"the general welfare"

[Malla Pollack]

The list recently had a very lively discussion of positive rights and the US
Constitution.  We might have a more productive discussion if we discussed
the underlying issue in terms of the goals announced in the Preamble (which
I would assume have some moral force against all citizens of the US as well
as all parts of its government).  The shortfall I see between announced US
ideals and reality should also be important to those who recognize that US
international interests and power are tied to its image.  The following
quote is from a paper I found through Google-Scholar: Luxembourg Income
Study; Working Paper No. 244;  United States Poverty

in a Cross-National Context, by 

 

Timothy M. Smeeding

Lee Rainwater

Gary Burtless

September 2000

 

 

"If lessons can be learned from cross-national comparisons, there is much
that can be

learned about antipoverty policy by American voters and policymakers. The
United States has

one of the highest poverty rates of all the countries participating in the
LIS, whether poverty is

measured using an absolute or a relative standard for determining who is
poor. Although the

high rate of relative poverty in the United States is no surprise, given the
country's well-known

tolerance of wide economic disparities, the lofty rate of absolute poverty
is much more troubling.

After Luxembourg, the United States has the highest average income in the
industrialized world.

Our analysis of absolute poverty rates provides poverty estimates for 11
industrialized countries.

The United States ranks second highest among the 11 in per capita income,
yet it ranks third

highest in the percentage of its population with absolute incomes below the
American poverty

line. The per capita income of the United States is more than 30 percent
higher than it is, on

average, in the other ten countries of our survey. Yet the absolute poverty
rate in the United

States is 13.6 percent, while the average rate in the other 10 countries is
just 8.1 percent-5.5

percentage points lower than the United States rate."

 

 

 

 

Malla Pollack

Professor, American Justice School of Law

mpollack at ajsl.us

270-744-3300 x 28

articles http://works.bepress.com/malla_pollack/

 

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