Leftists have thrown some numbers together to make things sound even worse.
If you live in the United States, there is a good chance that you are now living in poverty or near poverty. Nearly 50 million Americans, (49.7 Million), are living below the poverty line, with 80% of the entire U.S. population living near poverty or below it.
That near poverty statistic is perhaps more startling than the 50 million Americans below the poverty line, because it translates to a full 80% of the population struggling with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on government assistance to help make ends meet.
In September, the Associated Press pointed to survey data that told of an increasingly widening gap between rich and poor, as well as the loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs that used to provide opportunities for the “Working Class†to explain an increasing trend towards poverty in the U.S.
Because times are tough, and the government might cut some “anti-poverty programs” in the not too distant future, the AP feels the need to fail at statistics so as to be as shocking as possible.
Of course, none of this is has anything to do with six years of Democratic Party rule. It is all the fault of those small government types.
I think part of it may stem from carefully chosen definitions.
“Fifty percent of American workers have less than average personal income. That means 50% of Americans are poor and the other 50% are ‘in danger of poverty!'”
The “Obama Recovery” roughly coincides with the Republican takeover of the Congress. Guess who’ll take the credit.