Promises, The Political Currency

A Republican Cure for Liberal Failures on Poverty - WSJ:

A good column by Speaker Ryan.

President Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty in 1964. Since then politicians have won votes by creating new federal programs, without bothering to check whether they work—because in the political market the currency is promises, not results. The federal government now runs more than 80 different antipoverty programs at a cost of about $750 billion a year. Yet 46 million Americans are poor today, and the poverty rate has barely budged: from 19% in 1965 to 14.8% in 2014. If you were raised poor, you’re as likely to stay poor as you were 50 years ago.

It's worth the read ... not very long. How many times have we heard some inflated figure on how much the Iraq war cost us and how it "bankrupted the nation"? Try 50 years of poverty programs that managed to lock tens of millions into a cycle of poverty,  despair, and violence while wasting something like $40 TRILLION inflation adjusted dollars over that period.

Oh, I know, GREAT deal for Democrats! Second biggest vote buying program in history -- with FICA/Medicare taking the TOP spot!

We have reached the point where we deserve the government we have because the government bought all our votes!

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