Fifty years ago last night, President Lyndon Baines Johnson called on lawmakers to help him wage a war on poverty. Few would argue that poverty is still a large issue today, but the effectiveness of the programs launched -- programs like Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, Job Corps, etc. -- are widely debated depending on what party you identify with.
Today we talk about the legacy of the program with a variety of scholars.
First we speak with economic historian Dr. Martha J. Bailey, co-editor of "Legacies of the War on Poverty," and Igor Volsky, deputy editor of ThinkProgress.
- Dr. Bailey's NYTimes editorial: "Why we need one"
- Volsky's article: "Racism, Sexism, and the 50-Year Campaign to Undermine the War on Poverty"
In the second half of the show, we speak with Ron Haskins with the Brookings Institution on what went wrong with the campaign to end poverty. We speak also with Scott Winship, the Walter B. Wriston fellow at the Manhattan Institute, who argues that both left and right have the scope of the problem wrong.
- Haskins' editorial: "The War On Poverty: What Went Wrong?"
- Winship's take on NYTimes.com: "Focus on Intergenerational Mobility"
*The Source airs at 3 p.m. on KSTX 89.1 FM - audio from this show will be posted by 5:30 p.m.
