# Poverty By:: [[Ross Jackson]] 2022-09-28 The poverty rate in the United States is about 10%. In other words, about one in ten Americans live in poverty. Given a population of about 330 million people in the United States, the 10% poverty rate equates to about 33 million people. That number is about the same as the entire populations of Belgium, Sweden, and the Czech Republic combined. Poverty is a wicked problem. Poverty persists in the United States despite Federal and private programs designed to address it. If one wants to make this situation better what is one to do? The persistence of poverty in America is not due to a lack of analysis. This issue has been addressed from various perspectives and has made us of a combination of Federal policies and private charities. And yet, poverty persists. Why? Analysis doesn’t necessarily get it right. The analytic solution could be based on erroneous assumptions. The point isn’t that analysis is always right, but rather, that analysis provides one with an explicit point to test cause and effect [[relationships]]. One can try something and see if it works. If it does, great. If it doesn’t work, or only works partially, one can take the new data, reanalyze the situation, and adjust (ideally, improve). This type of muddling through is sometimes the best humans can do. This degree of measured [[rationality]] seems absent within our society. What do we tend to do instead? We fight. Oftentimes politically, sometimes physically. What do we fight about? Everything. Some would argue we shouldn’t help those in poverty at all. Others propose that we should simply give each individual [[money]]. Another group might argue that the assistance should be contingent on recipient behavior. Still, others contend that we need a holistic approach that helps the individual grow out of poverty. The resulting policy is largely an incoherent patchwork. Poverty persists and it’s difficult to discern what if anything worked. Society faces a host of issues. Poverty is one. Unless issues are resolved, society will face, by definition, an increasing number of problems as new concerns emerge. It seems perplexing that we can figure out how to make an atomic bomb or hit an asteroid with a rocket, but we can’t figure out how to take care of basic human needs. And yet, it is so. The question is what is the value analysis when those making decisions don’t care? #### Related Items [[Analytics]] [[Society]] [[Policies]] [[Value]] [[Cause and Effect]]