The War On Poverty, 50 Year Anniversary

Fifty years ago today, LBJ began the "war on poverty" and I believe the Obama administration will be pushing for a surge in this "war" this year. If you were president, what would your surge look like and what do you think has been successful in the past? I think the younger generation currently graduating high school and college will be the fastest growing poor population... if you have a 26 year old still living in your basement, how will you help this young man/woman escape the doom of perpetual poverty?

Here's some links from liberal and conservative sources... interesting differences.
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/ ... n-poverty/

http://www.cato.org/publications/commen ... ent+Op-eds )
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/ ... t-50/?_r=0

http://www.newrepublic.com/article/1161 ... rals-today

NPR plans to run reports on the anniversary all year. The story this morning was about a town in West Virginia that is totally dependent on Federal money to survive.
What would I do? Start up the draft again. Not only military, but also allow people to choose jobs in hospitals and veterans homes to learn trades and get educations. And have a GI Bill for the people who complete 2-3 year terms to help with college costs.

I would put more people on food stamps for a start.

Reverend Revelant wrote: I would put more people on food stamps for a start. If they can't eat, they can't work or even think about looking for work.

Here's what Lyndon Johnson thought about it:

"I'll have those ******* voting Democratic for the next 200 years." -- Lyndon B. Johnson to two governors on Air Force One. "Inside The White House" by Ronald Kessler

"These Negroes, they’re getting pretty uppity these days and that’s a problem for us since they’ve got something now they never had before, the political pull to back up their uppityness. Now we’ve got to do something about this, we’ve got to give them a little something, just enough to quiet them down, not enough to make a difference.” -- LBJ

"This civil rights program about which you have heard so much is a farce and a sham--an effort to set up a police state in the guise of liberty. I am opposed to that program. I fought it in the Congress. It is the province of the state to run its own elections. I am opposed to the anti-lynching bill because the Federal Government has no business enacting a law against one kind of murder than another...(And) if a man can tell you who you must hire, he can tell you who not to employ. I have met this head on." Austin, Texas May 22, 1948 quoted in Quotations from Chairman LBJ, Simon and Schuster, NY 1968

Hang on for a Manhattan microsecond, didn't Slick Willy claim victory over the war on poverty back in 1996?

Barry flip flopped and changed the law to allow folks to get paid on the dole without actually working:

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