Government

The ‘War on Poverty’ Isn’t Over, and Kids Are Losing

Federal spending on America’s children is heading down, and the drop in funding could be dramatic.
Jim Young/Reuters

Raise the banners and strike up the band, because the “War on Poverty” is won. Mission accomplished! And that means it’s time to hack down the safety net that saved the nation’s poor.

That was the head-turning takeaway from a report last week from the White House Council of Economic Advisors that declared the War on Poverty “largely over and a success.” The report diverged sharply from what even other Republicans say about poverty, to say nothing of economists. (“Do these people ever visit the real world?” Paul Krugman asked.)