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On Poverty: Marketplace Commentators Give Voice
Does poverty serve anyone's interests? If so, whose?
Lyndon Johnson called for a War on Poverty in his State of the Union address in January 1964. Nine years later, America saw the poverty rate at its lowest point: 11.1%.
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Poverty serves no one Today, John Steele Gordon says poverty has no stakeholders. Friday, September 30 |
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Poverty: A divider Commentator and Jesuit priest Gregory Boyle says poverty serves to divide but not to conquer. Thursday, September 29 |
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On poverty: serving The Man Activist and one-time welfare mom Evelyn Dortch says poverty serves The Man. Wednesday, September 28 |
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Poverty: starting at the bottom Marcellus Andrews says poverty serves needs usually kept out of sight. Tuesday, September 27 |
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Bootstraps v. aid For Economist and commentator Bruce Bartlett, one winner is Washington and its politics. Monday, September 26 |
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Send us your thoughts.
OUR COMMENTATORS:
Bruce Bartlett, senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis
Marcellus Andrews, senior research fellow at The New America Foundation
Evelyn Dortch, Director of Direct Action Welfare Group
Father Gregory Boyle, Director of Jobs For A Future and Homeboy Industries
John Steele Gordon, business historian and author of An Empire of Wealth: The Epic History of American Economic Power
POVERTY STATS 2004:
Overall American poverty rate: 12.7% percent (up from 12.5% in 2003)
In 2004, 37 million people were in poverty (up 1.1 million from 2003)
Poverty level for a household with two children under age 18: $19,157
17% of American children live in families with below-poverty incomes
Since 2003 the number of people who work but remain in poverty increased by 563,000 (from 5.8% to 6.1%)
Federal minimum wage: $5.15/hour
Annual salary at a full-time minimum wage job: $10,712
LEARN MORE:
Cato Institute's Welfare and Workforce Research
Joblessness and Urban Poverty Research Program at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government
National Center for Children in Poverty
National Legal Aid and Defender Association
National Poverty Center at the University of Michigan
Northwestern/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research
US Department of Health and Human Services Area Poverty Research Centers: Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Univeristy of Kentucky Center for Poverty Research and the Rural Poverty Research Center
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