The best time to plant a tree, it has been said, is twenty years ago.  Failing that, today.

The best time to do something about poverty leading to crime is before poverty drives people to crime:

A shudder went through the markets when the Labor Department reported that the official jobless rate had jumped one-half a percentage point in May to 5.5 percent — the sharpest spike in 22 years.

The young people I’m talking about wouldn’t have noticed. These are the teenagers and young adults — roughly 16 to 24 years old — who are not in school and basically have no hope of finding work. The bureaucrats compiling the official unemployment rate don’t even bother counting these young people. They are no one’s constituency. They might as well not exist.

Except that they do exist.

Wouldn't it be nice if the economy were doing as well as W apparently believes it is?