Ending Poverty in America: How to Restore the American Dream

[Sapphire Blue]

Well, of course I had to stop by & post this!

The Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity is proud to announce the publication of its new book, Ending Poverty in America: How to Restore the American Dream.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the U.S. poverty rate in 2005 was 12.6% or approximately one out of every eight people. While the percentage of people living in poverty has fluctuated since the Census Bureau started collecting this data, it has never dropped below 11.1%. Can we, the wealthiest nation in the world, do better? Morally, economically and socially can we afford not to?

Through thoughtful analysis and concrete policy suggestions from both liberal and conservative perspectives, the Poverty Center's new book tackles the seemingly intractable problem of poverty in the United States. Divided into five sections, each of which explores a facet of poverty, the book showcases contributions by some of the most distinguished academics and policymakers working in the field today. In addition, it features the advice and wisdom of dedicated community leaders, entrepreneurs and neighborhood organizers, creating a dialogue between anti-poverty theory and practice. Senator John Edwards' stirring conclusion summarizes the book's findings, issues a clarion call for public debate and suggests a bold new direction in combating poverty.

Contributing authors include Jacob Hacker, Secretary Jack Kemp, Katherine S. Newman, Michael Sherraden, David Shipler, Beth Shulman, Elizabeth Warren and William Julius Wilson. To see the Table of Contents, including all authors and chapter titles, click here.

Ending Poverty in America: How to Restore the American Dream is edited by Senator John Edwards, founding director of the The Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity; Marion Crain, current director and Paul Eaton Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law; and Arne L. Kalleberg, Kenan Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Senior Associate Dean for Social Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity Advisory Board member. It will be available for sale on April 30, 2007.


http://www.law.unc.edu/centers/details.aspx?ID=425&Q=3

Transformational Change For America And The World - JOHN EDWARDS 08

"I'm proposing we set a national goal of eliminating poverty in the next 30 years." - JOHN EDWARDS 08

[Warpy]

1. You can't totally eliminate the poverty (destitution, really)

caused by alcoholism and addiction, but you can alleviate it.

How? Scrape it off the top, recirculate it at the bottom.

That was the New Deal, and it worked. There was poverty, but little destitution.

[Snotcicles]

3. Maybe we can't eliminate poverty but it would be a worthy endeavor to try. nt

[hfojvt]

2. Interesting book, but I don't like the 2nd half of the title

To me 'The American Dream' is a huge part of the problem as it is about 'more, more, more'. As Gandhi said 'the earth supplies enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed.' Or Vonnegut, in Rosewater 'There's plenty for everybody if people would just share more.' I would add 'and co-operate' after share - there's plenty for everybody if people would just share and co-operate more. But 'the American Dream' seems to be about division - make the family smaller, a nuclear instead of an extended family, and make the family richer. Two cars in every double garage. With an extra garage, which, like the basement, is packed with stuff we never or hardly ever use.

And :hi: good to see you again. Let's see if the topic takes off.

[Demeter]

4. Universal Health Care Would Be a Good Start

Probably take care of half the problem, right there.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

5. There is enough excess and abundance to make hunger less prevalent

At least. Eradication would be the ideal, but to get the situation to the point where outbreaks of hunger/famine, whether caused by natural disaster, or by the hand of man's cruelty, can be addressed competently would be the most realistic goal. The bounty we know and often take for granted, begs to be shared with those who have nothing.


What exists in the world today is both unforgivable and easily rectified.

Which makes it all the more unforgivable :grr:

Allo SB!! :hi: :hug: :loveya:

[porphyrian]

6. I'll kick that. - n/t

[goclark]

7. Glad you came by to post this important message! k and r

[Matsubara]

8. A more progressive income tax helped a lot...

When the people at the top have exponentially more, they tend to buy more and more vacation homes and investment properties that usually sit empty, especially during a speculative boom like the one that is now ending, it drives the price of housing so high that in most cities an average working family can hardly afford rent on an apartment.

I have always and will always call for a return to the pre-Reagan tax brackets, and elimination of tax breaks on capital gains.

The rich have become exponentially richer in my lifetime and shifted a huge amount of the tax burden onto the poor.

It's time the democrats got the stones to put an end to it.

[Cleita]

9. No one should go hungry, unsheltered or without health care

when those things are available. That means we have to sit down and figure out how to make sure that everyone gets what they need. No one should go hungry when the stores and fields are full of food. No one should go homeless when there are plenty of buildings and houses that are empty at any time of the year. No one should go without health care and medicine when facilities, health care providers and hospitals are available.

So if there is plenty of food, shelter and health care to go around, we have to make sure everyone gets what they need. It shouldn't be so difficult once we figure out who is controlling those assets and make them share their excess with those who have nothing. There is a way, but greedy people aren't going to give up what's too much for them unless they are coerced to.

I had a crazy idea that there should be a law in each community that states that no one can spend their money on luxuries, like let's say a boat for instance, as long as there was one homeless person on the street, one family living in substandard housing, one person who couldn't get health care because they couldn't afford it and one person who didn't have enough food from week to week in their community. If there was such a law you can be sure most people and businessess will work on solutions to make sure that none of that happens in their community so that they can purchase their luxury items. After all what's the point of being rich if you can't enjoy what money buys?

[Jcrowley]

10. Kick and Rec

[Blackhatjack]

11. thanks for posting this --People are still unaware what John Edwards has been doing....n/t

[NormanYorkstein]

12. Edwards has the best policies on this

and most everything really, he's done an amazing job of laying out a comprehensive platform and strategy for actually getting things done.

[Skittles]

13. restoring jobs back to America would be a start

it sickens me to see my own country pimping our jobs out to the lowest overseas bidder