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War on poverty

What are your thoughts on the programs from the war on poverty?

  • I support them

    Votes: 9 47.4%
  • I oppose them

    Votes: 6 31.6%
  • other

    Votes: 4 21.1%

  • Total voters
    19

Masterhawk

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In the late sixties, Lyndon Johnson instituted a series of policies called the war on poverty. Part of a larger plan called the Great Society, the war on poverty was meant to reduce (and ultimately eradicate) poverty. These were the acts passed under the banner of the war on poverty:

The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964: created a variety of programs meant to help people find jobs

Food Stamp Act of 1964: created the SNAP program which issues food stamps to low income Americans

Elementary and Secondary Education Act: provided federal funding to primary and secondary education

Social Security Act 1965: created medicare and medicaid

Before the Great Society, the poverty rate had been falling at least since 1959 when the census bureau began keeping track of the poverty rate in the US. But a few years after the policies were instituted, the poverty rate stopped falling and it hovered at roughly the same rate up to the present day. This leads to many conservatives and libertarians to concluding that welfare stopped the poverty decline because it takes away the incentive to work.

View attachment 67235948

Contrary to popular belief, welfare actually began before the Great Society, back in 1935.

As for the SNAP program, it has been reported that over 90% of SNAP participants found work within the year they began receiving the benefits.
https://www.cbpp.org/research/the-relationship-between-snap-and-work-among-low-income-households (it does have a liberal bias but they do show their work)

Medicare spending has increased exponentially since its inception. Part of this has been caused by an aging population while much of it has been caused by rising health care costs.

Like medicare, medicaid spending is also on the rise. Though the spending for medicaid is lower than for medicare.
 
Trillions spent only bought us more poverty.

We all see the signs at some parks..."Do not feed the animals, they will become dependent on humans feeding them"

If EVERY person with a bird feeder stopped refilling them, would the birds die from starvation?

“I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”

― Benjamin Franklin

Whether he actually said this or not, it is a fact.
 
I don't see any recognition of Corproate Welfare in these poverty references.
Special tax breaks for Corporations.
US Military $300 hammers and $20,000 toilets.
Sanctions on foretgn energy to boost USA energy exports.
GMO patents on seeds.
Corporate prison occupancy contracts.
The USA feeds Corporate to the detriment of all its' citizens.
"The Dog you feed is the one that grows."
 
One cannot become successful unless they try or want to. You can give all the money you want to people, they will still not have the discipline to spend it wisely, or the ability to make competent decisions.

How may Heroin Addict scuz balls win Mega Bucks and then go to jail bankrupt after 2 years!
 
Is it really that simple?
Heroin Addict scuz balls
or lack of opportunity? Lets look at this from more that 2 sides and with a broader vision than through the partisan glasses.
 
Trillions spent only bought us more poverty.

We all see the signs at some parks..."Do not feed the animals, they will become dependent on humans feeding them"

If EVERY person with a bird feeder stopped refilling them, would the birds die from starvation?


“I am for doing good to the poor, but...I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. I observed...that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.”

― Benjamin Franklin

Whether he actually said this or not, it is a fact.



Trillions spent only bought us more poverty.

let's do something interesting with that sentence .................

Trillions spent on war brought us more war.

Yes, I see how that works ...........
 
I oppose welfare both corporate and individual. I don't consider SS or Medicare welfare because people pay into them all through their working lives. But no welfare for corporations, and individual assistance should have strings attached like work or job training. However, I do favor continuing assistance for people with kids working 40 hours a week at low paying jobs who still need some help. At least they're trying.
 
LBJ was brilliant at getting legislation through Congress, and utterly useless after that.

Every big program needs work, usually a lot of work, after it gets implemented. LBJ didn't do that, and that created a lot of problems.

Right wingnuts buy into a number of myths on poverty, and social programs. The reasons they love that BS so much are all butt ugly.

Social programs are part of the Modern world. It's one of the ways you have to maintain the country. That's why you get tons of bloviation and the programs mostly remain.

Which bring us around to what policy is going to work the best for us.

Which is a conversation for another day.
 
LBJ was brilliant at getting legislation through Congress, and utterly useless after that.

Every big program needs work, usually a lot of work, after it gets implemented. LBJ didn't do that, and that created a lot of problems.

Right wingnuts buy into a number of myths on poverty, and social programs. The reasons they love that BS so much are all butt ugly.

Social programs are part of the Modern world. It's one of the ways you have to maintain the country. That's why you get tons of bloviation and the programs mostly remain.

Which bring us around to what policy is going to work the best for us.

Which is a conversation for another day.

