In fact, across the Pacific in the US, as early as 1997 the government launched the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program to address the steady increase in the number of poor people--at one point reaching as high as 13 % of the total population.
事實上，在太平洋另一端的美國，由於貧窮人口不斷上升，一度達到總人口數的 13 %，更是早於 1997 年就推出 TANF（救助急難家庭臨時法案）。