Maggie's Farm

That is not correct. The United States invested heavily in raising people into the middle class through the GI Bill. This corrected the error of previous wars, including the treatment of veterans of the First World War. Unfortunately, racial discrimination meant that many Black veterans did not realize the benefits.

"Anticipate charity by preventing poverty, namely, to assist the reduced brother, either by a considerable gift or loan of money, or by teaching him a trade, or by putting him in the way of business, so that he may earn an honest livelihood and not be forced to the dreadful alternative of holding up his hand for charity." — Maimonides

Zachriel: The United States invested heavily in raising people into the middle class through the GI Bill.

JustMe: Zach has never been right.

Then you don't believe there was a GI Bill? Or what? Or you don't think that teaching someone a trade is a way to help someone earn an honest livelihood?

mudbug: The G.I. Bill was not part of the war on poverty.

The War on Poverty was a specific set of social programs beginning in 1964. Coyner compares this period to the period 1949-1964, and his claim hinges on the assertion that there were no "significant government redistribution programs" during that period. But that claim is false. As his argument is based on a false premise, his argument is unfounded.

B. Hammer: …mover of the goal posts

The goal posts are right where they were all along. Vince Coyner compared the rate of poverty reduction in the aftermath of WWII to the period after the Great Society was implemented. He based his conclusion on the claim that there was no "significant government redistribution programs" in the former period. But that claim was false.

B. Hammer: Fossil fuels brought a hundred times more people out of poverty than any none STEM degree ever did.

It is true that fossil fuels powered the industrial revolution. Along with the modern market system, it has led to broad prosperity. However, education is also a key component of the spread of that prosperity, especially in the post-WWII era.

B. Hammer: And why stop at WWI veterans? The revolutionary war veterans were promised things too. Mexican War veterans. Civil War veterans. Every veteran.

". . . including the treatment of veterans of the First World War," which implies there are other examples. If you read the article we linked, it stated, "From Shays Rebellion in 1787 to the quarter-million homeless vets today, generation after generation of U.S. military personnel has suffered a lack of support from their government."

Regardless, the point remains. Coyner claimed that from 1949 to 1964, there were no significant redistribution programs. That was not accurate. The GI Bill provided loans and grants for education and starting businesses during that period. The GI Bill is widely credited with creating the largest middle class in history.

Texan99: poverty is more a behavior than a state.

There is some truth to that. Keep in mind, however, that eighty percent of families with able-bodied members who receive food stamps or Medicaid work.

There are habits of poverty, some tend to perpetuate poverty, but many are rational decisions due to circumstances. For instance, a mother works, uses processed foods to make cooking less time consuming even if more expensive and less nutritious, then its time for the couch before bed. Television is cheaper than vacations. Smart phones allow a single mother to communicate with unsupervised children. The habit of saving when frequent minor disasters can result in destitution is not necessarily seen as the best course.

We're not saying these habits of poverty can't be overcome, but, even absent government support, they shouldn't be simply dismissed a irrational.