War On Poverty

In the article “50 Years After the War on Poverty, Poor People Are Not Better Off” by Charles Kenny, he compares the poverty line in the United States to the original definition of “poverty” in 1963 and also how it had chanced between the years 2005-2008. During 1963, President Johnson started his “War on Poverty”. According to the article, the “real value of the poverty line” has remained closely the same since President Johnson but research shows this to not be completely true. Studies were conducted by the Pew Research Center and showed that large majority percentages to poor families said to have owned things such as microwaves and computers. These sorts of items were not available to families in the 60’s and did not have to spend money on these kinds of expenditures, but they still were making relatively proportional earnings and spending proportionally the same amount as families that live under the poverty line today. Meaning that although the value of the poverty line is the same, theoretically, living standards may have still improved. Kenny also states “the official poverty measure doesn’t take account of the impact of government programs like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamps, and the earned income tax credit.” This is significant because although the United States has proportionally the same amount of people living under the poverty line, the people living today are able to have a higher living standard just because of the technology that has been made accessible and the government programs that make it easier for families to make ends meet.

The article then goes on to list evidence that further proves that the citizens of the United States are at least a little more financially secure than in the 60’s. According to economist Linda Fox “poverty has declined from 19 percent to 16 percent over the past 50 years. And absent government antipoverty programs, while one-quarter of U.S. households would have been poor in 1967, fully 31 percent would have been poor today”. Although I totally support equality, and I do believe that there is much room for improvement in the American economy, I do feel that LBJ’s “War on Poverty” was successful and has helped many families today.

 

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-01-13/50-years-after-the-war-on-poverty-poor-people-are-not-better-off