The question is not what can WE do . . .

Dallas Morning News columnist James Ragland is upset. The Brookings Institute released a study Tuesday that says in the first half of this decade, the number of low-wage workers and families living in poverty-stricken neighborhoods rose by a striking 41 percent. A high poverty neighborhood is one in which at least 40 percent of the population qualifies for the federal earned income tax credit. For a married couple with two kids, the poverty threshold was $19,806 in 2005, and the earned income tax credit income limit was $37,263.

Alan Berube, a Brookings fellow and co-author of the study, says, "For those who thought we may have solved the problem of concentrated poverty, the message is, we haven't done that." Ragland says, "That observation hardly surprises those on the front lines of our nation's ill-fated war against poverty." Berube further states, "Robust economic growth, together with smart policies that help reduce economic segregation, remain critical for helping low-income people and places."

Larry James is president and CEO of Central Dallas Ministries. He says "We've got to rise above the partisan political battles and come to grips with quality-of-life issues that affect us all."

Did you notice anything missing in these ideas for solutions? I did. Not one mention of what the poor could do to help themselves -- we've got to wage the war on poverty, we haven't solved the problem of poverty, smart policies are critical. Maybe the Brookings Institute is just a little too politically correct to tackle the problem head-on, but I'm not.

Here's how we can stop poverty in its tracks:
1) Don't have babies out of wedlock.
2) Don't drink.
3) Don't do drugs.
4) Don't smoke.
5) Don't have babies when you're a teenager.
6) Finish school.
7) Don't depend on welfare -- have some self-respect and get a job. Leave welfare for those who really need it -- the elderly, and the mentally and physically disabled.
8) After you marry, don't have more babies than you can afford.
9) When you can afford a house or apartment, take care of it. Don't knock out the windows in drunken brawls and tear up the plumbing then leave the mess owing 3 months rent.
10) Don't gamble.
11) Don't buy luxury items you can't afford (big screen tvs, hi-tech cell phones, big cars, computers, ipods).

See -- that didn't take even one government policy! All that's required is some old-fashioned common sense which no one in Washington seems to have these days.

Just a footnote to all this -- did you know that 95% of the kids in Dallas public schools are on free or reduced lunch programs? What is wrong with this picture?!!!!!

"A poor showing for a rich nation." The Dallas Morning News; August 13, 2008; p. 1B.