unofficial name for legislation first introduced by U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964
For decades, American policymakers have debated how best to reduce poverty. The dominant policy response since 1964 and the launch of the War on Poverty under President Lyndon B. Johnson has been redistribution, expanding government programs designed to transfer…
Michael Tanner documents the challenges associated with rural poverty in America. The common image of poverty in the United States is a primarily urban phenomenon. This preconception helps shape the…
Phil Gramm and Jodey Arrington highlight a popular misconception about the federal debt. Ask any budget expert in Washington to explain the ballooning deficit and debt, and Social Security and…
“To be rather than to seem” is a great guiding principle for effective public policy. Many policies started with good intentions don’t bring about the desired outcomes. Policymakers guided by…
Phil Gramm and Mike Solon write for the Wall Street Journal about President Biden’s failure to learn from history he witnessed firsthand. History withholds its wisdom from those who ignore…
The progressive plan to address poverty has been ineffective at best, but most likely incredibly harmful. Government programs control people, while freedom empowers people. Free people should rely on each…
If you read conservative culture commentary with any regularity, you’ll frequently come across an article or two highlighting the critical importance of fathers in the lives of their children. The…
William Voegeli reviews for the New Criterion a book correcting the historical record about Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society. It’s authored by Amity Shlaes, who’s following up her documentation of the…
In Changes in Family Structure and Welfare Participation Since the 1960S: The Role of Legal Services, Jamein Cunningham and Andrew Goodman-Bacon document the unintended and undesirable consequences of a federal program that…
Michael Tanner writes for National Review Online about contrasting ways to address the needs of the poor. It probably won’t come as much of a surprise to learn that most…
Congratulations to JLF Senior Fellow Garland Tucker, whose analysis of our $20 trillion+ debt load has been published by Investor’s Business Daily at investors.com. He reminds us of the fiscal…
That’s the title of a thought-provoking article by Frank Buckley. In it, Buckley compares the media’s recent coverage of America’s rural poor, with the way rural poverty was covered in previous…