Poverty

October 23, 2017

What Pope Francis needs to say about wealth

In his most recent homily Pope Francis said that amassing wealth—both money and land—while children suffer and die is a morally unacceptable form of idolatry. There’s an “idolatry that kills,” said Francis, that makes “human sacrifices” by those who are hungry of money, land and wealth, who have “a lot” in front of “hungry children who have no medicine, no education, who are abandoned.” Continue Reading...

October 17, 2017

How close are we to ending extreme poverty?

Today is the 25th anniversary of the declaration by the UN General Assembly designating October 17 as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. The World Bank defines extreme poverty as living on less than $1.90 per person per day. Continue Reading...

October 05, 2017

The surprising good news about child poverty

Here’s some good news you probably haven’t heard: Over the past fifty years the child poverty rate has almost been cut in half, falling to a record low of 15.6 percent in 2016 compared to the 1967 level of 28.4 percent. Continue Reading...

August 03, 2017

Should we treat Medicaid like food stamps?

Want to help the poor? Promote a free market in health care. That’s the argument made by John C. Goodman, author of the new book Priceless: Curing the Healthcare Crisis. Continue Reading...