With the poverty rate stuck at 15% for an unprecedented three straight years, everyone is worried about the rise in poverty under Barack Obama.\u00a0 The New York Times<\/b> just published a book-length expose of the travails of Dasani, a bright and brave little girl with seven siblings who are all homeless and forced to live in one room in a Brooklyn shelter.<\/p>\n
Relax.\u00a0 The war on poverty is working great, if you just know where to look.\u00a0 The ostensible beneficiaries (the poor) may not be doing too well, but poverty warriors\u2014the valiant and selfless bureaucrats, social workers, foundationistas and academics struggling to create a more just and equitable society\u2014are doing just fine.<\/p>\n
Consider the research grants received by one prominent academic, who shall go nameless.\u00a0 Based on the list of grants detailed in his CV, he and his co-researchers have received $7,914,083 in grants from governments and foundations, nearly all within the last 15 years. Most of the payout has come from the National Institute of Child Health and Development, the National Institute of Mental Health, and foundations we hear about all the time on NPR\u2014Ford, Russell Sage, Annie E. Casey, William T. Grant, MacArthur, etc..\u00a0 Here is a run-down, with slight changes of amounts and other details to hide the recipient\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n
Not to mention large sums received by this professor for numerous fellowships, conferences, etc.\u00a0 And keep in mind these are the winnings of just one academic and his co-workers<\/b>, albeit one who appears to be particularly proficient at grantsmanship.\u00a0 There are many more where he came from.<\/p>\n
I know what you\u2019re thinking.\u00a0 Instead of spending money on research that has yielded no observable benefit to the poor over the past fifty years, why not spend the money directly on the poor<\/b>?\u00a0 Dasani and dozens of other poor children could get a good education in a first-class private school, such as Washington DC\u2019s Sidwell Friends, where Sasha and Malia Obama go.\u00a0 Annual tuition at Sidwell Friends\u2019 lower school runs $34,288, so the research funds spent by just this one professor could pay for 231 years of schooling at Sidwell Friends<\/b>.<\/p>\n
The flaw in such thinking is obvious.\u00a0 We know, from the brilliant research of the brilliant Paul Krugman and other brilliant Keynesians, that the best way to expand GDP is through government spending.\u00a0 If we actually reduced poverty by giving Dasani and her siblings a good education, government spending would go down and the economy would suffer!<\/b>\u00a0 The anti-poverty grants must flow freely to keep our wobbly economy afloat.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2013 Thomas Doerflinger.\u00a0 All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With the poverty rate stuck at 15% for an unprecedented three straight years, everyone is worried about the rise in poverty under Barack Obama.\u00a0 The New York Times just published a book-length expose of the travails of Dasani, a bright … Continue reading