It was in the late 1950s and early 1960s that it was proven through policy changes that directly addressed poverty could reduce it. President Lyndon Johnson’s “War on Poverty” and the actions and policies of the U.S. in general exacted results.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Census, between 1959–1966, the number of Americans living below the poverty line decreased from 39 million to 30 million. The poverty rate during that period dropped from 22 percent to 15 percent and kept declining afterwards. The U.S. population was also growing at the time and the U.S. overall was an economic powerhouse.
The economist, John Kenneth Galbraith wrote in his book, The Affluent Society, how the country really could eliminate poverty if it wanted to do so. All it had to do was invest in people. Instead, America invested in Vietnam.
During COVID-19, this is what America did to a degree mostly because it had to. It provided people (poor people also, not just middle class or the rich) with money, health care, and a flexible life for a short moment. Our legislators did it under Trump and then Biden got them to expand what they did. Families spent more time with each other because they were not working like dogs all day for low wages.
More children were covered by health care systems because they needed to be covered. Jobs were plentiful once the economy opened back up. Workers had options. Nutrition programs answered the bell.
And it all worked.
As Galbraith stressed in 1958, the government (the people) invested in the people.
“To eliminate poverty efficiently we should invest more than proportionately in the children of the poor community,” Galbraith wrote in The Affluent Society.
Galbraith stressed the need for “high quality schools, strong health services, special provision for nutrition and recreation are most needed to compensate for the very low investment which families are able to make in their own offspring. . . .”
This is the government programs that the right, conservatives, and libertarians complain about all the time. The truth is most families in America don’t have enough to fill the gaps, even families with means. Parents have to work. Health care is expensive and has to be paid for through the pocket and usually an employee premium.
During COVID-19, the government stepped in and did not bat an eye for once. It acted.
“Mental deficiencies can be treated,” Galbraith added in The Affluent Society, “physical handicaps can be remedied,” but the real issue is “our failure to invest in people. . . .”
The COVID-19 period addressed much of that with more of the population and the results were striking. Because President Biden and Congress implemented a robust Child Tax Credit (CTC), provided health care assistance (much of it to children), provided housing assistance to a degree, and additional nutritional assistance, life for many was better. Even those who did not emerge from poverty enjoyed a better existence.
This is why many Americans to this day contend life was better under Trump. It wasn’t. They are remembering it wrong. Trump wasn’t really strongly in favor of any of it; he just wanted to win re-election. He downplayed the pandemic, called it the “Kung Flu” and got a lot of unnecessary people killed by playing political football.
As a result of mostly the efforts of Congress and then President Biden, the CTC, childhood poverty decreased from 9.7 percent to 5.2 percent in 2021. The influx of aggressive government action to a crisis (the virus) benefited the public in many ways. African American children and Hispanic children also experienced deep reductions in poverty as a result of the CTC. It was an unprecedented period of time.
Of course, Congress failed to extend these benefits into 2022 and the Republicans shut the approach down quick. And now, poverty has risen sharply, more than 40 percent according to the American Bar Association.
The argument being made is it was a temporary fix. Well, it was only temporary because you didn’t do what Galbraith said do: invest in people. Invest in them for a long period of time and then add expanded job training and education assistance. And how about an actual affordable housing policy that provides housing to low and moderate income Americans permanently?
Instead, the government pivoted back to the market and neoliberal madness. This is the system where the corporate sector controls the government and the markets. It is the system that guarantees poverty, homelessness, mental illness, and early death for many.
John Kenneth Galbraith
https://www.econlib.org/library/Enc/bios/Galbraith.html
https://www.iowapublicradio.org/news-from-npr/news-from-npr/2006-04-30/john-kenneth-galbraith-in-his-own-words