What’s Better for Poor People, Economic Growth or Redistribution?

I took part in a thirty-minute online Skype debate for PBS on income inequality, and they boiled it down to the 4:44 youtube video embedded below.

You probably won’t be surprised to learn that I said economic growth was the key. I don’t want to re-slice the pie. I want to make it bigger.

I wish I had used my example of Chile v. Argentina v. Venezuela. Or my more recent post on Singapore’s remarkable growth.

One thing I did mention is that the poverty rate was falling for much of U.S. history, but then stopped falling once the so-called War on Poverty began. I pointed out that this was compelling evidence that spending $trillions on income redistribution was trapping people in poverty.

Unfortunately, this part was edited out, perhaps because the lefties at PBS didn’t want more people exposed to this inconvenient truth. Here’s what wasn’t left on the editing room floor.

I’m not sure how they formatted the video, but at least it makes me look skinny.