We the people of the United States of American must stop thinking each holiday season of giving handouts, but instead we should be giving a hand-up to those who need and want it. For it is far past the time that we Americans come to the realization that giving away toys and food at Christmas only makes us feel good and does nothing to address the root causes of poverty.

Every holiday season people contribute money and/or time to help those less fortunate than themselves and then go on their way thinking that they are making things better for those who are poor. How wrong a viewpoint this is and it does not matter what you donate, either in time or money or both, you have done nothing to help these people climb out of poverty.

Unemployment is now at its lowest in fifty years and yet the US Census Bureau states the following:

• The official poverty rate in 2017 was 12.3 percent, down 0.4 percentage points from 12.7 percent in 2016. This is the third consecutive annual decline in poverty. Since 2014, the pov­rty rate has fallen 2.5 percentage points, from 14.8 percent to 12.3 percent.
• From 2016 to 2017 the number of people in poverty decreased for people in families; people living in the West; people living outside metropolitan statistical areas; all workers; workers who worked less than full-time, year-round; people with a disabil­ity; people with a high school diploma but no college degree; and people with some college but no degree.
• In 2017, there were 39.7 million people in poverty, not statisti­cally different from the number in poverty in 2016.
• Between 2016 and 2017, the poverty rate for adults aged 18 to 64 declined 0.4 percentage points, from 11.6 percent to 11.2 percent, while poverty rates for individuals under age 18 and for people aged 65 and older were not statistically different from 2016.
• Between 2016 and 2017, peo­ple with at least a bachelor’s degree were the only group to have an increase in the poverty rate or the number of people in poverty. Among this group, the poverty rate increased 0.3 percentage points and the number in poverty increased by 363,000 individuals between 2016 and 2017. Even with this increase, among educational attainment groups, people with at least a bachelor’s degree had the lowest poverty rates in 2017.

So looking at the above you can see that the poverty rate has not changed that much and our government is not addressing the fundamental underlying problems. People do not need a handout, but a hand-up to be able to climb the economic ladder.

What I saying that giving away food and presents does nothing for those who want to climb out of their economic situation. Education is the cornerstone to get a well paying job, not a so called “Living wage” that in reality is not so.

For those who want out we much provide them with the opportunity to educate themselves so that they can go out and get those jobs that have been created by our economic expansion. And I must state emphatically that I do not necessarily mean a college education, but a trade school one in many cases is the most appropriate path to follow. Too many Americans have fallen into the trap that a college education is necessary to achieve a measure of success, when it is not!

Education is just one of the tools needed to start to climb upward toward the so called Middle Class. A drive to excel must also be there as well the support of family and perhaps a mentor to guide them on the proper path.

While schooling is available to most, the big problem is the fact that many do not take full advantage of it and their surroundings are detrimental to their getting out of a bad social environment. The opportunities must be present and a hand-up must be given. For to just give handouts, does nothing but encourage laziness.

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike