Tuesday, July 13, 1999 | 9:38 a.m.
Most of the United States is prospering, but there still are some places that can't seem to escape poverty. So last week President Clinton toured Appalachia, inner cities and an Indian reservation to push for congressional passage of his plan to provide incentives for businesses to invest in depressed areas.
Some liberals accuse Clinton of doing too little, too late, suggesting he ignored poverty until now. But this reasoning is flawed. The critics ignore that it was Clinton's policies in the first place that sparked a remarkable economic expansion that helped many escape poverty. And even when modest government initiatives were sought early in Clinton's administration, Republicans sought to derail them, making it politically unrealistic to wage a "war on poverty."
The time is right now, though, to advocate sensible anti-poverty initiatives. U.S. businesses should be given the same type of financial incentives to invest here at home as the government provides companies to invest in overseas markets.
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