War on poverty - Definition


War on poverty - Definition

The War on Poverty (1964-1968) was a campaign of legislation and social services aimed at reducing or eliminating poverty in the United States of America. The term was first introduced by Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964. The legislation was designed in response to the poverty affecting over 35 million Americans as of 1964. The poverty line was on a sharp decline and not a rise nor fluctuation at the time Johnson was campaigning.

"This administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in America."

- Lyndon B. Johnson

Michael Harrington's book The Other America, 1962, is sometimes credited with being a catalyst in this movement.

Campaign Results

Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 -- August 20, 1964
Social Security Act of 1965, which established Medicare and Medicaid in the United States. -- July 30, 1965
More than 35.9 million Americans are considered to live in poverty with an average growth of almost 1 million per year. -- August 27, 2004

Historical Notes

The U.S. government continues to use the antiquated Orshansky measure of the poverty line, a measure which is only adjusted for inflation, and not adjusted for the actual cost of living against median income. in the 1960s the average cost of living was a mere 30% of individual income, today the cost of living averages 50% of household income. Because of this skew in measuring the poverty line it's believed that the current U.S. Census statistics published could actually be closer to 50 million Americans.

The 'War on Poverty' was enacted in response to hard economic times which saw a poverty rate of around 25%, however, the War on Poverty was enacted at a time of recovery and some viewed it as a last-chance effort to get congress to authorize social welfare programs, something that had been refuted for more than a century prior because it was viewed as amounting to little more than legalized plunder.

Overall Campaign Success

Since 1965 America has never seen more than a 4% drop in the poverty rate. Poverty saw a low point in 1971 -- 1972 around the same time America and other nations adopted fiat money and abolished the gold standard. Since 1972 the poverty line and the cost of welfare has become higher than it was in 1965. Again the Orshansky method of measuring poverty not being updated for modern costs requires emphasis.

When Social Security began, there were 42 people paying into the system for every person receiving benefits and that by 2040 that ratio will fall to 2 working people for every retiree. So those paying for benefits today will likely not be able to obtain benefits when eligible, not without doubling or tripling the current payments the IRS currently garnishes from wages earned. By 2040 The current surplus will have been drained.

External Sources:

U.S. 2003 Census Report (http://www.census.gov/prod/2004pubs/p60-226.pdf)
The U.S. Social Security Administration (http://www.ssa.gov/)
Economist.com (http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3146724)
The Cato Institute (http://www.cato.org)