Another reason to grow government would be that poverty maims the cognitive, physical, and emotional stamina of children, costing society $15.4 billion annually “in reduced productivity and increased crime and health care costs.” These ailments could be fixed by marginalizing small businesses with living wage ordinances, trusting children to government programs instead of parents, inequitable tax structures, and socialized medicine. At least that is what Action for Children NC claims in its new report, “Child Porverty in North Carolina.”