
Andrew Jones (aka sluggahjells) for a wide-ranging discussion of politics & media bubbles. Lastly, the insidious little trick of accounting that's coming into widespread use & lets your boss pocket taxes he's withholding from your paycheck!
Don't forget to vote for Best New Show in the Stitcher Awards!
High Impact Posts. Top Comments.