Johnson's Great Society

[williepete]

So, how'd it all work out?

The Great Society, U. Michigan, 1964 . LBJ . WGBH American Experience | PBS

 

[Katzndogz]

It turned out to be a massive failure.

 

[Mr Natural]

Our poorest citizens have refrigerators, air conditioning, big screen TVs and plenty of beer and smokes.

Seems like it worked out pretty darn good.

 

[eflatminor]

Before the so called 'great society', poverty in America was on the decline, impressively so. When JKF's tax rates kicked in, the economy took off and poverty declined further.

Unfortunately, when we began spending heavily on entitlement programs around 1970, that downward trend in poverty ceased. Even worse, since we began the massive re-distribution until today, poverty is up. Spending on entitlements and the increased reliance on government has made the problem worse. It's irrefutable.

 

[Dreamy]

The Great Society saw government as providing a hand up, not a handout.

How's that working out? Is that war on poverty ever gonna end? The Feds have poured billions and billions of dollars into poor urban neighborhoods. How's that working? Let's talk about the state of affairs in the inner cities?

Just want to note:

The following are not "rights" even though the Great Society and beyond have led too many people to believe such.

The "right" to a job.
The "right" to health care.
The "right" to retirement pensions.
The "right" for someone to buy our food when we are destitute or poor.
The "right" to get a "paycheck" even though you don't work.

 

[eflatminor]

The two main goals of LBJ's great society was to end poverty and racism. So, while we actually made poverty worse, the Black man is thriving, right?

 

[Oldguy]

The two main goals of LBJ's great society was to end poverty and racism. So, while we actually made poverty worse, the Black man is thriving, right?

Not to mention that the official definition of "poverty" is a political decision and it's been changed many times over the years in response to public pressure or someone's agenda.

 

[Votto]

Our poorest citizens have refrigerators, air conditioning, big screen TVs and plenty of beer and smokes.

Seems like it worked out pretty darn good.

Pretty good for $16 trillion in debt, eh?

 

[Votto]

So, how'd it all work out?

The Great Society, U. Michigan, 1964 . LBJ . WGBH American Experience | PBS

Well let's see, they could not balance the budgets any longer so they went to a fiat currency in 1971 so that they could run massive deficits without much problem.

Brilliant!!

Who in the hell said that Richard Nixon was not a great president?

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

The two main goals of LBJ's great society was to end poverty and racism. So, while we actually made poverty worse, the Black man is thriving, right?

THe liberal's Great Society and War on Poverty amounted to a near genocide against American blacks

we could survive slavery, we could survive Jim Crow, but we could not survive liberalism- Walter Williams

Even in the antebellum era, when slaves often weren’t permitted to wed, most black children lived with a biological mother and father. During Reconstruction and up until the 1940s, 75% to 85% of black children lived in two-parent families. Today, more than 70% of black children are born to single women. “The welfare state has done to black Americans what slavery couldn’t do, what Jim Crow couldn’t do, what the harshest racism couldn’t do,” Mr. Williams says. “And that is to destroy the black family.”

 

[TruthSeeker56]

So, how'd it all work out?

The Great Society, U. Michigan, 1964 . LBJ . WGBH American Experience | PBS

Well let's see, they could not balance the budgets any longer so they went to a fiat currency in 1971 so that they could run massive deficits without much problem.

Brilliant!!

Who in the hell said that Richard Nixon was not a great president?

Check your historical facts. The "fiat currency" you mention had nothing to do with Richard Nixon, and EVERYTHING to do with Franklin Roosevelt prohibiting all U.S. citizens from owning gold, beginning in 1933.

Nixon suspended the exchange of gold for U.S. dollars on the INTERNATIONAL market, in 1971.

It was President Gerald Ford who restored the private ownership of gold by U.S. citizens, in 1974.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

The two main goals of LBJ's great society was to end poverty and racism. So, while we actually made poverty worse, the Black man is thriving, right?

Not to mention that the official definition of "poverty" is a political decision and it's been changed many times over the years in response to public pressure or someone's agenda.

not to mention that the poverty numbers do not take into account all the welfare entitlement payments the so called "poor" get. That is why we have to do survey research to find out how many own cars homes cell phones, AC's etc. Our poor would be middle class in Europe.

Lets not forget that France has the per capita income of Arkansas, about our poorest state, yet our liberals love France.

 

[JakeStarkey]

Before the so called 'great society', poverty in America was on the decline, impressively so. When JKF's tax rates kicked in, the economy took off and poverty declined further.

Unfortunately, when we began spending heavily on entitlement programs around 1970, that downward trend in poverty ceased. Even worse, since we began the massive re-distribution until today, poverty is up. Spending on entitlements and the increased reliance on government has made the problem worse. It's irrefutable.

What is refutable is your lies. Before the GS, 25% of senior citizens lived in poverty. The programs cut poverty by 30% in five years. The Civil Rights and Voting acts forced Americans to give all Americans the basic same chance at success, regardless of race. That has been expanded to origin, ethnicity, religion, sex, etc.

Every HS and college history text book will testify to the outstanding success of the GS and will note and refute the haters' attacks against it.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

The two main goals of LBJ's great society was to end poverty and racism. So, while we actually made poverty worse, the Black man is thriving, right?

oh but its politicially incorrect to mention that starting exactly with the Great Society most young black men went to prison or that there are more blacks in prison today than there were slaves in 1860.

 

[JakeStarkey]

The two main goals of LBJ's great society was to end poverty and racism. So, while we actually made poverty worse, the Black man is thriving, right?

oh but its politicially incorrect to mention that starting exactly with the Great Society most young black men went to prison or that there are more blacks in prison today than there were slaves in 1860.

And keep in mind that 75% at least of blacks were in slavery. So you are saying that 75% of young black males are in prision. OK, let's see your sources.

 

[eflatminor]

The two main goals of LBJ's great society was to end poverty and racism. So, while we actually made poverty worse, the Black man is thriving, right?

Not to mention that the official definition of "poverty" is a political decision and it's been changed many times over the years in response to public pressure or someone's agenda.

That's true, the definition has changed. However, by any of the definitions of poverty the government has used, the rate of poverty since we began spending heavily on the so called 'great society' has increased, between 2 and 3 percent.

Yep...trillions of dollars spent...and the problem is WORSE!

 

[Katzndogz]

The rate of poverty hasn't increased, the definition of poverty has expanded. Many people who are "poor" today and entitled to benefits weren't poor five years ago.

 

[eflatminor]

The rate of poverty hasn't increased, the definition of poverty has expanded. Many people who are "poor" today and entitled to benefits weren't poor five years ago.

Actually, the rate of poverty increased under all of the methods used to calculate poverty.

Follow the last change in the way poverty is measured (2012), we still see over a 2% increase in the rate of poverty:

Only 13.7 percent of Americans were poor in 1969...forty years later...the national poverty rate has climbed to 15.8 percent, according to the new Census Bureau measure.

Golden State turns to lead, now leads poverty rankings | The Daily Caller

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Our poorest citizens have refrigerators, air conditioning, big screen TVs and plenty of beer and smokes.

Exactly, so surely they can afford to pay their own way, right?

 

[Bfgrn]

Much or most of the Great Society was JFK's New Frontier programs. Medicare, civil rights, the war on poverty were all Kennedy ideas or programs.

The Great Society was a great success. All of those programs were great successes.