Let’s imagine for a moment that there are no political pressures distorting our discussion of poverty and that we can look at it as a technical problem, not a moral one.
Maybe we would find that most explanations – left, right and center – are not mutually exclusive but mutually reinforcing.
Before we take this thought experiment further, we should consider the ramifications of new research that provides insight into urban social disorder, worklessness, the rising salience of education and the shortcomings of government policy. CONT.
Thomas Edsall, New York Times