Have We Finally Won The War On Poverty?
In his State of the Union speech on January 8, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared a “war on poverty” at the urging of Martin Luther King.
Rallying our nation to his call to action, he said, “Many Americans live on the outskirts of hope. Some because of their poverty and some because of their color. And all too many because of both. This administration today here and now declares unconditional war on poverty in America."
Now, sixty years later, as we remember a different era of leadership where new policies sought to lift all people out of poverty, how successful was Johnson's war? To answer that question, Audra Wilson, president and CEO of the Shriver Center on Poverty Law, shares her thoughts in this video produced by WTTW News out of Chicago.
Well Street
Progress has been made, but it looks like the road ahead is still a long one.
It seems a major obstacle to that progress is the false and pessimistic perception that programs designed to lift people out of poverty are the problem. This opinion stems from viewing the poor as inherently lazy and untrustworthy, and giving them help (handouts) incentivizes their laziness.
I wonder if the causality between Covid benefits ending and childhood poverty sharply rising will change minds. "Oh, they actually used the money to feed their kids and not just buy video games."