Record POverty! Another story you probably won't hear about.

[soonercruiser]

So, last year's statistics show poverty at an all time record!
All the gains since the War on Poverty are lost!
Will the Democratic Party media report on this??
Not likely.


Record poverty last year as household income dips
Economic ReportMedian household income declines; families ‘doubled up’
September 13, 2011|Ruth Mantell, MarketWatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — A record number of people were in poverty last year as households saw their income decrease, according to data from the Census Bureau Tuesday, demonstrating the weakness of the economy even after the official end of the recession.

The 46.2 million people in poverty in 2010 was the most for the 52 years that estimates have been published, and the number of people in poverty rose for the fourth consecutive year as the poverty rate climbed to 15.1% — the highest since 1993 — up from 14.3% in 2009.

Meanwhile, real median household income in 2010 was $49,445, down 2.3% from the prior year and below pre-recession levels.

http://articles.marketwatch.com/2011-09-13/economy/30780110_1_poverty-rate-poverty-threshold-household-income


Report: Poverty hits record level
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/67508.html

The number of Americans below poverty level has hit a new record, making up about 20.5 million people, The Associated Press reports.

Defined as individuals living at 50 percent or less of the official poverty level, 6.7 percent of the U.S. population — or one in 15 people — are considered to be the poorest of the poor. That’s the highest in the 35 years since the Census Bureau has tracked those figures, the wire said. Previous highs were in 2009 and 1993, when the poorest of the poor made up just more than 6 percent of the U.S. population.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/67508.html#ixzz21VNyCFtW

Well, maybe the Obama administartion can change the statistics by executive order; like they did with the long-term unemployment numbers....

[Curly Bill]

I heard some mention of this, but I'm sure it was FOX. No question they lean righty so they're gonna report any bad news that can be attributed to Obammy, CNN might report bad news attributable to Obammy, MSNBC or the mainstream folks will either blame Bush or ignore any bad news attributable to Obammy.

[olevetonahill]

No one is truly in poverty because of their Own efforts . They couldnt get there with out Government Help

[diverdog]

So, last year's statistics show poverty at an all time record!
All the gains since the War on Poverty are lost!
Will the Democratic Party media report on this??
Not likely.




Report: Poverty hits record level
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/67508.html

The number of Americans below poverty level has hit a new record, making up about 20.5 million people, The Associated Press reports.

Defined as individuals living at 50 percent or less of the official poverty level, 6.7 percent of the U.S. population — or one in 15 people — are considered to be the poorest of the poor. That’s the highest in the 35 years since the Census Bureau has tracked those figures, the wire said. Previous highs were in 2009 and 1993, when the poorest of the poor made up just more than 6 percent of the U.S. population.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/67508.html#ixzz21VNyCFtW

Well, maybe the Obama administartion can change the statistics by executive order; like they did with the long-term unemployment numbers....

Cruiser this was widely reported and the trend has been going this way for a long time.

[Curly Bill]

No one is truly in poverty because of their Own efforts . They couldnt get there with out Government Help

This is never gonna get old! ;)

[olevetonahill]

This is never gonna get old! ;)

Its Gold , Gold I tell ya, But I have to admit I never could have done it on my Own I needed Obammy's hep

[TheHumanAlphabet]

What a shame, sheeples going to the gubment trough because they are lazy and tHe gubment trying as hard as hell to spend more and more of your hard earned dollars down the wealth redistribution hole...

[diverdog]

Reading the links Cruiser posted it looks like retirees are the ones getting hit.

[KantoSooner]

I heard some mention of this, but I'm sure it was FOX. No question they lean righty so they're gonna report any bad news that can be attributed to Obammy, CNN might report bad news attributable to Obammy, MSNBC or the mainstream folks will either blame Bush or ignore any bad news attributable to Obammy.

