One hopes not.
It is the individual making decisions for himself that created a nation where there was none.
It is the individual acting on his own that created an economy based on excellence.
It is the individual taking responsibility for himself that created a society that redefined the old institutions into a viable healthy new community.
The old world mentality of "it takes a village to raise a child" has resulted in 47% of the population taking more than they produce.
Time to recognize that the basis for all healthy growing societies is the individual, not the group.
Poor children struggle because they do not get enough nutrition, do not live in healthy housing do not live in healthy neighborhoods, do not get to have early-enough early childhood education, and because their parents are struggling with the ravages of poverty.
Furthermore, some have parents who were carried in the womb and reared in poverty, consequently unable to provide healthy womb environments and effective parent to child early childhood relationships for their children.
It is all human beings, rich and poor, and those in between, urge to be selfish that is the basic problem, which has to be solved, solved so that poverty is eliminated once and for all among human beings. everyone in between, poverty needs to be turned into caring, kindness and altruism. Remember that governments are people, and we are the people.
Poverty absolutely fits the definition of a crime against humanity.
I have to say that your baseline for a healthy economy is crazy. There is no way that era reflects a healthy American economy- when we had a negative savings rate, a huge spiral of debt fueled housing, and massive trade imbalances with China. That kind of hollow growth should not be used as a baseline for which to evaluate economic health. Choose another era, or a 'basket' of foreign economies that are actually health. Instead, you chose an era when the rich got richer, the poor got poorer, and house of cards crashed down. Please, save of us all from such an unbalanced and unhealthy economy.
It is sad that elected leaders oppose healthcare for people, by claiming "we can't afford it." How is it that other countries provide healthcare for 100% of their population at a much lower cost than we do, per capita? Sad, because it really demonstrates what little faith in the ability of Americans to keep its people healthy at a reasonable cost. Such people simply cannot comprehend that investing in a healthy, educated population helps us all out in the long run... next, they'll be telling us we can't afford to keep our roads, bridges and ports in good condition... oh, wait.