Politics & the Poor

Politics and policy issues often involve questions about the role of government in aiding "the poor." Of course, such issues seem to be a natural area of concern or interest for Christians. It seems to me that before we can go very far with making political choices in these policy areas we really need to have a good understanding of what is real with respect to being "poor" in the United States today.

Thomas Sowell's essay "The Mirage of Equality" in his book The Quest for Cosmic Justice offers some of this understanding:

In short, neither the rich nor the poor match the classic picture of a class into which people are born, live, and die -- and in which they maintain a lifestyle born of that permanence. The persistently rich and persistently poor, put together, are not a major segment of the American population, though political issues are often framed as if they were. . . .only 3 percent of Americans remain in the bottom 20 percent for as long as eight years. Only 3.5 percent of the American population have a net worth of one million dollars or more, even though net worth literally includes the kitchen sink, as well as other household assets, clothing, pension fund equity, and other assets that could not be turned into ready cash. Nevertheless, even with this generous definition, both the rich and the poor -- put together -- add up to less than 7 percent of the American population. Nevertheless, great political and ideological battles are often fought as if these were the central groups in the society, rather than the other 93 percent who are in no meaningful sense either rich or poor.

A major factor in both income and wealth is age. Those who have worked for many years tend to have advanced in their careers to higher-paying positions and to have accumulated more assets, whether in the form of money in the bank or a pension fund, or equity in their homes. People in their sixties have persistently had higher incomes than people in their twenties and much higher net worths. In short, membership in various income brackets tends to be transient, in the American economy at least, due both to age and to the ordinary ups and downs of individuals' careers and of the surrounding economy. Yet that fact has had very little effect on visions, crusades, or the rhetoric attacking 'inequality.'" (pp. 56-57)

Does this ring true to you?

Whether you answer yes or no, if you assume Sowell is accurate in his analysis, what might be the implications for the role of government with respect to "the poor?" Doesn't his analysis suggest that the political attention given to "the poor" is way out of proportion? If most of those counted in the group of "the poor" in any given year in the United States are counted there because they are young, doesn't this suggest that no matter what public policy is chosen government will be unable to significantly change the number who are counted as poor?