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by Mel Griffith
There has been some recent concern that the number of poor people has increased due to the recession. Despite Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty in the 1960s, the percentage of poor among us has remained pretty steady. Part of the reason that the number of poor doesn't decrease much is that we keep moving the goalposts about what it means to be poor. When I was growing up poor, we didn't have a car, electricity, telephone, or very much store-bought food and our house was in disrepair. We weren't much different from most of our neighbors, although some had a car, but I don't remember any family that had two cars. Nobody had TV and batteries for a radio were expensive, so listening was limited to favorite programs. We were better off than some because we owned property, and some didn't. There were no food stamps, Medicare, and until the late 50s, no Social Security for farmers. Most poor people now are not nearly that poor. Reports show that about 70% of the poor have a car, and 30% have two cars. More than half have cable TV and 95% say they have never been out of food. Most of the poor have a lifestyle that would have been considered middle class sixty years ago. There will always be poor, just as the Bible says, because no matter what everyone has, those who have less than most will always be considered poor. But being poor is relative, it depends on when and where you are. The fact that most of the people classified as poor are able to lead a comfortable lifestyle suggests that we need to find a better way to define who is poor. The government considers only annual income without regard to assets to define poverty.
Most of the poor don't stay poor. People move up and are replaced by recent immigrants or folks who have run into bad luck. With this in mind, we should focus on opportunities for education and jobs rather than on welfare systems that keep folks dependent. Gov. Perry caught a lot of flak for giving in-state tuition to illegals, but common sense tells us it is much better to help folks get a good education and become productive citizens instead of keeping them ignorant and dependent on welfare. Denying folks a good education is not only heartless, as Perry said, it is counterproductive to our own best interests.
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