What I Learned in the Poverty War

http://www.city-journal.org/2012/22_4_poverty.html

In his article "What I learned in the Poverty War" Peter Cove says that the War on Poverty is an effort by the American government to move people out of dependency and into employment. LBJ gave a name to what President Kennedy started and called it a War on Terror. Kennedy said "he wanted to reform the nation’s Depression-era welfare system by giving 'a hand, not a handout' to the poor." His main idea is that getting people into paid jobs will end poverty, not enrolling them in training and education programs. Income transfers have been the main tactic for liberals, but it had failed. Cove reports that Mayor Giuliani realized that if people we're failing and being put on welfare, then welfare offices would get bigger titles, more grants and recognition and more money. He realized that failure for a society was a success to the welfare worker. President Clinton embraced the work-first ideal in some of his legislation and welfare rolls reduced from 12 million to 4.5 million. Cove says that if public policy can continue to push for the work-first ideal, then poverty may cease to exist in America.