Poverty

Over the past 50 years the US has spent $30 trillion on the war on poverty. Thus, government at all levels is spending roughly $1.8 trillion per year to fight poverty (Figure 1). Stretching back to 1965, when President Lyndon Johnson first declared a “war on poverty,” anti-poverty spending has totaled more than $30 trillion. In 1980 the poverty rate was 13.2% with 29 million living in poverty. Today the poverty rate is 11.3% with 38 million living in poverty. To power the US it would take about 1,400 nuclear power plant at a cost of $5 billion dollars each for a total cost of $7 trillion or one sixth of what has been spent on poverty. If small nuclear units were used instead it would take 14,000 but the cost would be less because of economies of scale as they would be mass produced assembly line style.