Wasting America's Future

The Health and Human Services poverty line for a three-person family in America is $11,8oo in annual income. One in every five American children is growing up in poverty. What does child poverty mean for the economic and societal future of our country? The Children's Defense Fund, widely considered the most powerful force for children in America, has assembled expert and ground-breaking information on how poverty affects health, childhood deaths, low birth weight, and injury; on the insidious connections between low family income and learning disabilities; on links between poverty, abuse, and neglect and self-esteem; and much more. Wasting America's Future is the crucial citizen's handbook as we continue the national debate on welfare reform.This book will make you realize that American health problems stem less from problems with our health care system than they do from problems in our society, especially the shameful prevalence of poverty in this rich country. —C. Everett KoopMarian Wright Edelman—"the most influential children's advocate in the country" (Washington Post)—is founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund and author of The Measure of Our Success. She has three sons and lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband. Robert M. Solow, Nobel Laureate in economics, is a world authority on economic growth and human capital. He teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.