This week, anyway. And just for Eric Alterman’s sake.
He posted this diatribe at the HuffPo and deemed the following excerpt from an NYT article appropriate to quote:
The New York Times headlines this story: “Census Reports Slight Increase in ’05 Incomes.”
This is, in every meaningful sense, misleading. You have to get to paragraph four to learn that “While the economy has been strong by most statistical measures for the past several years, its benefits have not translated into improvements in the standard of living for many people. In New York, the proportion of city residents living below the poverty level has not changed in the last five years.
Ahem. Ready, Mr. Alterman?
It is not the government’s job, nor that of private industry, to drag a person out of ‘poverty’. The only person/thing who can make their income level ascend is themselves.
Thank you. That is all.
Is it even possible to eliminate poverty? If some miracle happened and everybody suddenly made more money, wouldn’t there still be people that made less? So now, instead of being able to afford cable and cell phones as many “poor” people can today, they can afford cable, cell phones, a Netflix subscription, and a newer “certified previously owned” car. What’s changed? The 20% with the lowest income still “poor” compared to the 20% with the highest income.
Could it be that these people won’t be happy until everyone makes the same amount of money?
But even then, if everyone makes the same amount of money, you’ll still have the 20% that save and invest their excess income and the 20% that will gamble/drink/spend any excess income. This will bring us right back to “rich” and “poor” people (though technically it would be “smart” and “stupid”).