“We shall not rest until that war is won…” That of course would mean that Lyndon Johnson whose war on poverty is a colossal disaster must be doing back flips in his grave “from the courthouse to the White House.”
Greg Gutfeld pointed out on “The Five” today that the U.S. census counts a family as poor, but excludes any income or benefits they receive from the government, thus ensuring that those programs will grow while poverty statistics remain unchanged.
“It’s not a war on poverty, it’s a zombie that you can’t kill,” he said. “Stop throwing money at it. This is crazy.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau 14.5% of the population in the USA (45.3 million Americans) were living at or below the poverty level in 2013. In addition, the number of children living in poverty decreased by 1.4 million, to 14.7 million.
This was not a statistically significant change from the estimate for 2012, the bureau said in its annual report on income and poverty….
Census officials said that income inequality did not change in a statistically significant way from 2012 to 2013. However, they said, inequality has increased substantially in the last two decades, and the most common measure of household income inequality, known as the Gini index, is up 4.9 percent since 1993….
ONE SIDE OF THE COIN, MOVING THE GOALPOST
About the U. S. Census Bureau’s report on poverty, Greg Gutfeld is dead on point. Poverty, as defined in today’s America is far different from the definition of poverty, fifty years ago because our bureaucrats are continually moving the goalpost.
The War on Poverty Has Been a Colossal Flop by The Daily Signal
Since its beginning, U.S. taxpayers have spent $22 trillion on Johnson’s War on Poverty (in constant 2012 dollars). Adjusting for inflation, that’s three times more than was spent on all military wars since the American Revolution.
The federal government currently runs more than 80 means-tested welfare programs. These programs provide cash, food, housing and medical care to low-income Americans. Federal and state spending on these programs last year was $943 billion. (These figures do not include Social Security, Medicare, or Unemployment Insurance.)
…Census counts a family as poor if its income falls below specified thresholds. But in counting family “income,” Census ignores nearly the entire $943 billion welfare state….
THE FLIP SIDE…
Lyndon Johnson’s Poverty Tour – 1964 (screenshots)
FIFTY YEARS AFTER LYNDON JOHNSON’S POVERTY TOUR….
Fifty years after Lyndon Johnson’s Poverty Tour, the war on poverty for whatever reasons has been proven a failure (screenshots).
See also: 9 Facts About How the Poor in America Live by The Daily Signal
Source: LBJ Poverty Tour, 1964, public domain.
LINKS:
http://foxnewsinsider.com/2014/09/16/it%E2%80%99s-zombie-you-can%E2%80%99t-kill-hosts-five-blast-americas-22-trillion-war-poverty
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/17/us/politics/census-report-poverty-income.html
http://dailysignal.com/2014/09/15/9-facts-poor-america-live/
http://dailysignal.com/2014/09/16/war-poverty-colossal-flop/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VyZ_vKuY-M
