Report Card: How Far We've Come on the 50th Anniversary of the War on Poverty
On this day 50 years ago, January 8th, 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson gave his first State of the Union Address, in which the new president announced his ambitious "War on Poverty." Just seven weeks prior, the vice president found himself in the Oval Office following the assassination of the wildly popular John F. Kennedy. To a skeptical Congress, Johnson described the marginalized lives of Americans who "live on the outskirts of hope."
"This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America," Johnson announced. "It will not be a short or easy struggle; no single weapon or strategy will suffice, but we shall not rest until that war is won. The richest nation on Earth can afford to win it." With this, and of course a solid Democratic majority in both chambers on Capitol Hill, Johnson was able to pave the way for major legislation creating Medicaid, Medicare, and Head Start.
Now Democrats are seizing on the moment to call for a renewed focus on poverty alleviation. Today Representative Barbara Lee of California is launching the first of 50 speeches to be held my prominent Democrats on the House floor over the next 50 days in honor of LBJ, to present to Americans a plan for furthering his efforts to end poverty. Specifically, the Democrats are focusing on increasing the minimum wage and expanding unemployment benefits, as well as tackling record income inequality.
Republicans too are addressing poverty as part of their legislative agenda for 2014. Senators Marco Rubio and Rand Paul have both been giving speeches over the past month with a heavy emphasis on poverty reduction. However, their vision is more focused on cutting taxes, giving more power to the states for welfare funding, and middle class job creation, all of which are very different from the national programs LBJ put into place as part of his "Great Society."
Meanwhile, President Barack Obama's Council of Economic Advisers is releasing a report on the progress America has made over the past five decades. According to the White House, the number of people living in poverty has dropped from 26 percent in 1967 to 16 percent in 2012. Still, there are an estimated 50 million Americans, including 13 million children currently living below the poverty line, which is currently set at $23,492 for a family of four.
According to the Census Bureau, the government safety net programs, (think Medicaid, SNAP Benefits, and Social Security) lifted 41 million people, including 9 million children out of poverty last year alone. By their estimates, without these programs the current poverty rate would be at 29 percent.
Of course, there are some developments that have occurred over the last 50 years that have dramatically changed the nature of poverty. According to a poverty report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities poverty has been reduced in part due to the fact that families are having fewer children, more women are working outside the home, and more people are graduating high school.
The same report also highlights some set backs. The number of men who have jobs has dropped from 87 percent in 1964 to 74 percent now. The number of single parent households has tripled, and income inequality has become a major issue.
It is income inequality that is very much coloring the current discussion on poverty. Democratic initiatives for 2014 are focused on what is seen by strategists as a renewed populist approach to income distribution. Progressive Bill De Blasio's election as mayor of New York is seen as the start to many for new liberal policies focused on growing the middle class. "We are called to put an end to economic and social inequalities that threaten to unravel the city we love," he declared in his inaugural address. Income inequality is currently at its highest point in a decade, and is over double what it was in 1964, with the top one percent of Americans receiving over 22 percent of the income.
We may have come a long way, but we certainly still have a long way to go.
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