The Real Reason Behind American Poverty and Income Inequality

Income inequality is a symptom of a greater cultural shift in family.  Indeed, it is a worthwhile goal to help lift families out of poverty and work to ensure that citizens have a fair shot at economic success. As that goal is tackled, however, it is necessary to honestly pursue the underlying reasons that contribute to the problem. 

The Wall St. Journal recently ran a strong opinion piece, "Ignoring an Inequality Culprit: Single-Parent Families," that pointed out how most of the intellectuals leading the conversations on the topic of income disparity are focusing on the wrong thing.  According to the authors, the rise of single-parent families during the past half century is "the strongest statistical correlate of inequality in the United States."

This phenomenon, called family fragmentation, occurs from broken families, divorce, and never formed families due to child birth outside of marriage.  This type of culture is very expensive - to the state, to taxpayers, to the children - because fragmented families simply cost more.  Intact families have the ability to contain a family budget for several people living in the same household, as a team of people working together.  When that team is broken up, it naturally costs more for pieces of that team to live separately.

Today, those separate parts of broken families are relying on government support like never before.  Rachel Toberty did a great deal of research on this phenomenon and its costs, and the Regent Law Review published our work.  We looked at the costs of just three categories of state assistance to members of fragmented families and calculated the costs and increases over the past five years.  The results were shockingly high.  You can read "A Fifty-State Survey of the Cost of Family Fragmentation" at http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2205349.   Find the costs for your state, and see why family restoration is so necessary to the strength of your state and its citizens. 

The real reason behind American poverty and income inequality is the broken family, badly in need of restoration.