Here are four things to understand about poverty and dependency.
- Throughout most of human history, harsh material deprivation
was the norm for the vast majority of people. - The development of free enterprise and economic liberty led to dramatic increases in living standards.
- The poverty rate declined significantly in the 1800s and early 1900s when there was no welfare state.
- After the welfare state was created, poverty and dependency stopped declining.
Now let’s add a fifth item.
- The United States adopted welfare reform in the mid-1990s.
Today’s column examines whether this was a bad development or good development.
We’ll start with a harsh critic.
In his column for the New York Times, Charles Blow wants Democrats to repeal Clinton’s welfare reform.
Clinton’s record, particularly with respect to Black and brown Americans and the poor, was marked by catastrophic miscalculation. …the welfare reform bill, …Clinton promised would “end…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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