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The ongoing situation in Ferguson, Mo has highlighted a crisis in America. Now I am not going to go into what caused the events in Ferguson, as there already has been too much misinformation mostly emanating from the media to get a true picture of the situation.

What I am going to discuss, and missing from this coverage, which has permeated a crisis in America that neither political party is focusing on.

Too often both sides claim the Middle Class and economic opportunity are fading for millions of Americans, and both are right.  Unfortunately, both political parties have contributed to this crisis.

Before anyone accuses me of being part of the one percent club, let me give you a little bit of my background.  My parents were humble people, neither had much education beyond high school with my father having only a grade school education from another country.

Both my parents instilled in her children that if you want something you have to earn it, nobody will give you something for nothing.  They did not believe in redistribution of wealth from one group to another, they just believed in hard work.

My parents understood that education was the way to a better life, either you went to college or your education was in the vocational field.

Unfortunately, many cities across the country have dismal graduation rates, and many intercity children are forced to attend low preforming schools.  Elected officials, who profess to care about public education, send their children to private schools all the while consigning others to dysfunctional schools.

No outrage over this elitist mentality!  On Monday I wrote an article about the rising cost of education, but again public officials claim to want to end income inequality, but they accept extremely lucrative speaking fees and other compensation, all the while saddling graduates with a debt burden that saps economic mobility.

The other issue the nation faces is the increase in poverty in America. In a report the Stanford Center on Poverty & Inequality wrote the official poverty rate increased from 12.5 percent in 2007 to 15.0 percent in 2012, and the child poverty rate increased from 18.0 percent in 2007 to 21.8 percent in 2012. The current poverty rates for the full population and for children rank among the very worst over the 13 years since 2000 (i.e., both are ranked 11th.

The CATO Institute reported in 2012, that the news that the poverty rate has risen to 15.1percent of Americans, the highest level in nearly a decade, has set off a predictable round of calls for increased government spending on social welfare programs. Yet this year the federal government will spend more than $668 billion on at least 126 different programs to fight poverty. And that does not even begin to count welfare spending by state and local governments, which adds $284 billion to that figure. In total, the United States spends nearly $1 trillion every year to fight poverty. That amounts to $20,610 for every poor person in America, or $61,830 per poor family of three.

CATO continued, welfare spending increased significantly under President George W. Bush and has exploded under President Barack Obama. In fact, since President Obama took office, federal welfare spending has increased by 41 percent, more than $193 billion per year. Despite this government largess, more than 46 million Americans continue to live in poverty. Despite nearly $15 trillion in total welfare spending since Lyndon Johnson declared war on poverty in 1964, the poverty rate is perilously close to where we began more than 40 years ago.

Has anyone even begin to look or investigate to see which programs work and which do not?  What are the measure of effectiveness, and measure of performance of these programs?

We are spending trillions of dollars and getting very little in return.

Soon we will be gearing up for the 2016 presidential election, and now is the time to be asking both candidates how are you going to fix the many economic challenges facing this country?

Unfortunately, all we get is the same stale campaign rhetoric from both parties.