Government data indicate that the U.S. remains far from winning the longest war in its history: the war on poverty.
The latest line of argument from defenders of the welfare system is that we are measuring poverty inaccurately; counting welfare as income, they suggest, would show that we are winning the war on poverty. Proponents of changing the way we classify the data on America's poor would accomplish little more than a subterfuge to distract from glaring flaws with the status quo of government social welfare programs.
The economic downturn that began in 2007 has officially been over since June of 2009, but the end of the recession did not mark the beginning of meaningful prosperity for many Americans. With the coming of the debt ceiling and proposed reforms to the government's food stamp program, there is a serious debate unfolding about what the government should do to bring people out of poverty.
The latest line of argument from defenders of the welfare system is that we are measuring poverty inaccurately; counting welfare as income, they suggest, would show that we are winning the war on poverty. Proponents of changing the way we classify the data on America's poor would accomplish little more than a subterfuge to distract from glaring flaws with the status quo of government social welfare programs.
The economic downturn that began in 2007 has officially been over since June of 2009, but the end of the recession did not mark the beginning of meaningful prosperity for many Americans. With the coming of the debt ceiling and proposed reforms to the government's food stamp program, there is a serious debate unfolding about what the government should do to bring people out of poverty.
No comments:
Post a Comment