http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A16659-2003Dec19.html

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The Poverty Quagmire

By Timothy M. Smeeding

Sunday, December 21, 2003; Page B07

"We have in 1964 a unique opportunity and obligation -- to prove the
success of our system; to disprove those cynics and critics at home and
abroad who question our purpose and our competence."

-- President Lyndon B. Johnson

in his 1964 State of the Union Address

As the 40th anniversary of the War on Poverty approaches, Johnson's words
are a cutting reminder of a war that we have not won. Indeed, it is a war
we have not even fought. Still, it has its casualties: They are the
children and grandchildren of the same people LBJ spoke of 40 years ago.

According to data in the Luxembourg Income Study, child poverty is
significantly higher in the United States than in wealthy European nations
and in Canada and Australia. In 1997 -- in the midst of a robust economy --
one in five American children lived in poverty. This is about double the
rate in other wealthy industrialized nations, such as France, Germany and
the Nordic countries.

We in America have high child poverty rates because we choose to, not
because we cannot do anything about it. Other nations make different
choices and get different results. For example, Tony Blair lifted Britain's
spending on poor families with children by 0.9 percent of GDP. The result?
Britain's high child poverty rate is ebbing as ours continues to climb. The
United States could commit half the effort of Tony Blair's government and
see a seismic shift in the well-being of millions of children.

The truth is that America tolerates -- even accepts -- persistent child
poverty. Our education system reflects it, as do our tax policy, child care
policy and child support policy.

We say that we will leave no child behind, but in fact we continue to drag
millions of children behind each year. And the reality is that they may
never catch up and become fully participating members of society. Poor
children in France, Germany and the Nordic countries are six times more
likely to escape poverty than their American counterparts.

Fully one-third of children of single mothers in the United States today
are not just poor but extremely poor. As the study data indicate,
low-income single mothers in the United States work more hours than do
single mothers in any other wealthy nation, yet have higher poverty rates.

Decades of economic growth have not lifted the worst-off Americans to a
higher standard of living. Ten percent of America's children are so
impoverished that their normal health and growth are seriously at risk.

Every policy decision has its consequences. We spend billions caring for
our elderly through successful and cherished federal programs. We spend
money here and shed blood abroad to fight against terrorism. These are
difficult and complex decisions, but policymakers do find the will to make
them. That has not been the case when it comes to child poverty. Efforts
that simply attempt to change the behavior of people living in poverty, and
put the blame entirely on them, will fail. Working hard is simply not
enough. The government needs to support people, not merely threaten them.
Or else, 40 years from now, a future government will be threatening their
children.

Preventing future generations of children from growing up poor,
undereducated and malnourished has been perpetually on America's "to do"
list. Nearly seventy years ago we made a commitment to deal with old-age
poverty, and we have been fairly successful in doing so. Nothing on that
scale is being seriously considered in Washington to deal with our
children.

Johnson's 1964 State of the Union address sounds ominous now: "If we fail,
if we fritter and fumble away our opportunity in needless, senseless
quarrels . . . then history will rightfully judge us harshly. But if we
succeed, if we can achieve these goals by forging in this country a greater
sense of union, then, and only then, can we take full satisfaction in the
State of the Union."

President Bush cannot truthfully declare the state of the Union strong in
the face of the harsh facts of life for America's poor children. In this
holiday season he should truly dedicate America to fighting the War on
Poverty that was proclaimed nearly 40 Christmases ago but never fought.
There are millions of ground troops in our schools, on our streets, in our
places of worship and in our government to support such an effort, if
policymakers would stop dragging their heels and dragging our children
behind them.

Timothy M. Smeeding is co-author, with Lee Rainwater, of "Poor Kids in a
Rich Country: America's Children in Comparative Perspective," published by
the Russell Sage Foundation. He is also director of the Luxembourg Income
Study, a project that assembles income data from a number of countries.

© 2003 The Washington Post Company

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