Poor people, welfare and egalitarianism are among the topics in Richard Elman's book, "The Poorhouse State: The American Way of Life on Public Assistance". Elman shares some people's individual stories and he points out the problems with the system. One of the many problems, who are the elite individuals deciding what's best for those people living in poverty.

Mitchell Ginsberg, Edward Schwartz and Daniel Thurz discuss poverty in America and War on Poverty legislation. Ginsberg is the associate dean of the School of Social Work at Columbia University, Schwartz is the George Herbert Jones professor of social work in the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago, and Thurz is an associate professor of social work at the University of Maryland.