Yesterday John Hinderaker at Power Line posted an article about a speech President Obama gave at the Catholic-Evangelical Leadership Summit on poverty at Georgetown. Evidently his speechwriters had a very casual relationship with the truth about poverty.

The article reports some of the President’s statements:

“Those who are doing better and better, more skilled, more educated, – luckier – having greater advantages are withdrawing from the commons,” he said. “Kids start going to private schools….

…kids start working out at private clubs instead of the public parks, an anti-government ideology then disinvests from those common goods and those things that draw us together.”

That led fewer people to care about public institutions, Obama explained, leading to government cuts to important public functions – making the nation less equal.

Obama insisted that there needed to be more investments in public schools, public universities, public early child education and public infrastructure, insisting that funding these organizations both “grows our economy and spreads it around.”

Yes, there have been government cuts–but not to education.

The article includes a few charts:

Note that enrollment is basically flat, but expenses are increasing. Also note that enrollment numbers are given in millions, expenditure numbers are given in billions.

The article concludes:

So where is the “disinvestment?” Where is the “anti-government ideology?” Obama’s comments represent rank ignorance; either that or cynical demagoguery. In truth, the cure for poverty is well known: graduate from high school, get a job–any job–and get married. But the real solution doesn’t fit the left’s agenda.

Government dependency leads to poverty–it doesn’t lead to either wealth of success. The best thing a parent can do for their child is let their child see them get up and go to work every morning. That sets a great example.