The Best Case That The War On Poverty Has Failed

The article "The best case that the war on poverty has failed", by Zachary Goldfarb looks at the status of America's modern poverty, and compares it to America's poverty 50 years ago in honor of the 50th Annivarsary of "The War On Poverty" initiative launched by Lyndon B. Johnson. Goldfarb explains that the currently(as if 2012), 16% of Americans are living in poverty. Some would say that this is an improvement considering the poverty rate in 1967 when the initiative started was 26%, however, Goldfarb also explains that the current 16% would raise to 28% upon taking out Government programs such as welfare and food stamps. This means that nearly 1 in 3 people in America would be in poverty with out the help of the Goverment. When taking this into consideration, one can make a strong argument that America is in fact losing the war on poverty. Based on the statistics(with out the help of the government), we are worse off as a country when it comes to the rate of poverty as of now compared to 50 years ago.