That's because LBJ knew it was the passage of a program that garnered all the votes in the next election, not the implementation or even the relative success of the program. He could just blame that failure on the opposition party. LBJ knew exactly what he was doing.
 
That's because LBJ knew it was the passage of a program that garnered all the votes in the next election, not the implementation or even the relative success of the program. He could just blame that failure on the opposition party. LBJ knew exactly what he was doing.

I suggest reading the Robert Caro biography of LBJ. The center of his world was the Senate. His understanding of the world, once you walked out those doors, dropped fast. This was the Cold War, he used to sleep through a lot of meetings that concerned that.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_...prefix=robert+caro,aps,180&crid=2H5KFUUA5OBBG
 
In the late sixties, Lyndon Johnson instituted a series of policies called the war on poverty. Part of a larger plan called the Great Society, the war on poverty was meant to reduce (and ultimately eradicate) poverty. These were the acts passed under the banner of the war on poverty:

The Economic Opportunity Act of 1964: created a variety of programs meant to help people find jobs

Food Stamp Act of 1964: created the SNAP program which issues food stamps to low income Americans

Elementary and Secondary Education Act: provided federal funding to primary and secondary education

Social Security Act 1965: created medicare and medicaid

Before the Great Society, the poverty rate had been falling at least since 1959 when the census bureau began keeping track of the poverty rate in the US. But a few years after the policies were instituted, the poverty rate stopped falling and it hovered at roughly the same rate up to the present day. This leads to many conservatives and libertarians to concluding that welfare stopped the poverty decline because it takes away the incentive to work.

View attachment 67235948

Contrary to popular belief, welfare actually began before the Great Society, back in 1935.

As for the SNAP program, it has been reported that over 90% of SNAP participants found work within the year they began receiving the benefits.
https://www.cbpp.org/research/the-relationship-between-snap-and-work-among-low-income-households (it does have a liberal bias but they do show their work)

Medicare spending has increased exponentially since its inception. Part of this has been caused by an aging population while much of it has been caused by rising health care costs.

Like medicare, medicaid spending is also on the rise. Though the spending for medicaid is lower than for medicare.

Don't they know that it would just be cheaper to shoot all the poor people.
 
Trillions spent only bought us more poverty.

let's do something interesting with that sentence .................

Trillions spent on war brought us more war.

Yes, I see how that works ...........

Billions spent on defense prevented trillions of dollars spent on war.
 
The jobs are disappearing and people are increasingly stupid and unwilling to work....The idea behind the war on poverty was to allow people time to get the skills they needed to support themselves....that is all out the window now.
 
Every state has speeding laws. They are intended to make us all safe!

Now notice that every state has a speed limit!

And also notice that every state has a minimum speed limit as well.

So save your breath, if you are trying to say, that minimum wages are not necessary!

And since inflation has increased more than 400% in the last 25 years on most things considered essential to our well-being and necessary to us today, like the cost of housing, transportation, food, utilities, and medical expenses, etc. and etc., and etc...........................

And given the fact, that the minimum wage has not been increased in 25 years, our country is actually fostering poverty!
 
Just like the war on drugs, govt. only makes things worse. "I am the govt. and I'm here to help."
 
Just like the war on drugs, govt. only makes things worse. "I am the govt. and I'm here to help."

What so called "war on drugs " are you talking about. We have never had a true war on drugs - only a slogan without any real teeth in it.
 
I oppose welfare both corporate and individual. I don't consider SS or Medicare welfare because people pay into them all through their working lives. But no welfare for corporations, and individual assistance should have strings attached like work or job training. However, I do favor continuing assistance for people with kids working 40 hours a week at low paying jobs who still need some help. At least they're trying.

The War on Poverty wasn't welfare, it was the EOA which was a flurry of job training, education, volunteer opportunities, community action, etc. The EOA was about doing, not getting.
 
The War on Poverty wasn't welfare, it was the EOA which was a flurry of job training, education, volunteer opportunities, community action, etc. The EOA was about doing, not getting.

I would say those programs were in addition to welfare.

As a side note; the War on Poverty and the Vietnam War were really causing major deficits. That's when LBJ got Social Security moved over into the General Fund; so he could hide how much it was all costing. To his credit, Democratic Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan bitterly opposed the move, saying it would ruin SS eventually.
 
I oppose welfare both corporate and individual. I don't consider SS or Medicare welfare because people pay into them all through their working lives. But no welfare for corporations, and individual assistance should have strings attached like work or job training. However, I do favor continuing assistance for people with kids working 40 hours a week at low paying jobs who still need some help. At least they're trying.

I will collect more in SS and Medicare than I ever paid in... It's welfare for me... just as many people on welfare receive more benefits than the taxes they paid. Other than that, I agree with your post.
 
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