Policies to address poverty

The topics of income inequality and poverty are appearing more and more in media discussions. Ari Fletcher, who was the press secretary for George W. Bush, wrote an op-ed column on this topic, and it recently appeared in the Southeast Missourian. Although he did not show any direct causation among the following items, he ended his piece by saying the poor would be better off if they would stay in school, get married and have children, in this order.

Since 1960, the average age for a man's first marriage has increased from the age of 22.8 to 28.6 and for a woman it has risen from 20.3 to 26.6. Given the present social norms of this society, this age group is sexually active. Therefore, it would appear advisable to make birth control easily available, inexpensive and simple to use.

At the present time an individual needs to have some form of post high school training, such as a college education, in order to obtain well compensated employment. This past year 70 percent of graduating college seniors had an average student loan debt of $25,000. This burden makes it difficult to marry, start a home and start a family. To keep people in school or post secondary training, we need to make it obtainable without incurring large amounts of debt.

If we want individuals to stay in school, get married and have children in this order, the country needs to have greatly improved polices to encourage this pattern of behavior.

JOHN PIEPHO, Cape Girardeau