1. Those Who Really Care About Results Will Applaud This
In 1981, the year Ronald Reagan became America's 40th President, 44.3 percent of the world lived in extreme poverty (i.e., less than $1.90 per person per day). Last year, it was 9.6 percent. That's a decline of 78 percent.
In 1981, the year Ronald Reagan became America's 40th President, 44.3 percent of the world lived in extreme poverty (i.e., less than $1.90 per person per day). Last year, it was 9.6 percent. That's a decline of 78 percent.
2. What About America?
In America, we have had over 50 years of something called "War on Poverty." What has it accomplished? Well, what do you expect? In America, we also have a "poverty industry" whose survival depends on keeping poverty alive somehow or the other.
In America, we have had over 50 years of something called "War on Poverty." What has it accomplished? Well, what do you expect? In America, we also have a "poverty industry" whose survival depends on keeping poverty alive somehow or the other.
3. So results are predictable. While the plight of the poor themselves has improved a lot, there is no way the official statistics can be allowed to veer too much from a narrow range, come hell or high water. A lot of ingenuity is applied to keep statistics on a short leash.
4. Hence, according to both the Nobel Prize-winning economist Angus Deaton and Cato's Michael Tanner (who relied on U.S. Census Bureau data), the American poverty rate has moved between 15.2 and 11.3 percent over the last four decades. And that's where it will likely stay.
5. Now don't get confused between poverty in the U.S. and poverty in the rest of the world. U.S. measures poverty very differently. That is not to say there isn't real poverty in the U.S. There is.
6. But trillions upon trillions of dollars having been spent on the "War on Poverty" over the last half century making so little difference is a saga of government largesse gone haywire, because politicians aren't paid for performance. They are rewarded for tugging at emotions.
7. In the U.S. solving any social problem -- abortion, gun-control, illegal immigration, poverty, you name it -- means there's a whole lot of politicians who will lose an issue to run on. 'Issues' are far more politically lucrative to such politicians than solutions.
The End
The End
