Government Spending, Jobs, and Poverty

Here's an interesting US News article by Keith Hall of the Mercatus Center at George Mason University.  Hall argues that, if we are interested in fighting poverty, the focus should be on increasing economic growth and employment, not government spending.  Record spending since the dawn of the most recent recession has not prevented record rates of poverty.  Meanwhile, "[i]t has been long recognized that recessions can increase the number of families in poverty, and over the past 20 years it has become clear that the rising and falling poverty rate correlates directly with the jobless rate."  Hall provides this graph in support of his proposition:

That's tough to argue with.  If government wants to reduce poverty, it must create jobs - or, more accurately from a conservative's perspective, reduce the impediments to job creation.  If that's the case, we should question whether increases in tax rates, including those offered to support anti-poverty spending programs, actually increase poverty by inhibiting job growth.  We should highlight that regulations that retard economic growth and/or reduce the incentive to hire (Obamacare?) have the indirect effect of increasing poverty.  In short, liberals should be made to defend their programs against the possibility that they actually increase poverty, by depressing employment.