Real Poverty is Coming…

The Census Bureau recently released a report on poverty and the reporting on it in the media was predictable. The mantra was the “rich get richer”, “the gap between the rich and poor widens”, etc… Instead of an analysis of the cause of poverty, and how we could all be headed to real poverty, we heard the typical emotional arguments about the unfairness of some people doing better than others. Here is my analysis.

Let’s start with the definition of poverty: “state of being poor: the state of not having enough money to take care of basic needs such as food, clothing, and housing.” In most of the world this definition applies but in America, most people in poverty have plenty to eat, drink, and have a place to live, have a TV, cable, iPods, computers, cell phones, and a car. So how can this be poverty as compared to the rest of the world? This is not poverty this is income redistribution and an effort to foster class envy. It is also unsustainable, and if not corrected could be the beginning of the end of our way of life as we know it.

The democrats are notorious for stoking envy but the republicans are not exempt. The reason the opportunity class is shrinking is because the federal government is taking the wealth through taxation. The median income is down to around $50,000 per year, the lowest it’s been in a very long time.  Every dollar the federal government takes from the productive people to give to people in “poverty” the less money is available to be put to productive use in the economy. The people in poverty are getting what would be equal in value to a productive person bringing home $38,000 in wages. Is this poverty? We need to bring back real poverty so people have an incentive to climb out of it. We should feed people who can’t feed themselves and provide a basic roof over their heads but everything else must go.

Who defines poverty? The government and that is the problem. The government has a self-interest to increase its tentacles to ensure its survival and growth. It needs to be stopped or we will all be in poverty. Before you say, poverty doesn’t seem that bad, the poverty we will all encounter will not be what we see today. It will include a collapse of the financial system, food shortages and absolute chaos which will generate more calls for a government “solution” which is exactly what we don’t need. We need to collapse the central government.

The generations of people in poverty are mostly people that have failed out of the education system, depended on government for their subsistence for generations, are disproportionately black and minority, and are the most vulnerable to a struggling economy. They are squeezed out by the educated in society which are mostly white. That is where the dishonesty and racial politics rears its ugly head.

Poverty is the result of poor choices not race or some other demographic. Most people in poverty failed out of school, had children out of wedlock and in their teenage years, and have an attitude that someone else is to blame. Every one of the causes of poverty is subsidized by the central government for political reasons. The public education system is broken; the government undermines family, and the culture, and pays the poor for bad choices. Until we call it what it is we will continue to have the poor.

If we don’t reduce the power of the central government we will all become poor but not the poor we see today. We have a choice to make and little time to make it. What we need is a return to self-reliance and the greatness we achieved through freedom and free markets. The federal government is subsidizing the cause of poverty and it must be stopped by returning to our founding principles…  

The Racial Divide

It saddens me to see how little racial progress we seem to have made since my days in a public High School in the Bronx. I went to John F Kennedy HS in the Bronx (70’s) and learned first-hand that success didn’t depend on the color of your skin but the determination of the individual. That determination comes in the form of first and foremost getting an education. Education is the foundation of a fruitful life.

If you look at the reasons why the Black community is over represented in poverty it can be traced to three basic reasons:

·         The Family

·         Education

·         Self-Reliance

The Black Family has been decimated by the government programs that demand that a mother and father be separated in order to obtain benefits like housing vouchers and food stamps. The welfare system has destroyed the family in general but it has disproportionately destroyed the Black family. The only way to fix the family is to reject government subsidies and embrace the family unit again. Welfare needs to be transformed into a skills building agency with a limited time frame of services. It needs to be phased out for the upcoming generations. The system needs to return to its intended transitional status as a way to help in true times of need. It can no longer be an accepted way of life.

The inner city public school system should be eliminated immediately. The money should be block granted to private groups with a set standard for success. How many generations must be destroyed in the wake of a union jobs program? The only way to break the cycle of poverty is to have an education system that actually educates. We need dedicated people willing to become education entrepreneurs. What do we have to lose by trying? A cushy union gig with out of balance retirement programs is all we have to lose. We have already lost too many children.

