Did Alan Greenspan Finally Notice That Poverty Exists?

In a June 14 Yahoo News article entitled "Rich-Poor Gap Gaining Attention", Christian Science Monitor staff writer Peter Grier reported that Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan finally acknowledged the existence of poverty in United States.

Unfortunately, the article did not feature anything in particular that Mr. Greenspan actually said that might indicate he has a conception of what poverty is, or what it is like to live in poverty. In fact, the only Greenspan quote offered was this rhetorical gem: "As I've often said, this is not the type of thing which a democratic society - a capitalist democratic society - can really accept without addressing."

I can only assume he was speaking about poverty, because that's what Grier's article said Greenspan was speaking about.

The article also mentioned that Greenspan said the solution to poverty is better education. However, I did not see any mention of public and private universities with multi-billion dollar endowments sending their new graduates packing for debtors prison, armed only with lousy to mediocre educations, tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars in student loans, and no job.

And this hard-hitting article is supposed to convince us that the rich-poor gap is finally gaining national attention? Shame on Yahoo for ever publishing this kind of crap, and for attempting to convince readers that any politician in Washington, D.C. truly comprehends the reality of poverty or debtors imprisonment.

All the best,
Paul