All Posts Tagged With: "war on poverty"
The Great Society’s War on Poverty
For the most part President Lyndon B. Johnson was simply lucky in regard to economic stability and growth during his term in office, although he does deserve credit for pushing John F. Kennedy’s stalled tax-cut proposal to quick enactment in February 1964. The economy was already growing and the rate of unemployment declining when LBJ [...]
21Sep2011 | Robert Higgs | 7 comments | ContinuedIdeological and Political Underpinnings of the Great Society
The surge of federal economic interventions that occurred during Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency—the much-ballyhooed Great Society, whose centerpiece was the War on Poverty—differed from the four preceding surges, each of which had been sparked by war or economic depression. No national emergency prevailed when Johnson took office following John F. Kennedy’s assassination on November 22, [...]
24Feb2011 | Robert Higgs | 0 comments | ContinuedPresidents and Precedents
America’s 44th president has embarked on a massive expansion of the federal establishment that, if accomplished, will dwarf all previous welfare states in its spending and debt. Americans will largely depend on politicians and their underlings for a significant portion of their heavily mortgaged livelihoods. It’s a path to national suicide that would horrify most [...]
24Feb2010 | Lawrence W. Reed | 13 comments | ContinuedInclined to Liberty: The Futile Attempt to Suppress the Human Spirit
Some people, writes Louis Carabini, are naturally “inclined to liberty.” That is, their thoughts revolve around voluntary action to accomplish their objectives and solve problems. As a Freeman reader, you are probably such an individual. On the other hand, there are many others who are instinctively drawn to coercion to accomplish their objectives and solve [...]
21May2009 | George C. Leef | 0 comments | ContinuedCasualties of the War on Poverty
Newspapers around the world recently carried a news item that seems to be a damning indictment of the U.S. government and the American people. The 2005 U.S. Census indicates that the percentage of poor Americans living in “severe” poverty was at a 32-year high. This put the proportion of poor people in deep poverty at [...]
1Dec2007 | Christopher Lingle | 0 comments | ContinuedThe Shortcomings of Government Charity
Jude Blanchette is a freelance writer living in China. In their book, Myths of Rich and Poor, W. Michael Cox and Richard Alm observe, “Some part of human nature connects with the apocalyptic. Time and again, the pessimists among us have envisioned the world going straight to hell.” To be sure, “pessimists” apparently run most [...]
1May2007 | Jude Blanchette | 4 comments | ContinuedWhat’s Wrong with the Poverty Numbers
Last fall the U.S. Census Bureau released its annual report on poverty in the United States. The report indicated that the number of people below the official poverty line had risen from 32.9 million in 2001 to 34.6 million in 2002. Worse, the official poverty rate had risen from 11.7 percent in 2001 to 12.1 [...]
1Apr2004 | Robert P. Murphy | 1 comment | ContinuedThe New Drug War
Seeking to combine the failures of the War on Drugs and the War on Poverty, the U.S. government has now embarked on the War on (Expensive) Prescription Drugs. You see, grannies crossing the northern border in search of cheaper prescription drugs are causing fits at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). U.S. District Judge Claire [...]
1Apr2004 | Adam B. Summers | 1 comment | ContinuedIncentives and Disincentives: They Really Do Matter!
“If you encourage something, you get more of it. If you discourage something, you get less of it.” Whoever first said that deserves a medal for putting to words one of the most profoundly important elements of human nature. Human beings respond—often powerfully—to both incentives and disincentives. An understanding of this great truth is critical [...]
1Nov2000 | Lawrence W. Reed | 3 comments | ContinuedWhy the War on Poverty Failed
Well, it’s now official: the war on poverty was a costly, tragic mistake. Ordinary people have suspected that for decades, of course, but we had to wait for the New York Times to decide this news was fit to print—which it finally did on February 9, 1998. In a front-page story on poverty in rural [...]
1Jan1999 | James L. Payne | 9 comments | ContinuedWhat Big Government Is All About
This article is excerpted from Libertarianism: A Primer. Government has an important role to play in a free society. It is supposed to protect our rights, creating a society in which people can live their lives and undertake projects reasonably secure from the threat of murder, assault, theft, or foreign invasion. By the standards of [...]
1Apr1997 | David Boaz | 1 comment | Continued-
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