Professor Angelo J. Gonzales University of Kansas

“What we have found in this country, and maybe we’re more aware of it now, is one problem that we’ve had, even in the best of times, and that is the people sleeping on the grates, the homeless, who are homeless, you might say, by choice.” Ronald Reagan 1984 Good Morning America

“Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks. If you don’t have a job and you are not rich, blame yourself!” Herman Cain 2011 Washington Post

 Many people in poverty are not expected to work simply because they are too young, elderly, or somehow incapacitated.  Almost half of the poor are under 18 or over 65.  Let’s just focus on the work experience of “prime age” (25 to 54) men and women.

 In 1998, a year when unemployment was at it’s lowest in a generation (4.3 %), about 65 % of poor “prime-age” adults worked.  One in four worked full time the entire year.  Among families led by a “prime-age” adult ◦ 70 % of household income came from job earnings ◦ 10 % came from public assistance ◦ In many of these families there was more than one earner. Mishel et al. 2001

 In comparing Mishel’s data from 1979 and 1998, we find that in 1998, more poor families had members who worked.  Those who worked put in longer hours for lower real wages, with the net result that they earned fewer dollars than similar families in Mishel et al. 2001

“Income and Poverty in the United States: 2010,” U.S. Census Bureau

1964: Johnson’s War On Poverty Main Features Social Security Act (1965) Food Stamp Act (1964) Economic Opportunity Act (1964) Elementary and Secondary Education Act (1965) *Created Medicare and Medicaid *Improved levels of nutrition among Individuals with low-incomes *Community Action Programs *Job Corps *VISTA *Work Study Programs *Loans to Rural Families *Employment and Investment Incentives *Neighborhood Youth Corps *Funding to schools with a high percentage of students from low- income families *Grants to strengthen State Departments Of Education

“Income and Poverty in the United States: 2010,” U.S. Census Bureau

 Beginning of Backlash  Family Assistance Plan Failed  Instead of Reform, major expansion… ◦ States required to provide  Food Stamps.  Supplemental Security Income (SSI)  consolidated aid for aged, blind, and disabled persons.  The Earned Income Credit

“Income and Poverty in the United States: 2010,” U.S. Census Bureau

 Huge critic of welfare  The most dramatic cut in domestic spending during the Reagan years was for low-income housing subsidies.  By the end of Reagan’s term in office federal assistance to local governments was cut 60 percent.  In 1980 federal dollars accounted for 22 percent of big city budgets.  By the end of Reagan’s second term, federal aid was only 6 percent.

 $300/mo child allowance  treats all kids the same no matter how much their parents make  It does not give more assistance to those with higher incomes  a child allowance is substantially related with childhood poverty reductions

 A flat benefit like this would have cost around $265 billion in  we should get rid of the Child Tax Credit (saving $57 billion)  Thus, the net cost of the total reform would amount to somewhere a little above 1% of GDP.  What other idea out there can, for around 1 extra point of GDP, cut poverty by a quarter and child poverty by half?

 Gilbert, Dennis L. "The Poor, The Underclass, and Public Policy." The American Class Structure in an Age of Growing Inequality. N.p.: n.p., n.d Print.  Bruenig, Matt. "This One Weird Trick Actually Cuts Child Poverty in Half." Demos. N.p., 21 July Web. 22 Apr  Mathews, Dylan. "Poverty in the 50 Years since ‘The Other America,’ in Five Charts." Washington Post. The Washington Post, 11 July Web. 22 Apr