Download or read book Poverty and the Government in America written by Jyotsna Sreenivasan and published by ABC-CLIO. This book was released on 2009-10-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It wasn't until the Great Depression that Americans decided their government should help its economically distressed citizens. Yet the issue of government efforts to reduce poverty remains controversial, with programs consuming large portions of the federal, state and local budgets, and with the argument over whether poverty is a personal failure or a national one still ongoing. Poverty and the Government in America: A Historical encyclopedia is an authoritative, unbiased examination of this important, lightning-rod issue.