Robert C. Lieberman

Robert C. Lieberman maintains in the following viewpoint that poverty is not caused by a refusal to seek work or by a welfare state that encourages perverse values but by a lack of economic opportunity. Referring to the writings of George Orwell, Lieberman asserts that society should offer the poor greater economic opportunities rather than blame them for their poverty. Lieberman is an assistant professor of political science and public affairs at Columbia University in New York City.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Lieberman, how did the Victorians view poverty?
2. Who should be blamed for society's problems, in the author's opinion?
3. What type of coalition would Lieberman like to see formed"

"The very rich are different from you and me," F. Scott Fitzgerald famously wrote. "Yes," Ernest Hemingway teased Fitzgerald...