This message was self-deleted by its author

[dixiegrrrrl]

55. More close to the truth than many people realize.

Many years ago, Frances Fox Piven pointed out why "the poor" were needed, esp. by the rich.

Johnson's "war on Poverty" provided millions of dollars over the years to a giant multi-layered web of
Federal and state agencies, people to staff them, people to study the poor, people to staff the city and local agencies to provide vouchers, services to "the poor" and a fair amount of money actually got to "the poor" in form of AFDC
(welfare) checks and food stamps..( back then food stamps actually had some value).

Oh,yeah, let's not forget the system of universities and colleges which developed programs for Social Work and other
"poverty" related programs, turning out graduates who found work in the multi layers of the system.

By creating an organized system of "fighting poverty", the country could feel good about "taking care of the poor" while at same time punitive policies kept the poor in their place, where they served as object lessons to those class layers above them. And all that money spent, by the states and the Feds, supported a lot of middle class families whose income depended on the bureaucracy of the Poverty program.

The more postiive side of the above was that there WAS a social safety net for people who needed it.