And at the December 1999 meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, the U.N. Secretary-General urged action on initiatives for poverty eradication in the new millennium. Even the prosperous United States is not exempt from that mandate, with 34.5 million persons living below the poverty level, down from 35.6 million a year earlier. He notes that the U.S. presidential candidates seem to have rediscovered the poor among us and have even taken to saying things out loud about them. Vice President Al Gore wants to expand the earned income tax credit, federal health care and nutrition programs for needy children. He also supports an increase in minimum wage and promotes better enforcement of child support laws.
Political analysts agree that the politics of poverty are back in style.
Welfare reform has made it safe for candidates to talk about the poor without having to deride or support that system. The strong economy also plays a role. Polls show that with a large number of voters experiencing good economic times, there is more interest in helping those less fortunate. Lawrence Aber, director of the National Center for Children in Poverty at Columbia University, suggests this may be the beginning of a new national debate about poverty. In the America of the late 1990s, with IPOs that created daily instant millionaires and a buoyant Nasdaq economy, poor families have had to wage their daily struggles amid pervasive chatter about unprecedented prosperity.