Fox 'leans' righty?!? Righty of who? Josef Goebbels? They all have their schtick: CNN has tried to be idiotic voice of the 'little man', MSNBC is the voice of the cocktail party socialism and the teevee channels are mouthpieces of the Democratic party. Canadian Broadcasting does a fairly balanced job.

[XingTheRubicon]

All of them are biased...FoxNews, CNN, the 3 majors and so on... but MSNBC, MSNBC is just short of high school journalism during a pep rally.

When your watermark logo flips every 20 seconds to the words "LEAN FORWARD" then you're basically Midwest City Bombers beat writer at the pep rally. They don't even pretend to even desire to approach a news station in any form.

"BEAT DEL CITY!"

[Sooner98]

What this country needs is more entitlements. You know, the way the left has invented health care to be a "right". We need more "rights" to be invented, like food, housing, transportation, cable television, and internet access for all!!!

[badger]

Apparently the positive spin on this was that "poverty" does not mean living in a mud hut without running water or electricity. Rather, it means having a microwave, a big TV and a vehicle.

Here's my take: This economy impacts the rich and poor alike. All people are sick of being paranoid and pessimistic and will vote for whoever they think can FIX THIS, regardless of who they voted for in the past.

All votes are up for grabs. The candidate just needs to convince Americans that they can FIX THIS.

[Bourbon St Sooner]

We need another War on Poverty. The last one worked so well.

[Mississippi Sooner]

How does one wage war on poverty? Shoot all the poor people?

[badger]

How does one wage war on poverty? Shoot all the poor people?

Perhaps some are hoping they will shoot each other. :(

[diverdog]

Apparently the positive spin on this was that "poverty" does not mean living in a mud hut without running water or electricity. Rather, it means having a microwave, a big TV and a vehicle.

Here's my take: This economy impacts the rich and poor alike. All people are sick of being paranoid and pessimistic and will vote for whoever they think can FIX THIS, regardless of who they voted for in the past.

All votes are up for grabs. The candidate just needs to convince Americans that they can FIX THIS.

How are they going to fix this. Europe is hurting our growth.

[badger]

How are they going to fix this. Europe is hurting our growth.

It's not about fixing it or not fixing it. They need to make people believe that they can and they need to campaign on the idea that they can.

And yes, Europe is in a euro of a mess. Maybe we should take away their soccer balls till they can get sh!t straightened out, hehe

[Bourbon St Sooner]

Perhaps some are hoping they will shoot each other. :(

It's working down here. But it's kind of a slow process.

[soonercruiser]

Apparently the positive spin on this was that "poverty" does not mean living in a mud hut without running water or electricity. Rather, it means having a microwave, a big TV and a vehicle.
Here's my take: This economy impacts the rich and poor alike. All people are sick of being paranoid and pessimistic and will vote for whoever they think can FIX THIS, regardless of who they voted for in the past.

All votes are up for grabs. The candidate just needs to convince Americans that they can FIX THIS.

Badger, I agree that our definition of poor needs adjusting for all the goodies, including some that come free from the gobment. (from our tax dollars). And, others like the big screen TV and iPhone that they need more than nutritious food or a good edumacation for the kids.
Problem is, that when the gobment doesn't get out of the way of the business community, the really poor and children seem to suffer most!

[soonercruiser]

How are they going to fix this. Europe is hurting our growth.

Careful Diver!
The Obama gang will pick up on your post and we will see a slew of Obama speeches and commercials blaming Europe for our bad economy.

[cleller]

It seems like this might have been discussed already, but another story examined some of the incongruous characteristics of some US people living in poverty. Many have cable tv, air conditioning, video game systems, etc.

http://www.projectworldawareness.com/2012/03/understanding-poverty-in-the-united-states-surprising-facts-about-americas-poor/

Cold hearted, I know. Trouble is, some people are surely gaming the system, and no longer feel a loss of pride of responsibility for taking money from "The Government". That is, The People.

