The linch pin of the Campaign to Abolish Poverty's plan to end poverty is "full employment". Imagine a world without poverty! "Imagine" does not mean to make something up; it means the willingness to see the world reality in a different way. Let's imagine the United States with full employment, everyone who wants to work has a job. The tax base and contributions to social security would increase, while the cost of crime, drug treatment programs, broken marriages, children raised with just one parent and "transfer payments" (the amount the government spends for assistance to the unemployed, food stamps, people receiving welfare, etc.) would decrease.

How is the U.S. doing now? The official unemployment rate is 6.1%, however actual unemployment is 11%. xxx number of people. The actual unemployment rate is about twice what the government reports. Government figures do not the growing number of people who have given up looking for work, or those in prison, or people who are working part-time but needing full time work. The official unemployment rates count only those folks who register with the government and are actively seeking work. More and more people are getting by with meager welfare payments, the kindness of family and friends, homeless shelters, and soup kitchens. And criminal activities increase in economic hard times.

While not exclusively relating to the growing gap between the wealthy and the poor, unemployment and low wages are a significant factor in the gap. The middle class has been cinsistently losing income and welath, more and more people are unable to afford health insurance, college tuition, and with the rising prices of food, heating fuel, and gasoline--poor people, the working poor and middle class people are suffering more and the wealth gap grows, threatening our democracy.