As we sit in our homes, watching images of skinny children on the other side of the world materialize on the television screen, we feel sad for the children but we are more relieved that this scourge is not there. Although poverty is spreading globally, programs, organizations and individuals are coming together to fight this growing virus. The poverty rate in America was stable at fifteen percent during the year 2011-2012. Although this is based on official registration, poverty today is much higher than before. This fact may seem depressing and suggests that taxpayers are wasting millions of dollars each year in a losing war against poverty. According to Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, we have spent "$15 trillion to fight poverty," even though we currently have "the highest poverty rates in a generation, with 15 percent of Americans living in the poverty ". There is no doubt that it may seem that our valiant efforts have been for naught, even though poverty itself is a powerful and persistent enemy that has been vigorously fought and oppressed over the years. I must say that Mr. Ryan is quite mixed....