Creating Wealth for the Poor is an interesting opinion piece by E. J. Dionne, Jr. The article is about how Democrats might advance an agenda that makes a difference in people's lives instead of endless harping about wealth redistribution. Here are a couple of excerpts:
That's where the Urban Institute study, "Reconnecting Disadvantaged Young Men," co-authored by Offner with my Georgetown University colleagues Peter Edelman and Harry J. Holzer, comes in. They write: "Nearly 3 million less-educated young people between the ages of 16 and 24 — about half of whom are young men — are disconnected from education and employment in the United States." This disconnected cohort includes significant numbers of Hispanics and whites, but African Americans are disproportionately represented in their ranks. While policymakers have spent much energy on the problems facing single mothers, they have done little about the disadvantages facing young men.
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The authors of the report offer resolutely hardheaded solutions. They would reform education and training programs and work with employers and other intermediaries to connect these young men to the labor market. They would expand programs such as the Job Corps that have "proven track records," and have us do far more to integrate ex-offenders into the world of work. They would create much stronger work incentives through income supplements, higher minimum wages and changes in the child support system.
The Urban Institute authors can be read as bringing Sims's practical focus on government's role in wealth creation to the task of expanding opportunities for the least fortunate among the young. This is good public policy. My hunch is that it could also be good politics.
I haven't read the report by the Urban Institute, so I don't know how much I agree with the specifics, but it sounds like this is on the right track. Here is a link to the Urban Institute to learn more about the report: Reconnecting Disadvantaged Young Men. It is going on my reading list.
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