Asset Building: Discussion with Melissa Boteach on Poverty

Asset Building: Discussion with Melissa Boteach on Poverty Economists claim America is two years past the worst recession since the Great Depression, but the slow recovery has continued to sow widespread hardship. The Occupy Wall Street demonstrations and a flurry of new data are calling attention to the pervasive poverty and growing inequality that are markers of the post-recession economy.

To make sense of what this data tells us about how families are really doing post-recession and how we might design more effective public policies, the New America Foundation convened a panel of experts to weigh in with their take.   In this interview, Melissa Boteach, Manager for the Half in Ten Campaign, an effort to reduce the nation's poverty rate in half over 10 years, discusses how families are faring according to a set of key indicators and three areas where policymakers should focus in order to improve those outcomes: creating good jobs, strengthening families, and promoting economic security. http://www.newamerica.net/events/2011/poverty_inequality_mobility_oh_my