Title: Poverty in the Sixties
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Poverty in the Sixties
Content: Another criticism is that potentially helpful poverty solutions proposed by economists, such as Milton Friedman's proposal for a negative income tax, were not included. The major explanation for the persistence of poverty in the face of the Great Society, however, was the effect of U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Military spending diverted funds that might have been used to mount a powerful assault against poverty. In addition, the inflationary effects of the war placed greater pressure on the entire nation, including the poor. Although starvation and other extreme symptoms had been severely reduced, poverty was still a major problem in the United States by the end of the 1960s. Subsequent attempts to eradicate poverty or at least reduce its severity would be haunted by the ambivalent victory in the War on Poverty. Johnson's dream of a "great society" would remain largely a dream.