Editorial Board
The War on Poverty 2.0
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President Lyndon B. Johnson’s “unconditional war” on poverty in America would not be short or easy, he warned, and no single weapon or strategy would suffice. The intervening five decades have not only proved him right, they also have shown which approaches are most successful.
Were it not for Medicaid, unemployment insurance, Head Start, food stamps and the many other programs LBJ set in motion 50 years ago today, the poverty level would be almost twice as high as it is -- 16 percent of the population -- with children and the elderly making up most of the difference. In the recent downturn alone, the level would have surged by at least five percentage points.