After over 50 years and $22 trillion, the government says America is in the same place it started. Yet how can we explain why more American’s have car’s, TV’s, cell phones, government healthcare and are becoming obese? Where’s the poverty in that?
Poverty is complicated, but according to syndicated columnist Walter Williams, it’s easily beat by doing the following: “Complete high school; get a job, any kind of a job; get married before having children; and be a law-abiding citizen.” The numbers bear this out. The federal poverty level for a single individual in 2017 was income of $12,060. For a household of two it was $16,240. Using the federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour, one would earn $15,080 a year and $30,160 a year for two such earners in a married household. While neither are amounts to get excited about, both thresholds are ABOVE poverty. Further, 29 states and D.C. have a minimum wage higher than $7.25. Listening to “The Left”, you’d think tens of millions toil at minimum wage. But statistics show just 2.9 percent of the workers earn minimum wage. Why do business and government pay 97.1 percent of the workforce more than the minimum? Simple. Those workers have education and/or skills that make them more valuable. Therefore, investing in one’s own human capital is a sure-fire way to avoid poverty. Of course wearing a clean shirt and speaking proper English (as opposed to “street vernacular”) at an interview wouldn’t hurt either.
