General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsFrom Robert Reich: 3 biggest right wing lies about poverty in America.
Rather than confront poverty by extending jobless benefits to the long-term unemployed, endorsing a higher minimum wage or supporting jobs programs, conservative Republicans are taking a different tack.
They're peddling three big lies about poverty. To wit:
■ Lie No. 1: Economic growth reduces poverty.
"The best anti-poverty program," wrote Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman, in the Wall Street Journal, "is economic growth."
Wrong. Since the late 1970s, the economy has grown 147% per capita but almost nothing has trickled down. The typical American worker is earning just about what he or she earned three decades ago, adjusted for inflation.
Meanwhile, the share of Americans in poverty remains around 15%. That's even higher than it was in the early 1970s.
How can the economy have grown so much while most people's wages go nowhere and the poor remain poor? Because almost all the gains have gone to the top.
SEE MORE AT LINK BELOW
http://www.freep.com/article/20140625/OPINION05/306250004/poverty-in-America
indepat
(20,899 posts)blithering idiotic nattering nabobs.
meow2u3
(24,745 posts)Jobs in of of themselves don't cure poverty; jobs that pay well enough for families to sustain themselves without having to rely on the social safety net, along with job security, is the best cure for poverty
Alex P Notkeaton
(309 posts)Or something like that.