No one should be poor. Period.

Because liberals have allowed conservatives to set the terms of the poverty debate, they find themselves arguing about radical solutions that imagine either a fully employed nation (like a jobs guarantee) or a post work society (like a universal basic income). Neither plan has the faintest hope of being actually implemented nationwide anytime soon. While Washington continues to require more of vulnerable workers, it has required little from employers in the form of living wages or job security, creating a labour market in which the biggest disincentive to work is not welfare but the lousy jobs that are available. We need a new language for talking about poverty. “Nobody who works should be poor,” we say. That’s not good enough. Nobody in America should be poor, period. (Matthew Desmond writing for NYTimes)