Via Paul Krugman comes this chart showing the correlation between social spending and poverty reduction in industrialized nations. Contrary to some conservative claims, it turns out there actually is such a relationship. Shocking, I know:
There may be some level at which poverty is intractable, but we're nowhere near it. Now, it's fair for a society to decide that it doesn't want to spend much money trying to ease impoverishment, but we should be honest about that choice. Instead, there's a lot of blather about how we "can't" do anything. But that silly. There's lots we can do. It just costs money.
There may be some level at which poverty is intractable, but we're nowhere near it. Now, it's fair for a society to decide that it doesn't want to spend much money trying to ease impoverishment, but we should be honest about that choice. Instead, there's a lot of blather about how we "can't" do anything. But that silly. There's lots we can do. It just costs money. 
