Analysis of The War on Poverty

The “War on Poverty”, introduced by former US President, Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address, was the unofficial name for legislation. President Johnson delivered his "War on Poverty" speech at a time of recovery in which the poverty level had fallen from 22.4% in 1959 to 19% in 1964. Critics saw it as an effort to get the United States Congress to authorize social welfare programs. [1] During Johnson’s 1964 Presidential campaign, he often spoke about his vision for America.

He envisioned an America "where no child will go unfed and no youngster will go unschooled; where every child has a good teacher and every teacher has good pay, and both have good classrooms; where every human being has dignity and every worker has a job...."[2] Johnson referred to his vision as the Great Society. He made a commitment to administer a wage on the "war on poverty."

President Johnson introduced a poverty bill, also known as the Economic Opportunity Act, in March 1964. The EOA passed the senate July 23, 1964. It passed the house with amendment then the senate agreed to the house amendment on August 8, 1964. Finally it was signed into law by President Johnson August 20, 1964. The purpose of this bill was to increase a safety net for the poor and unemployed, expand educational opportunities, to tend to the health and financial needs of the elderly, and eliminate poverty.

Critics claimed that "in the war on poverty, poverty won." Political conservatives argued that health programs, child care programs, public assistance, and food subsidies made the poor families weaker.

“Poverty is a national problem, requiring improved national organization and support. But this attack, to be effective, must also be organized at the state and t...

... middle of paper ...

...it doesn’t have. This country also continues to borrow money we don’t have to pay back in the first place. What this country needs is a really great financial advisor. Instead of constantly spending money on unnecessary things, this country needs to pay all of its bills. The government needs to look at this debt as a loan, which is technically why we’re in this mess in the first place, we’ve been loaned so much money. The problem though is that we haven’t been paying anything back. If you were going to take out a loan from the bank to buy a car, would you just refuse to pay back what you borrowed? Probably not, so what this country needs to do is start paying back anything they’ve borrowed. I don’t believe we will get out of this debt anytime soon but we’ve got to start somewhere. Unless someone actually cares enough, nothing is going to get better in this country.