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LBJ initiated the “War on Poverty” in 1964. 43 years later we are still fighting the war. Like so many of our wars, “War on Drugs”, “War on Crime”, and “War on Big Government”, we’ve shown little progress. The so called “Wars” have become little more than feel good spending sprees, where career politicians roll out the programs, pat themselves on the back for taking the initiative and go back to business as usual. Since 1964 the US has spent over $8.9 trillion fighting poverty. You have to ask yourself, what have we gotten for the money.
We have made little progress. In fact, the number people living below the poverty level has increased over the last 7 years. The stagnant economy, poor job market, outsourcing jobs overseas and not having a living wage have all contributed to the increase. But I do not believe that throwing good money after bad is the answer. We have to admit that we have lost the “War” and look for alternative methods to combat the problem.
While social programs do work in the short term they are just a bandaid and eventually fail. We need to persuade people to acquire the experience they need to enter the work force by staying in school. High school dropouts are more likely to end up living below the poverty line than those with a high school education.
To solve the problem we need a program that advocates education and employment. The education program must provide real opportunity for children to start on an equal playing field, unlike “No Child Left Behind”. The program must prevent “at risk” students from dropping out and help produce an experienced work force. Companies state they outsource jobs because we lack the talent necessary to fill positions domestically.
We need to look at encouraging companies to work with educators to train students to enter the job market upon graduation. I was involved in a very successful pilot program in Baltimore City that placed over 70% of the students in good paying jobs with partner companies. The other 30% went on to college; accepted jobs with companies not directly involved in the program or joined the armed services. Unfortunately, the program was cancelled when funding was cut in 2003.
We need programs that stress education and actual work experience. We need to partner with the private sector rather than expand significantly the amount of government funds spent on social welfare. We need a program that promotes a new societal compact requiring people to work, corporations to act responsibly and government to redistribute opportunity through the redistribution of services.
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