The War on the truth... I mean Poverty

Helping to solve poverty, one statistic at a time.

With the economy tanking and unemployment on the rise, Washington has taken a decisive step to combating the rising number of people who officially live at or below the poverty line. As you probably know, the Federal Government claims that a person is living in poverty if they make either at little less than $11,000 per year for single people or $21,000 a year if they are a family of four. While these numbers are not realistic or based upon any meaningful data about who much it costs to live, it is the number that the Government uses to assign benefits. In previous years the number of poor people in America ranges around 10%, a shocking figure for a nation of plenty. But as wages fall or remain stagnant and with more American’s finding themselves out of a job, this percentage will most certainly grow. Therefore, the powers that be have come upon an immediate remedy for the growing number of people who are considered poor, lower the poverty line!

Yes, that’s right. In an almost unbelievable move the Federal Government will be changing the amount of a person’s income it considers to be at the poverty line. They will lower it to an unspecified amount that will be announced early next year. Not since the Reagan Administration declared ketchup a vegetable has such an incredible bit of stupidity ever been attempted by our anointed leaders. This bit of Stalinesque number crunching can’t be interpreted as anything else than an attempt to hide the true state of this economy and avoid the on-coming train wreck if promised “entitlement” benefits were actually paid to those who were originally intended to be their beneficiaries. Given the amount of real inflation in the economy, one would have expected at least an upward modification of the number.

Though no fan of the governmental dole, this changes seems to come right out 1984 and can not be a good sign for the economy. The announced reasons for the change are hardly worth repeating and clearly only a screen. However, given the size of our national debt, the on-coming governmental health care disaster, and the rising tide of “entitled” people, this move is a callous and dishonest play to limit their financial exposure while never addressing the central problem that the promises of a social safety net creates.

Yet, this maneuver seems to be one of several, propaganda tricks that Washington has been pulling the last few weeks. As an example, we are told that the Banks are paying back the TARP funds because they no longer need them and credit is freeing up. Only later do we hear that the President called the Banks to the carpet and demanded they make loans (I.e. There is still a credit crunch for the average consumer). Or that the Swine Flu vaccination effort was a success, but then we find out that a good portion of the vaccines were either too weak or administered wrong. Not to mention that the death rate is comparable to the regular flu thereby raising the question as to why the government spent millions of dollars on a vaccine that may not have been needed or effective. Overall, Washington seems to work overtime to remind me of an old Oscar Wilde quip: “There are lies, damn lies, and statistics”.