Twenty million people in the United States make less than half of the poverty line, which is about $19,000 per year for a family of three. Another 103 million bring home incomes lower than twice the poverty line. Is this because poverty alleviation programs don’t work, or because we have too many low-wage jobs?

Peter Edelman of Georgetown University Law Center joins Laura Flanders to explain how we became a nation that fails to help its most needy citizens and what can be done. Watch the full conversation with Edelman here.

—Erin Schikowski