Poverty in America is One of Ideas

Root cause of poverty:  Jobs.  If you have a good job, you won't be in poverty

Everything this government does on the economy should be focused on providing a good employment environment for American citizens.  Handouts demean the recipient and sap his self-sufficiency

A business-friendly environment is key.  Businesses and rich people are where the jobs come from.  Tax and regulate them to death and the jobs go away.

Why doesn't government just hire everybody who wants a job? 
Because the money to pay them has to come from somewhere.  In a business, it comes from customers buying goods or services.  A business spends money to make more money.  Government doesn't work that way.  Rather than turn a profit, governments must tax citizens to get money.  


A thrifty, well-behaved government keeps taxes low and dedicates itself to the basics.  Government-provided infrastructure can be a boon to private enterprise, but anything beyond that takes bites out of the economy.  Look a California:  Government has become so huge, consuming ever bigger chunks of the economy that economic activity has been smothered and productive people are leaving in droves


Even Salon's Michael Lind admits it's all about the J-O-B.  Only the most curmudgeonly Ayn Rand acolyte would deny a government stimulus program that funded needed infrastructure projects.  But the majority of this current stimulus has nothing to do with "shovel ready" infrastructure, and rising unemployment proves it.

"Stimulus" Understood
Further,  liberals conflate three distinct issues when talking about The Stimulus:  Federal aid to state and local governments, unemployment benefits, and economic stimulus.

Giving state and local governments money to cover budget gaps is not a stimulus, and may actually have the negative effect of allowing elected officials to continue their irresponsible fiscal promiscuity.

Unemployment benefits is not a stimulus; it is a palliative to keep someone who's lost his job from going under. 

Federal government paying a private enterprise for goods and services is the only action of the three that could loosely be called "stimulus," and even that is dubious if bureaucrats blow it on chimeras like immature "green technology." 

The better route is to incentivize business, the job creators, by creating a stable business climate of minimal regulation and low taxes, but nobody outside of Texas gets elected doing that...

ABC - Poverty
Salon - Michael Lind

Don't Cry for US, Argentina

Less than a century ago, economic basket case Argentina was a great nation.  Could the United States be following in her footsteps? 
 

"The worst psychological state is a superiority complex coupled with an inferior status."
 --Jagdish Bhagwati, economist

When I discovered this quote, my first thought was of Argentina .  My next thought was of the  US...

Argentinians have a sneering disdain for the US, and her neighbors are resentful of the  perceived arrogance of her citizens.  I've often thought that we are two countries so much alike that we can't stand each other:  Mirror images at opposite ends of the hemisphere.  One major difference being we still have some economic and military strength.  All Argentina has left is pride.

For quite awhile now I've been recommending Americans read up on the sad decline of Argentina, because our nation is on a similar downward path: 

A venal political class insulated from the vagaries of real-life, seeking power through burgeoning bureaucracies, irresponsible social programs and out of control spending.   

Entitled citizens willing to swap votes for goodies from the public treasury and state-sponsored demagoguery of the "rich."   

Inability to adapt to changing global markets; weakening currency...  It's all there.

The road to economic hell is paved with excellent intentions—a desire to save troubled industries, relieve poverty, and bolster communities that support the present government.

But the higher the spending and the deeper the deficits, the worse the effects on productive enterprise and the heavier the penalty placed on thrift and enterprise.

As matters deteriorate, governments have a natural tendency to divert blame onto some unpopular group, which comes to be labeled in terms of class, income, or race.

Judd Gregg, Republican Senator from New Hampshire summed it all up:

“This deficit is driven by us,” New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg candidly said Sunday [...]

“You talk about systemic risk. The systemic risk today is the Congress of the United States“ [...]

"we’re basically on the path to a banana-republic-type of financial situation in this country. And you just can’t do that. You can’t keep running these [federal] programs out [into the future] and not paying for them.

And you can’t keep throwing debt on top of debt.” “Standards of living will drop if we keep this up,” Gregg also said."

Why is it politicians only find such candor when they're on their way out?  Regardless, he's right.  Just ask the Argentinian mowing your neighbor's yard.

Are we in decline?  Further Reading:

American Conservative - US & Argentina
WSJ
Telegraph - Adam Smith
Telegraph - UN Currency
Samuelson - Downward Mobility
CNN - Judd Gregg