Does Poverty Exist in the US?

https://townhall.com/columnists/walterewilliams/2020/06/03/some-facts-worth-knowing-n2569839

A recent study by Just Facts, an excellent source of factual information, shows that after accounting for income, charity and noncash welfare benefits such as subsidized health care, housing, food stamps and other assistance programs, "the poorest 20% of Americans consume more goods and services than the national averages for all people in the world's most affluent countries." This includes the majority of countries that are members of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, including its European members. The Just Facts study concludes that if the U.S. "poor" were a nation, then it would be one of the world's richest.

Will: LBJ ’s Legacy

sobering statistics

http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/opinion/op_ed/2014/05/will_lbj_s_legacy_civil_rights_wins_great_tragedy

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In 1964, 76 percent of Americans trusted government to do the right thing "just about always or most of the time." Today, 19 percent do. The former number is one reason Johnson did so much; the latter is one consequence of his doing so.

Barry Goldwater, Johnson's 1964 opponent, assumed that Americans would vote to have a third president in 14 months. It was a landslide defeat. After voters rebuked FDR in 1938 for attempting to "pack" the Supreme Court, Republicans and Southern Democrats prevented any liberal legislating majority in Congress until 1965. That year, however, when 68 senators and 295 representatives were Democrats, Johnson was unfettered.
http://lubbockonline.com/editorial-columnists/2014-05-21/will-lbjs-great-society-failed-america-several-areas#.U4MrhV7oa8U

How To Not Suck

And that message is a proven solution. Here is the track record for that solution as I wrote about it in my book, "ENOUGH: The Phony Leaders, Dead-End Movements, and Culture of Failure That Are Undermining Black America--and What We Can Do About It." "The poverty rate for any black man or woman who follows that formula is a mere 6.4 percent.in other words by meeting those basic requirements black American can cut their chances of being poor by two-thirds.even white American families have a higher poverty rate than black people who finished high school, got married, had children after 21 and worked for at least one week a year."

The key for black women is also in the formula - do not have a baby outside of a strong marriage. Over a third [35 percent] of the black women who have children out of wedlock - now tragically more than 70 percent - live in poverty.

By comparison, only 17 percent of black women who are married live in poverty. And black children with both parents at home have a better chance for success, fewer dealings with the police, higher graduation rates and are more likely to marry before they have children.
http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/07/24/president-obama-oreilly-and-trayvon-cry-for-help/#ixzz2a3lluews

"Let he who has never sinned cast the first stone." I believe this, and I aspire not to judge anyone for their choices. The point is - what would it take to make young people invest in their own success? How could these peoples' behaviors be shaped? It's the age old question.

The odds that our narcissist in chief will do anything to change this circumstance is non-existent. I'd still admire him for trying.