Peter Edelman on why U.S. is ‘So Rich, So Poor’

GUEST: PETER EDELMAN

PETER EDELMAN has been working to raise awareness about and fighting to end poverty in the United States for four decades.  Touring the Mississippi Delta in 1967 with his boss, Senator Robert F. Kennedy, exposed him to families enduring horrifying poverty and helped shape his policy views on poverty ever since. He resigned in protest as Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services in 1996 when President Bill Clinton signed the “welfare reform” bill into law, an act Edelman called “war on the poor of the United States” and “the worst thing” Clinton did as President. In his most recent book, “So Rich, So Poor: Why It’s So Hard to End Poverty In America,” Edelman continues to attack the inequalities benefiting the few at the expense of the many, especially young people of color.

AP Photo/Mel Evans