Posted on 07/22/2012 12:50:09 PM PDT by Kaslin
In September 2010, the Associated Press prepared an advance report on the expected surge in the Census Bureau's official poverty rate, which rose from 13.2% to a 15-year high of 14.3%. Their stated preoccupation was not with the associated pain, but with "the unfortunate timing for Obama and his party just seven weeks before important elections when Congress is at stake."
Well, this year's official poverty rate will very likely be the highest seen since the mid-1960s, and there's a presidential election coming up. What's the AP, aka the Administration's Press, to do? It looks like the strategy is to get a comprehensive report out on how bad things are in July when few are paying attention, and then to give the official report short shrift when it arrives in mid-September. Here are excerpts from Hope Yen's nearly 1,500-word writeup:
The ranks of America's poor are on track to climb to levels unseen in nearly half a century, erasing gains from the war on poverty in the 1960s amid a weak economy and fraying government safety net.
Census figures for 2011 will be released this fall in the critical weeks ahead of the November elections.
The Associated Press surveyed more than a dozen economists, think tanks and academics, both nonpartisan and those with known liberal or conservative leanings, and found a broad consensus: The official poverty rate will rise from 15.1 percent in 2010, climbing as high as 15.7 percent. Several predicted a more modest gain, but even a 0.1 percentage point increase would put poverty at the highest since 1965.
Poverty is spreading at record levels across many groups, from underemployed workers and suburban families to the poorest poor.
... In an election year dominated by discussion of the middle class ... millions could fall through the cracks as government aid from unemployment insurance, Medicaid, welfare and food stamps diminishes.
"The issues aren't just with public benefits. We have some deep problems in the economy," said Peter Edelman, director of the Georgetown Center on Poverty, Inequality and Public Policy.
He pointed to the recent recession but also longer-term changes in the economy such as globalization, automation, outsourcing, immigration, and less unionization that have pushed median household income lower. Even after strong economic growth in the 1990s, poverty never fell below a 1973 low of 11.1 percent. That low point came after President Lyndon Johnson's war on poverty, launched in 1964, created Medicaid, Medicare and other social welfare programs.
"I'm reluctant to say that we've gone back to where we were in the 1960s. The programs we enacted make a big difference. The problem is that the tidal wave of low-wage jobs is dragging us down and the wage problem is not going to go away anytime soon," Edelman said.
Note how Ms. Yen failed to tag Edelman's group, whose "areas of work" include expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit and whose efforts are supported by George Soros's Open Society Foundation, as "liberal" or "left-leaning." Later in her report, documenting discussions with the Heritage Foundation's Robert Rector, Ms. Yen had no problem tagging it as "conservative." How typical.
There are so many other problems with Yen's report it would take a term paper to vet them all. The only positive is that she at least had discussions with real people this time around.
Among the items notably missing from the discussion:
The overwhelming sense I have is that this is a "Let's get this done now, so we can just note it and move on in September when it will hurt Dear Leader" enterprise. Why else would you devote almost 1,500 words to a report which isn't coming out for another two months?
check out these “poverty” charts!!!...
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/entitlement-america-head-household-making-minimum-wage-has-more-disposable-income-family-mak
F the poor they are a drain on society. Send them to Mexico, France, China, Somalia or Iran.
It’s because of people like you that the rats are saying the republicans want to throw grandma down the stairs or over a cliff
Also missing from the discussion is the impact on wages of an open borders policy allowing unimaginable numbers of entry level, low wage workers to overwhelm the workforce.
it is called the”browning” of America by the commies. The influx of these commie dependent voters is intentional. Communist obama said that soon Texas would be a swing state.
There are some citizens who, through no fault of their own, deserve a helping hand and America is wealthy enough to provide care for them, Even with the economy on its knees as it is today.
The deserving needy might comprise 10% to 15% of the people receiving government welfare, foodstamps, free medical and other handouts.
No one knows the real figure because the real needy are overwhelmed by the numbers of moochers and protected groups who are wards of the government and live off the government teat.
One sad aspect of the current system is that we (the nation) could do a better job of assisting the deserving few if most of the resources weren’t being dumped down the black hole of patronage and pandering where it is sucked up by moochers and government favorites.
Money and resources that go to the moochers is totally wasted in the sense that little of it brings about any improvements or provides anything of real value to the country.
Mostly it just keeps them alive to breed another generation of moochers or to help another generation of relatives sneak across the border.
Libs would call that nasty and mean-spirited, but it's a whole lot kinder than sending the poor to the hell-holes liberalism created in Detroit, Newark, or Gary Indiana.
You’re correct about people needing help. Too often they are given short shrift here on Freep. One other aspect of our social programs is they attract non citizens. Literally a person living in some 3rd world hell hole can shop around to see what nations social benefits suit them and either emigrate of sneak in.
I’d like to see some non government groups offer micro loans to the unemployed and under employed to start small one man or family businesses. Loans of about $5000 dollars and a 3-6 month minimum wage stipend paid weekly. Let these folks start businesses like landscaping, maid service, mobile car wash, food cart, t-shirt business, ebay selling,catering, computer services, handy man services, etc. This would be a way to get people working again, and eventually they could hire others.
A big problem is these people’s credit is shot now, and they don’t have family or friends with financial means to help. Also a little encouragement and knowledge of government regulations would go a long way. It would be so much better than giving subsistence hand outs that get folks trapped in the system.
what is amazing is the more we spend on “anti-poverty” programs the more poverty we get.
surprise,surprise.
I mean, who could have guessed??
Among the items notably missing from the discussion:
The likelihood that the so-called “Great Society” programs of the 1960s initiated the creation of a permanent underclass and embedded an entitlement mentality which has done little but grow since then.
The influence of family structure on child poverty. In 2010, based on data through 2008, Heritage noted that “single-parent families with children are nearly six times more likely to be poor than are married couples.
Add to the list, statistics manipulated to achieve the predetermined results!
Did you intend a sarc tag but forgot it? Do you have any idea how many FReepers are financially strapped? Do you realize that the Lord God commanded us to take care of the poor? (not social leeches but those unfortunate that are poor) If you meant the comment as sarcasm then mark it so, if not then...
YOU can KMA!!!
Except the social leeches?
Was that sarcasm? If it was it's not apparent.
a business to succeed will have customers. It will either take customers from other companies or bring in unique ones due to a new product like the 90s with computers. It’s not starting a company thats the problem. An existing product business might create new demand if done uniquely but thats easier said than done.Just as likely it will be a zero sum game.
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