« Foolish Leftists Court Muslims To Increase Electoral Power, Unaware That It Is They Who Are Being Used | Main | Re: 'Race hustlers of a feather: Obama and the New Black Panther Party' »

October 3, 2011

CFP Video Shows the War on Poverty Is a Failure

Topics: Political News and commentaries

The Center for Freedom and Prosperity has released another "Economics 101" video; this one has a very powerful message about the federal government's so-called War on Poverty ... the various income redistribution schemes being imposed by Washington are bad for taxpayers -- and bad for poor people.

As Daniel Mitchel points out over at Cato:

The video has a plethora of useful information, but the data on the poverty rate is particularly compelling. Prior to the War on Poverty, the United States was getting more prosperous with each passing year and there were dramatic reductions in the level of destitution.

But once the federal government got involved in the mid-1960s, the good news evaporated. Indeed, the poverty rate has basically stagnated for the past 40-plus years, usually hovering around 13 percent depending on economic conditions.

Another remarkable finding in the video is that poor people in America rarely suffer from material deprivation. Indeed, they have wide access to consumer goods that used to be considered luxuries -- and they also have more housing space than the average European (and with Europe falling apart, the comparisons presumably will become even more noteworthy).

The most important message of the video, however, is that small government and economic freedom are the best answers for poverty. As Hadley explains, poor people can be liberated to live meaningful, self-reliant lives if we can reduce the heavy burden of the federal government.

Mitchell notes three important points, not covered in the video, that should be added to any discussion of poverty:

1. The biggest beneficiaries of the current system are the army of bureaucrats that receive very comfortable salaries administering various programs.
2. The Obama Administration is looking to re-define poverty in a way that would expand the welfare state and increase the burden of redistribution programs.
3. The welfare reform legislation of the 1990s was a small step in the right direction because it eliminated a federal entitlement and shifted responsibility back to the state level. This success story should be replicated for programs such as Medicaid.

Mitchel goes on to write that the third point is worth emphasizing because it is also one of the core messages of the video. The federal government has done a terrible job dealing with poverty. The time has come to get Washington out of the racket of income redistribution.

As we get ever closer to 2012, hopefully the GOP candidate, whoever he or she is, will keep reminding the American people that getting Washington 'ever-deeper into' the racket of income redistribution is a nation-destroying, economy-busting, exercise ... and it is exactly what Obama really meant when he promised to "fundamentally transform America". America's best hope for dealing with poverty is the polar opposite of Obama's plan. (As a commenter at HawkeyeLounge says, America was clearly forewarned of Obama's intentions, but ignored the warning signs. When someone spends his life immersed in socialist/Marxist philosophy, associates with people like Bill Ayers, Frank Marshall Davis, Jeremiah Wright, et al, and writes in his own biography how he was drawn to communist persuasions as a young man, then why would Americans think, for even a nanosecond, that his intentions for our current form of government were benign?)

Posted by Hyscience at October 3, 2011 10:11 AM

Articles Related to Political News and commentaries:

• CFP Video Shows the War on Poverty Is a Failure - Oct 03, 2011