Reducing Poverty in the U.S.

This research provides some suggestions designed to reduce or eliminate poverty in the United States. A complete eradication of poverty is likely wishful thinking; thus, the emphasis in this research is placed on ways to reduce the extent of poverty in the country.

An economic orientation has always characterized Presidential administrations in the United States, the Congress has consistently emphasized economic legislation, and the Supreme Court has played a major role in defining the structure of the country's economy over the decades. The poor among the population of the United States have benefited indirectly as a result of the actions, laws, and rulings of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the federal government over the years. A coordinated effort to deal with the problems of the poor among the people of the United States was not initiated, however, until the KennedyJohnson Era in the 1960s when the "War on Poverty" program was launched (Singamsetti and Panik, 1990, p. 1).

Since the 1960s, both the approaches to the reduction of poverty and the vigor of governmental efforts toward this objective have varied as Presidential administrations have come and gone. Strong efforts were made by both the Kennedy and the Johnson Administrations, while antipoverty programs tended to be ignored by the Nixon and Ford Administrations. Antipover

. . .
ar on poverty in 1964 . . . are impressive." In fact, however, the poverty rate in the United States had dropped from 22.2 percent in 1960 to 19.0 percent in 1964the first year for which data were included in their study (Council of Economic Advisers, 1984, p. 252). Thus, a 14.4 percent reduction in the poverty rate had been attained before the War on Poverty even started. From 1964 to 1973, however, the efforts of the War on Poverty were impressive, as the poverty rate dropped from 19.0 percent to 11.1 percent (Council of Economic Advisers, 1984, p. 252). Under the Nixon and Ford policies, however, the poverty rate climbed to 12.3 percent, before moving back down to 11.7 percent during the Carter Administration (Council of Economic Advisers, 1984, p. 252). During the Reagan Administration, however, the poverty rate climbed to 15.2 percent before declining once again to 13.0 percent (Council of Economic Advisers, 1984, p. 252; Council of Economic Advisers, 1994, p. 304). Thus, the impressive results attained by the War on Poverty occurred during the 19641973 period, while the poverty rate rose from 11.1 percent in 1973 to 13.0 percent in 1988, and from 11.7 percent in 1979 to 15.2 percent in 1983 before again declining to
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Birnbaum Rogers, Singamsetti Panik, War Poverty, Poverty Poverty, Economic Advisers, Ekelund Hebert, Supreme Court, Reagan Administration, Bush Administration, Clinton Administration, income distribution, singamsetti panik 1990, singamsetti panik, panik 1990, council economic advisers, council economic, economic advisers, radical position, federal government, poverty rate, war poverty, panik 1990 pp, price inflation, economic advisers 1984, social insurance transfers,
Approximate Word count = 2581
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Reducing Poverty in the U.S.