War on Poverty (6)

 “We fought a war on poverty and poverty won.”-Ronald Reagan


Since we, as Americans, have begun truly counting, the percentage of people living in poverty was at its lowest value in 1973, at 11.1%.  Ten years later, this number grew to 15.2%, but decreased back to 11.1% in 2000.  Today, we are back to 15% of the population.  How is this so, despite our many attempts to help the poor?


It is a fact that several movements to hinder the effects of poverty have been met with success.  These efforts include social security, food stamps, earned-income tax credit, and many more.  Although poverty is at an all-time-high, programs such as these have still cut down the numbers, as poverty would now be nearly doubled without them.  As the New York Times puts it, "To say that 'poverty won' is like saying the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts failed because there is still pollution."  Our current attempts are simply not moving at a great enough speed to combat the constantly growing numbers of poverty.


There are a great deal of factors that come into play when considering why more and more people are categorized as poor in America.  First off, many people are living on the income of low-paying jobs.  According to the most recent data available from the Census Bureau, 104 million people — a third of the population — have annual incomes below twice the poverty line, less than $38,000 for a family of three.  This may be because a higher education is too expensive to come by, or simply because of the current competitive state of the job market.


Although i have not experienced it first hand, I have seen and heard about job displacement caused by this competition.  Because my mother is a teacher, I have seen individuals who are willing and able to hold a job with the school district getting laid off simply because the district needs to save money and these individuals were not working long enough to have tenure.  These people may have been forced to settle for a lower-paying job as a result.  Additionally, I have seen the outcome of outsourcing in my father's field of work.  When he was a software engineer, his company decided it would be cheaper to allow work to be done overseas, and as a result my father's American colleagues were no longer needed to work, again forcing them to search elsewhere to make a living. 


It is undeniable that the job market has taken a hit, but what is the answer? I am no historian, but I feel that we can learn a lot by looking to the past for help.  It is possible that what worked then could work today and, if not, could inspire new ideas.  In response to outsourcing, however, my opinion is concrete: WE SHOULD ENCOURAGE AND SUPPORT AMERICAN BUSINESS!