Poverty continues to rise in U.S., now 15.1% (Obama's policies have FAILED!)

cbs ^ | 9/13/2011 | David Morgan

[tobyhill]

The number of people in the U.S. living in poverty in 2010 rose for the fourth year in a row, representing the largest number of Americans in poverty in the 52 years since such estimates have been published by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Median household income in the U.S. also declined.

According to a report issued Tuesday, 46.2 million Americans were living in poverty in 2010, up from 43.6 million in 2009. Data in the Census Bureau covers the first full calendar year following the December 2007-June 2009 recession.

The nation's official poverty rate increased for the third year in a row - 15.1 percent in 2010, up from 14.3 percent in 2009.

Real median household income in the United States also fell in 2010, to $49,445 (a 2.3 percent drop from 2009).

[Army Air Corps]

Ah, the Obama economy...smell the failure.

[loveliberty2]

Back in 1775, a wise moral philosopher named Adam Smith wrote a treatise entitled, "An Enquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations."

For the past several decades, the so-called "progressive" politicians in America have claimed to be "studying poverty," and they have spent billions and billions of the dollars of coercively-taken tax dollars from hardworking citizens on "solving the problem of poverty." The problem persists.

They would have been better off to have dusted off the cover of Adam Smith's work, then re-read their nation's Declaration of Independence from the taxing and regulating policies of King George in 1776. Then, they might have figured out that the great burst of freedom, innovation, productivity, wealth creation, and plenty actually resulted from the principles of liberty understood by Smith in Europe and the Framers of America's Constitution--not from any planning by government officials.

Of course, we know that their interest never has been solving poverty: their interest has been in accumulating and centralizing power in a political elite in Washington, D. C. They simply use handouts and freebies as political currency for the purpose of buying votes.

Somebody needs to call it what it is: it is not "progressive." It is "regressive" and destroys freedom, opportunity, productivity, and wealth. So-called "progressive" policies produce tyranny and want. They have failed in every nation in which they have been allowed to prevail.

The question now for America is the same one asked by Smith: how do nations create wealth? It is not how do they "redistribute" what their citizens have created?

"Agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation, the four pillars of our prosperity, are the most thriving when left most free to individual enterprise." - Thomas Jefferson

"The enviable condition of the people of the United States is often too much ascribed to the physical advantages of their soil & climate .... But a just estimate of the happiness of our country will never overlook what belongs to the fertile activity of a free people and the benign influence of a responsible government." - James Madison

(Jefferson and Madison quotations excerpted from "Our Ageless Constitution, p. 44.)

[bbernard]

I read this article and the one on Rueters but no where did the articles inform the reader what the definition of poverty in the U.S. is. Can anone tell me?

I have travelled quite a bit outside of the U.S. and I can tell you for certain, unless we are referring to our homeless and our seniors living solely on social security, we do not know what poverty really is...

These are statistics and articles are a joke.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

All things considered, this is STILL the greatest Nation for po’ folk! I’d rather be poor here than say, Africa, South America, the ME, etc.

Being ‘poor’ in America means you only have ONE car, or ONE TV or ONE wii and many if not ALL of your needs met for food, clothing and shelter - confiscated from your fellow taxpayer, of course! *Rolleyes*

(Not making light of this, and of COURSE 0’s policies are counter-productive, but still...)

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Of like minds... :)

[rod1]

Let’s face it, the only entities that have done well under Zero’s regieme are: his cronies who received our taxpayer dollars in “stimulus” stuff and 2) Zero’s campaign coffers who got a cut of the distibuted taxpayer dollars back in contributions.

The Chicago Way

[tobyhill]

In the US, poverty is defined as any single individual making less than $14,800 or a couple making around $20,000.

[rod1]

Let’s face it, the only entities that have done well under Zero’s regieme are: his cronies who received our taxpayer dollars in “stimulus” stuff and 2) Zero’s campaign coffers who got a cut of the distibuted taxpayer dollars back in contributions.

The Chicago Way

[treetopsandroofs]

I have been unable to view the 59 comments to CBS’ article, wondering what they say.

I’m surprised Hussein’s boot-lickers at CBS allowed this to get out.

[newzjunkey]

“Obama: Poverty President!”

[Cardhu]

“The government defines the poverty line as income of $22,314 a year for a family of four and $11,139 for an individual. The Office of Management and Budget updates the poverty line each year to account for inflation.

As for middle-class American families, income fell in 2010. The median household income was $49,445, down slightly from $49,777 the year before.”

[MAexile]

The War on Poverty is over!

Poverty won.

[goodnesswins]

“Poverty” is whatever the Dems say it is, on any given day...and YES, poverty in the US is really non-existent, and what there is Churches could take care of...

[bbernard]

Thanks Toby.

It is actually lower.

HHS defines it here: http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/11poverty.shtml

Census Bureau here:
http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/data/threshld/index.html

But what they don’t tell you is that these numbers do not include the monies these people receive in the form of “earned income tax credits” aka IRS tax refunds, WIC, Food Stamps, Welfare, Medicaid etc. But believe me the poverty, even at the incomes listed is far better lifestyles than the true poverty levels in other countries.

[Aevery_Freeman]

In reality, his policies have succeeded. In a planned economy, poverty is just scenery on the road to serfdom.

[yup2394871293]

To the Obama crowd...clique, this is all the more reason to finish what FDR started. Socialism falls upwards.

[Dick Bachert]

It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then - just to loosen up and be a part of the crowd.

Inevitably, though, one thought led to another and soon I was more than just a social thinker.

I began to think alone — “to relax,” I told myself — but I knew it wasn’t true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time.

That was when things began to sour at home. One evening I turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her
mother’s.

I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don’t mix, but I couldn’t help myself.

I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau, Muir, Confucius, Camus and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, “What is it exactly that we are doing here?”

One day the boss called me in. He said, “Listen, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don’t stop thinking on the job, you’ll have to find another job.”

This gave me a lot to think about. I came home early after my conversation with the boss. “Honey,” I confessed, “I’ve been thinking...”

“I know you’ve been thinking,” she said, “and I want a divorce!” “But Honey, surely it’s not that serious.” “It is serious,” she said, her lower lip aquiver.

“You think as much as college professors and college professors don’t make
any money, so if you keep on thinking, we won’t have any money!”

“That’s a fallacious syllogism,” I said impatiently.

She exploded in tears of rage and frustration, but I was in no mood to deal with the emotional drama.

“I’m going to the library,” I snarled as I stomped out the door.

I headed for the library, in the mood for some John Locke. I roared into the parking lot with NPR on the radio and ran up to the big glass doors.

They didn’t open. The library was closed.

To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night.

Leaning on the unfeeling glass and whimpering for Emerson, a poster caught
my eye, “Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?” it asked.

You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinkers Anonymous poster.

This is why I am what I am today: A recovering thinker.

I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was “Porky’s.” Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting.

I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking. I think the road to recovery is nearly complete for me.

Today I took the final step. I joined the Democrat Party. And we are very excited that our TA Chapter is a serious contender for the prestigious National Non-Thinkers of The Year Award for pledging 100% membership votes for Obama in 2012! First prize is an overnight trip to Chicago. Second prize: A 5 day trip to Chicago. Third prize: Choice of two weeks in Chicago or the complete 2,300 hour CD set of President Obama’s speeches (with free hourly updates) and one of his 368 worn-out Teleprompters complete with his autograph signed by his AUTOGRAPH machine as he was jetting around on Air Farce One that month.

[Arrowhead1952]

Rush almost read your reply word for word.

[Army Air Corps]

You are quite correct. The equal distribution of misery and reduced ambition.