This book will tell the story of how states and their human service
agencies are partnering with private companies to form a vast poverty
industry, turning America’s most vulnerable populations into a source
of revenue. My intention is to reveal how the resulting industry is
strip- mining billions in federal aid and other funds from impoverished
families, abused and neglected children, and the disabled and elderly
poor. As the vulnerable struggle, as advocates strive to assist in their
struggle, and as policy experts across the political spectrum debate the
best structure for governmental aid programs, a massive siphoning of
the safety net is occurring behind the scenes.