Lowering Poverty in America

What can we do to lower poverty?

The most effective anti-poverty program is to get the country back to work. Lower unemployment and lower underemployment translate directly into higher incomes, for families at the bottom and the middle. Lower unemployment and lower underemployment also work indirectly to raise incomes of all workers, by giving them the leverage they need to negotiate higher wages and better benefits. There was tremendous benefits of sustained low unemployment at the end of the 1990s, when wages and incomes at the bottom did better than at any time since the 1970s.

In both the short and the long run, fighting poverty means committing our country's resources to that fight. "The first step is a large-scale stimulus program to breathe life back into a dying labor market.
Economic analysts from the White House, to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, to former John McCain adviser Mark Zandi all tell us that the February 2009 stimulus package has created millions of jobs," (http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/testimony/the-crisis-of-poverty-in-america). Without those measures, poverty would have increased even more than it did in 2009.  But, we now know that the stimulus program put forth in early 2009 was just not big enough.  "The single most important step we could take to combat poverty in 2011 is to implement a large -scale stimulus and jobs program today. Once the labor market is generating jobs fast enough to lower the unemployment rate, the next challenge will be to restructure the labor market so that it once again channels the benefits of growth to workers and their families," (http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/testimony/the-crisis-of-poverty-in-america).
Lowering poverty will help America and the young children of America who are struggling and dropping out of school.  Many parents are unable to give their child or children the best and the children are taking action of their own.  Poverty has caused many of our young children to dropout of school and become imprisoned.  By lowering poverty we may be able to help save our young men and women of the future.

References

The Crisis of Poverty in America.
http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/testimony/the-crisis-of-poverty-in-america