What, in your opinion, is the best way to reduce poverty in the US?

Question

I would say increase funding for education and set it up so more people stay in school so they could get better jobs. That's just my opinion.

Just say what you think is progressive, but don't bash the other party.
AND DON'T SAY "DEPORT LIBERALS/CONSERVATIVES"

Thank you.

I'm open to all ideas and I'll pick the most well proposed idea. That means I really don't care if it's conservative or liberal.
I you present it well then I'm happy and I might pick it as best answer.

Good luck! ;)

Answer 1

Not that long ago people were coming from India and other nations to WORK HERE. That meant that they paid taxes here, bought goods and services here. Now the jobs are THERE. The earnings from those jobs go 100% to those OTHER nation's economies, not our own. Our tax structure should address the impact that sending jobs overseas has on our economy -- if a company sends a job to Honduras or Viet Nam, that company should make up to the US, state, and local treasuries for the tax revenue lost when that job disappears, for the adverse effect on prosperity when that worker is buying goods and services in another nation instead of in our own.

(I'm trying to be non-partisan here, but this principle is an important facet of CLINTONOMICS.)

Answer 2

I agree with deporting ALL illegal immigrants but at this point that idea appears to be unrealistic. I know this may sound corny but, I believe the average middle class American should be mindful of wasting food and donate miscellaneous items to people who really need it, items such as clothes, shoes, etc. I also, think there should be more non-profit organizations that fund and aid poor people. Instead of consistent charity, there should be more opportunity. A good opportunity can drastically change an individuals life and prevent the government from enabling them. These opportunities should consist of jobs and education. By providing people with opportunities instead of charity is a good idea because it teaches them to be a productive member of society without becoming stagnate. I believe the ultimate goal of government assistance is for an indivdiual or family to use the resources and donations that are given as a stepping stone to growth and development in regards to education and careers.

Answer 3

You face two paradoxes:
1) More education does not make people more sensible
2) Poverty is not ended by throwing money at it
I think that many teenagers are bored by going to college after 16 and would be happier, more productive citizens if they were allowed to do responsible jobs.
Raising the tax threshold so that it only kicked in at an income of $50,000 dollars a year, and abolishing a lot of welfare bossiness would also help allow 'the poor' advance.

Answer 4

The Alaska state constitution claims common heritage rights of ownership of oil and other minerals for the people of the state as a whole. Citizen dividend checks are distributed every year in Alaska out of the interest payments to an oil royalties deposit account called the Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) created in 1976 after oil was discovered on the North Slope. The APF is a public trust fund - a diversified stock, bond and real estate portfolio - into which are deposited the oil royalties received from the corporations which extract the oil from the lands of Alaska. The first citizen dividend check from the interest of the APF was issued in 1982 and was for $1000 per every person for everyone in Alaska who had resided in the state for at least one year. Annual citizen dividends have been issued every year since then, for a total of more than $23,000 per person.

In 2003, each of the nearly 600,000 Alaska US citizens (residents of Alaska for at least one year) received a check for $1,107 from the APF. The total amount dispersed was $663.2 million. The $25 billion investment fund's core experienced stock market losses which led to the dividend's decline this past year compared to the several previous years. The amount was $433 less, a 28 percent drop from the 2002 pay out of $1,540, and a 44 percent decrease from the all-time high of $1,964 in year 2000. The amount changes based on a five-year average of APF investment income derived from the bonds, stock dividends, real estate and other investments.

Alaska relies on oil for about 80 percent of its revenue and has no sales or income tax. Alaska state government is mandated to invest 25% of its oil revenue into the APF while the other 75% of oil royalty revenue is dispersed to other government funds to finance education, infrastructure and social services. If 100% of Alaska's oil royalties had been deposited into the APF, it is conceivable that the CD this year could have been about $4,400 or $17,600 for a family of four. But then there would have been no funds for roads, education and other public services and no funds available to run the state legislature - a libertarian dream fulfillment or a social and economic disaster, which one we will never know. If state services were to have been maintained while 100% of oil royalties were deposited in the APF, there would of course have been the need for income, sales and other taxes on wages and production.

Kuwait,and Dubia have this kind of system, while Nigeria and Norway are working on a similar system. IOf the Us waits to much longer "we" will be the lesser nation. I have named this kind of system "The National Income Program".

Answer 5

Well, terminating the exportation of our manufacturing base would be a great start.
Like it or not, not every kid who graduates from high school is college material. The manufacturing industry that is now all but in the toilet allowed such people (as well as others) to earn a decent living with pensions and health-care benefits. When manufacturing in this nation dies, the entire middle class dies; Americans will be either professionals, or burger-flippers, with very little in-between.

Answer 6

That should work, however some of young people do not want to stay in school , they would rather work some are not academically inclined. The poor will always be with us, when you think that some may be sick and cannot continue in either at school or at the job. If work is available, and education is available, the opportunity is there for everyone to prosper.

Answer 7

I've been in college since 1997. I have a bachelor's degree. I started a master's degree, but graduate school wasn't my thing. I've been doing a certificate program at the local tech school part time since then. All my education hasn't amounted to squat. I have a job a monkey can do, but I don't leave it because anything I would jump to pays less and there's that whole health insurance problem.

What really needs to be done is to make sure good paying jobs stay in the US. If people have jobs to go to, and they earn money, voila! they aren't poor. No poverty. You could have a PhD in quantum physics and if there aren't any jobs what good is that degree going to be anyway?

Answer 8

-Increase funding for education.
-nationalize the fuel and oil industry so fuels can be made with waste without having to worry about appeasing stock holders. As revenue for the government rises cut tax revenue by the same amount until all personal income tax is abolished and replaced by fuel revenue.
-reduce taxes for small businesses which is where 60%+ of american labor resides.
-institute a national healthcare program that is provided by private insurers, and place welfare recipients on that to reduce welfare costs for health care.
-Stop forcing our manufacturers to compete with companies that pay their laborers 50 cents a day.

Answer 9

People need to get some perspective. The vast majority of people in the world do live in poverty. Most Americans don't have a concept of what poverty even is. Poverty in America means a family only has one car, their microwave oven is ten years old, and they can only afford the basic channels on their satellite dish.

Answer 10

By letting people keep more of their money and making it possible for people to earn a living...decreasing government intervention and regulation of businesses.

Spending more on education has no merit. We spend multi billions on education now. It is a liberal myth that some benefit will be gained by spending more on education. It would go to the teachers who are not doing the job now.