Doing for the Poor and Doing to the Poor

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Doing-for-the-Poor-and-Doi-by-Dean-Baker-Economy_Jobs_Poor_Unemployment-140617-783.html



High Unemployment Due to Lack of Demand, Not Lack of Skills or Education

Doing for the Poor and Doing to the Poor
By Dean Baker
OpEdNews Op Eds 6/17/2014 at 15:39:06

Washington is full of well-meaning types who want to help the poor. The list of prospective helpers includes not only the standard liberal do-gooder types talking about programs like pre-K education, but also conservatives like Paul Ryan who argue that taking away food stamps and other benefits will give low-income people the motivation they need to go out and get a job.

While sincere efforts to help the poor should be encouraged, we should also realize that our current economic policies are doing much to harm the poor. First and foremost we should realize that the decision to maintain high rates of unemployment is having a devastating impact on the well-being of millions of low- and moderate-income workers and their children.

The reasons are straightforward. When the overall unemployment rate goes up, the rate for the less-educated and minorities rises even more. This has been a regular pattern in the data for many decades that has been very visible in the current downturn.

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The point here should be clear. We can hugely boost employment and create enormous opportunities for low- and moderate-income families by having budget policies and trade policies that promoted high employment instead of policies that lead to high unemployment.