[chiefalchemist]

Put another way, the government has funded programs, programs that do well to perpetuate the programs, but too little to actually address the problem they were created to address.

It's the Poverty Industrial Complex.

That aside, with regards to the data / statistics you've sited, my understanding is, many experts believe the income levels set by the government to define the poverty line are artificially low. If the line was more realistic the poverty rate would be much higher.

If this is even a slight bit true, then the government's "war on poverty" is another lost war.