Anti-anti Poverty

Paul Ryan and the rest of the republicans have decided they know how to end poverty in the US.  Just defund and decimate virtually all programs designed to help the poor and the moochers and takers will somehow become self sufficient.  No minimum wage increase, a slight increase in the earned income tax credit and big cuts to the SNAP (food stamp) program will somehow lift a mother of two out of poverty.  Of course to get anything on the EITC, you have to make some money and that is hard if you are toiling for Walmart or Mickey D.  If you even have a job to begin with.  With most entry level manufacturing jobs offshored to China or Vietnam and 3 or more applicants for what is  left, employment is perhaps the most pressing issue of all.  But Ryan's plan doesn't even address jobs.  It is mostly and excursion into punishing the poor for the crime of being that way.  As a society, we believe in "equality of opportunity".  In practice, equality ends about 5 minutes after conception.  A baby growing inside a poor woman will not get the same care as one inside her wealthy counterpart.  After birth, poor diet, random care arrangements, little exposure to learning before school age and sporadic health care combine to permanently handicap low income children.  While there may be waste and abuse in present anti-poverty programs, the approach our policy elites  seem to choose is to eliminate most of them without seriously addressing the underlying problems.  To really lift people out of poverty, the first step is a guaranteed income.  By freeing people from the worry associated with putting food on the table and a roof over their heads, the mcjobs will have to offer more money to get anyone to take them.  This floor will also increase the remuneration for middle class jobs like teaching, firefighting, etc.   The key of course is to get the defense budget, the 1% and corporations to pay for it.  In the long run, the taxes paid and money spent in the economy by the newly empowered lower and middle classes will lead to new prosperity.  We need the courage to make the changes necessary to implement this vision.