Poverty In The 1980s

Many take quite a different stand on the decade of the 1980s, and whether it was an era of greed or one of sound economic policies when it comes to the persistent of poverty. Conservatives often argue the fault of poverty lies in the behavior of the poor, while liberals often blame wage stagnation and economic policies as the root cause of poverty. This analysis will focus on two economists, one a liberal and one a conservative, who take a very different perspective on poverty during the 1980s. Other perspectives will be related to these core ideological points-of-view from the liberal and conservative camps, but each of these viewpoints shows us the different manner in which poverty during the 1980s is understood.

Liberal Kevin Phillips makes the contention that the switch from Keynesian to supply-side economics, namely Reaganomics, did nothing to help those outside of the top five percent of income earners in the U.S. In fact, he argues that the economic policies enacted by the Reagan administration had two main effects: a polarization of income; an enormous buildup of debt. Phillips, like most liberals on this issue, argues that wage stagnation and economic transformations resulted in the persistence of poverty in the 1980s. Phillips' argument is often convincing, with data and evidence culled from reliable sources as well as a broad understanding of the economic history of the 20th century via which he fram

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lators�from lawyers to financial advisors." However, Reynolds only broadens or redefines the economic terminology used by liberals to put the blame for poverty in the 1980s on the poor. Like many conservatives, he argues that factors typically considered as negative indicators of economics where the poor are concerned are not negative at all. As he says about the rise in the number of low-income jobs during the 1980s (a point liberals say demonstrates wage stagnation), "All that the rise in low-income jobs really shows is that students living with their parents and young singles found it much easier to find acceptable work" (Reynolds 392). Reynolds explains that the rich often get a bad rap among those with less income because they cannot move into a higher bracket, so their average increases. By citing evidence and formulating a conservative redefinition of economic terms, Reynolds proves his point that the 1980s were not a decade of greed, but one in which "the rising tide lifted at least 90 percent of all boats" (Reynolds 396). Despite Reynolds' valid arguments about poverty in the 1980s, Kevin Phillips is a liberal who greatly opposes the views of conservatives like Reynolds. Phillips uses a host of factual eviden

Category: Economics - P