The Patriot Post® · How to Effectively Eradicate the 'War on Poverty'

John Stossel: “Fifty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson declared ‘War on Poverty.’ It sounded great to me. I was taught at Princeton, ‘We’re a rich country. All we have to do is tax the rich, and then use that money to create programs that will lift the poor out of poverty.’ Government created job-training programs for the strong and expanded social security for the weak. It seemed to work. The poverty rate dropped from 17 percent to 12 percent in the programs’ first decade. Unfortunately, few people noticed that during the half-decade before the ‘War,’ the rate dropped from 22 percent to 17 percent. Without big government, Americans were already lifting themselves out of poverty! … [G]overnment is not good at making a distinction between needy and lazy. It taught moms not to marry the father of their kids because that would reduce their welfare benefits. Welfare invited people to be dependent. … Left free, the market will provide the greatest benefit to workers, employers and consumers, while allowing charity as well. It would all happen faster if politicians stopped imagining that they are the cause of everything.”