Stay updated with breaking news from Brenda butne. Get real-time updates on events, politics, business, and more. Visit us for reliable news and exclusive interviews.
>> but is more spending really the answer? hi everyone. i'm brenda butne, this is bulls and bears. gary b. smith, jonas, and john layfield along with suzie welch and david mercer. welcome to everybody. john we've spent trillions on the war on poverty. is more spending really the answer? >> no it's not. in fact we spentd almost $12 trillion on the war on poverty and guess what's happened, changed? nothing. the poverty rate has stayed basically the same. you see dropout of minorities 50% in inner cities in north america. this is just simply not working. we have evidence of decades to show this isn't working. i set up a program to work with jat risk kids in bermuda. this is my passion and what i spend most of my time on working
looting. now the bashing as looted businesses are cleaning up and burned out stores think twice about rebuilding whole foods facing a backlash for feeding the guys brought in to protect the community. critics on social media saying "whole foods feeds the oppressor." gary b. what do you say to that? >> it's craziness, brenda. we just talked about in the last segment that one of the roots to stop poverty is to have people have jobs. the businesses of baltimore provide those jobs. the police are brought in to protect those businesses as well as the firemen, by the way, putting out the fire. whole foods steps in and says thank you. thank you for supporting the community, thank you for bringing law and order. thank you for protecting the businesses. i should they should be applauded, this is the businesses that helped the firemen and police outdoor on
does lay out a path to the american dream for upward mobility for opportunities for education. so i don't think we need to be cutting at a time when we're, one, coming out of the recession, and people are still trying to get on their feet and we have to close the gap on inequality that exists. >> right. gary b. government is that the answer? should we be giving throwing more federal tax dollars at this? >> rarely brenda. as you well know i'm such a big fan of the government because they spend the money so wisely you know, john mentioned one number that's just coming from the federal government. if you throw in state and local government war on poverty, the number is closer to $19 trillion that we spent over what the last 58 years or so 59 years, i guess and counting since this started in 1966. i would argue with david with one point. he says don't cut. i'd say yes, that does sound