So rich, so poor: why it's so hard to end poverty in America

Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- A snapshot of our current mess -- What we have accomplished -- Why are we stuck? -- Jobs : the economy and public policy go south (for most of us) -- Deep poverty : a gigantic hole in the safety net -- Concentrated poverty : "the abandoned" -- Young people : improving the odds -- Conclusion.;Why are nearly 50 million people in the richest nation in the world counted as poor and what do we need to do to change that? Peter Edelman, once a top aide to Senator Robert F. Kennedy and a lifelong advocate on these issues, looks at the economic and political history of the past half century and offers some answers. We have taken important positive steps without which 25 to 30 million more people would be poor, but poverty has fluctuated with the business cycle. The answer lies primarily in the fundamental restructuring of the economy that stultified wage growth for half of America's workers, with even worse results at the bottom and for people of color, and bestowed billions on those at the top.