People like me who care about the plight of Black America pose a risk when we write about it. In order to fix the problem we must first admit we have a problem. Recently there has been an escalation of hatred toward the “Whities” and capitalist system as the reason for Black poverty. This is dangerous and destined to perpetuate the cycle. If these people were truly concerned about their brethren they would promote capitalism as the way out of poverty. Capitalism has been the only successful economic program in history. Communism and socialism which are being touted by the New Black Panther Party have failed and will fail every time they are tried. The NBP leadership is revving up the masses and playing the class warfare blame game. And the numbers and evidence are not in their favor. I suggest that Black Americans reject this group and join the Tea Party group. At least they will find an ally for success there.

There is too much crime, poverty, single motherhood, and too little hope on the horizon for Black America. We are all Americans in the end and in order to break the cycles of dependency and poverty we have to try something new and it isn’t revolution as is being suggested by NBP leaders. Well it’s a kind of revolution but it is not the violent one they are calling for, it is about placing your hope in people that truly want to help than those that only want to offer handouts for votes…

Teach a Man to Fish…

The lessons of the Bible can be so simple yet so profound. When we give people things we only temporarily suspend the circumstances of that individual. When we teach people how to take care of themselves we open up boundless opportunities for success.

Today we have millions of poor Americans living in deplorable conditions within most of our major cities. These Americans have been given fish now for generations. Each generation has come to expect their fish to be handed to them. Getting fish has become their life. One of the most glaring examples of the results of giving fish instead of teaching to fish was the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Hordes of people wondered aimlessly waiting for someone to “give them a fish”. The simple activity of getting to safety was too overwhelming for people that had been lulled into dependency by government programs. Even the survival instinct was stolen from these people. Very sad.

The most compassionate thing we can do for our fellow Americans is to teach then to fish. Allowing people to learn the consequences of their actions is a lesson that quickly becomes a motivating factor in their lives. When you drop out of school and have no education, you will not be hired. The result should be the realization that you must go back to school. Temporary help with a commitment from the individual to pay it back when complete is teaching people to fish. Putting time limits on help for people that can provide for themselves is an impetus to learn how to fish.

Generations of Americans have been convinced that giving people fish is compassion and teaching people to fish is mean spirited. The opposite is true. We have been trying the fish giving approach and all you have to do is drive through any inner city to see the results. The results are a failure. It is time to teach people to fish and wean them off the dependency of government programs. These programs are destroying the potential of millions of Americans. Especially poor Americans.

The two approaches will be on display in the November election. America elected the first Black president and you would think he would be the candidate that would understand the power of teaching people to fish. Black Americans in too many numbers have been duped for generations to accept promises by politicians to be provided with more fish from a heartless government bureaucrat. Instead of taking a teach someone to fish approach, this president is doubling down on the dependency strategy. The candidates that are trying to replace this president want to teach poor Americans to fish by reducing the dependency the poor have on government. That is not mean spirited, it is true compassion.  

Teaching people to fish is the much harder path to follow. Not because it is complicated but because it is easily demonized as being heartless toward people. The funny thing is we teach our kids the same lessons. If the lessons of self-reliance are right for our kids, how come it is not right for poor family’s kids?

Giving fish is easy and makes some feel good but feeling good is not the result we are looking for. We are looking for the result of ending poverty and introducing a world of opportunity to people that have no hope. That is something we could all feel good about. If that is the result we want then we need to fire this President in November.

The longest war; the “war” on poverty…

How’s that going for you? If you are one of the demographic groups that have been perpetually in poverty not so good. It was declared by President Johnson on January 8, 1964, over 44 years ago to address reducing the poor in this country. Drive through any inner city in America as well as some rural areas and the result is clear; failure.

We have had generation upon generation waiting on the hope that government will make the things in life available and fair. What has been created is misery, envy, and wasted opportunity in the poor of this nation. They government hasn’t made a dent in the poverty level but they have definitely spent enough money to do so. But what this war has proven and continues to prove is government does not end poverty, individuals do.

Government disguises itself in compassion but delivers heartless mediocrity at best, devastation of families and individuals at worst. So why do we keep asking government to do more? Are we asking the government to do more? Is it the people as a whole or is it a small group of power hungry people convincing people they need more government?

We must be insane because we keep asking for government to solve social ills and every time we do the result is failure. They steal the hopes and dreams of one group to steal the hopes and dreams of another. It is the biggest scheme ever developed. And we ask for more or are we?

Eighty seven percent of Americans are happy with the health insurance they have. Who is asking for the government to get involved in healthcare? Is it you?