Lyndon Johnson Flower Girl Ad

A stream of people walk down a street in Camden, New Jersey, which according to the U.S. Census Bureau, is now the most impoverished city in the United States with nearly 32,000 of Camden's residents living below the poverty line. Click on picture to take the poverty quiz.

“In our affluent society every American deserves to share in all opportunities afforded

to you and I. We cannot allow the invisible poor, which makes up one fifth of our

population, to remain hidden from the consciousness of America.”

Lyndon Johnson 1964

War on Poverty

• Job Corps: work training and study program.

• Community Action: plan to attack poverty in their own communities.

• Volunteers: older people to help fight poverty. VISTA

• Government Loans: incentives to employ the unemployed.

• Office of Economic Opportunity: Coordinate and oversee these efforts.

War on Poverty• Medicare:

government health insurance for persons age 65 or older.

• Medicaid: government health insurance for young persons.

• Head Start: government pre-school programs

• HUD: Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Mr. Wendal by Arrested Development

The War on Poverty began with President Lyndon Johnson's visit to Tom Fletcher's front porch in Martin County, Kentucky, in April 1964. Walter Bennett's photo for Time Magazine has become an icon of the '60s.

Here have a dollar In fact no brotherman, here have twoTwo dollars means a snack for me, But it means a big deal to youBe strong, serve God only, Know that if you do, beautiful Heaven awaits That's the poem I wrote for the first time I saw a man with no clothes, no money, no plateMr. Wendal, that's his name. No one ever knew his name 'cuz he's a no one. Never thought twice about spending on an old bum Until I had the chance to really get to know oneNow that I know 'em, to give him money isn't charity He gives me some knowledge, I buy him some shoesAnd to think blacks spend all their money on big collegesStill most of y’all come out confusedGo ahead Mr. Wendal Go ahead Mr. WendalMr. Wendal has freedom A free that you and I think is dumbFree to be without the worries of a quick to diss society For Mr. Wendal's a bum

His only worries are sickness and occasional harassment By the police and their chase Uncivilized we call him but I just saw him Eat off the food we wasteCivilization, are we really civilized? Yes or no, who are we to judge When thousands of innocent man could be brutally enslaved And killed over a racist grudgeMr. Wendal has tried to warn us about our ways But we don't hear him talk It's not his fault when we're goin' too far and we got too far‘ Cuz on him we walkMr. Wendal, a man, a human in flesh but not by law I feed you dignity to stand with pride Realize now that all in all we stand tall Go ahead Mr. WendalMr. WendalMr. WendalMr. Wendal

War on Poverty

• Throwing $$ at a problem does not always solve it.

• Bigger deficits, greater debt

• Bureaucracy, larger government (red tape)

• Misuse of funds

War on Poverty % of poor in the United States

314,721,775

17,572,929,038,610.44

$55,289.01

• For most of the Nation’s history, deficits were the result of either wars or recessions.

• Wars necessitated major increases in military spending.• Recessions reduced Federal tax revenues from businesses and

individuals.

History of Deficit Spending

Timeline of Debt1944 Bretton Woods NH-dollar tied to price of

gold. International Monetary System

1971 Nixon scrapped Bretton Woods to avoid recession from cost of Vietnam War

1980 Reagan cuts taxes on wealthy, increased spending on defense

1988 “Read my lips, no new taxes!” GHW Bush, later would raise taxes to avoid deficits

1993 Clinton –without a single Republican vote, Gore casting vote, raised taxes on wealthy and cut defense. 3 years of surplus. America would be debt free by 2012!

2000 GW Bush-cuts taxes for wealthy, Medicare drug benefit for poor, 2 wars, borrows from China. Return of deficits.

1990-2010

Democrat led states increase pensions for government employees and increase number of state workers.

Poverty in America