[badger]

Cold hearted, I know. Trouble is, some people are surely gaming the system, and no longer feel a loss of pride of responsibility for taking money from "The Government". That is, The People.

If I had to take a guess, there are likely a few things behind the "asset-rich" poor:

1- Receiving items as gifts. Remember Lampoon's Christmas Vacation? "Here's a really long list of what they want for Christmas that I have now guilted you into buying for them because we're so poor and living in a trailer..." (paraphrased yes). These items might be out of the price range of the poor, but they will accept them as gifts from others.

2- Using handouts for necessities and income for luxuries. Why do freeloader friends never chip in for the check at dinner, contribute to household bills or always seem to have money for personal items but never have money for necessities? Because someone else always seems to pay for it. When you get food stamps, you don't need as much money on food. Section 8 housing? Don't need to spend as much on rent. Charity for the utility bill? Don't need to spend as much on electricity/heating/cooling. This means that there's income left over for the DVDs, the Xboxes and the cable bill.

3- No income due to recent hardship, acquired everything before hardship. Why does the unemployed man drive a new car? Because he was employed when he bought it. Why does the poor family live in a big house? Because they were wealthier when they bought it. Why can the retiree living off of low social security payments still live in his house he's owned for years? Reverse mortgage (or welfare).

Speaking with people that have lower incomes than our household, I've learned things about the system that I had no idea about before. Did you know that so long as you make payments to a hospital, even as little as a dollar a month, they won't send your bill, no matter how large, into collections?

[pphilfran]

I knew a guy that did the buck a month to the hospital...

He rocked along for about 6 months then missed a payment...

Then after further months of hand wringing and gnashing of teeth he found out he had insurance that would cover the procedure...

He was not a rocket scientist...

[cleller]

These are a few or the stats from the article that jumped out at me:


80 percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, in 1970, only 36 percent of the U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.
Nearly two-thirds have cable or satellite TV.
More than half of poor families with children have a video game system, such as an Xbox or PlayStation.
43 percent have Internet service.
40 percent have an automatic dishwasher.
One-third have a wide-screen plasma or LCD TV.

In 1970, we did have an air conditioner, but around half of the families I knew did not. If it had been available when I was a kid, the idea of cable tv would have been a laugher at any price. We did not have a dishwasher, and had an old B&W TV until about 1976, when we got a color TV from a great aunt that died.

We weren't poor at all, those things were just not wise financial expenditures. Having parents that grew up during the Depression, you did not complain about things like lack of TV stations or washing dishes. They had the ultimate "shut up" stories about no electricity, no running water, no shoes, etc.

[badger]

We weren't poor at all, those things were just not wise financial expenditures. Having parents that grew up during the Depression, you did not complain about things like lack of TV stations or washing dishes. They had the ultimate "shut up" stories about no electricity, no running water, no shoes, etc.

I used to be upset at my parents when I was little, when I saw what other kids have (namely, a Nintendo) that they would not let me have, what other kids got to do (watch TV endlessly, spend more money, among other things) that they would not let me do, etc.

Now that I'm the adult parent, I'm probably going to have a peeved kid who fumes that they cannot have the newest iPhone, watch TV endlessly, have the same allowance as the other kids, etc. What goes around...

[TFSooner]

It seems like this might have been discussed already, but another story examined some of the incongruous characteristics of some US people living in poverty. Many have cable tv, air conditioning, video game systems, etc.http://www.projectworldawareness.com/2012/03/understanding-poverty-in-the-united-states-surprising-facts-about-americas-poor/

Cold hearted, I know. Trouble is, some people are surely gaming the system, and no longer feel a loss of pride of responsibility for taking money from "The Government". That is, The People.

Wasn't it Will Rogers that said (during the Great Depression I think), "This will be the first generation to drive themselves to the poor house."? Like has been stated, lot's of "poor" people have many things that would have been considered luxuries not a generation ago. We are truly a spoiled nation/people.