From John Stossel's blog:
The "experts" in Washington made it their job to provide cradle-to-grave social services and wage a war on poverty. The result? Poverty decreased...and then stopped decreasing.
U.S. poverty rate 1959-2010
U.S. poverty rate 1959-2010
Also, America will soon be bankrupt.
My show this week is about changing course.
Congressman Jim Jordan, chairman of the Republican Study Committee, has a plan to reform welfare. Dan Epstein of the taxpayer watchdog group Cause of Action says a "poverty industry" funnels taxpayer dollars to politically connected groups, even the supposedly defunded ACORN.
NYC Human Resources Administration boss Robert Doar oversees 15,000 government workers who try to address poverty in my town. He says that tying work requirements to benefits will help people become self-sufficient. But when I sent my former intern Zoelle Mallenbaum to a city job center, Doar's bureaucrats seemed more interested in signing her up for food stamps or unemployment benefits than helping her find work.
Tom Palmer, editor of "After the Welfare State," says young people must save for their own future because the money promised them by politicians will be long gone by the time they retire.
So is there an alternative to America's welfare state? Michael Strong works to create alternatives. He has helped establish a "free city" in Honduras that will have minimal taxes and limited government, where people will be better able to prosper.
