Poverty Policy in the United States: Why Government Programs Fail

Abstract

This article posits the issue of American poverty and governments' inability to significantly alter this adverse social condition. While data suggests there has been a substantial and measurable improvement in poverty rates over the past four decades, the fact remains, poverty is an inherent and permanent factor of the American social, economic and political landscape. The United States government has implemented numerous programs and allocated billions of dollars in an attempt to reduce or eliminate poverty and the problem persists. This review focuses on poverty reduction policy and philosophy in the United States since the 1960's. The primary objective of this review is to better understand data trends, barriers and flaws in the philosophy of policy reduction policy adopted by the United States federal government.

Keywords: poverty, social progress, economic progress, government programs

JEL Classification: B2, D6, E2, I00, I3, J1