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Home Front Economy
Census Report: Poverty in America
2008-08-27
The average poverty rate for all Americans for the first seven years of the Reagan terms was 14.2%. For the first seven years of Bill ClintonÂ’s terms, it was 13.6%. Under George Bush, the average poverty rate for 2001-2007 is 12.4%.

American women reached record wage parity with men in 2007. Women earned 77.8 cents for every dollar earned by men.

The average income for all blacks in 2007 was $46,631. This is the third highest average in history, exceeded only by the years 1999 and 2000.

The average income for Hispanics in 2007 was $50,828. While it is lower than last yearÂ’s all-time record, it is higher than all years preceding 2000.

The poverty rate for people over 65 was at a record low in 2006, 9.4%, and is at its second lowest for 2007, 9.7%.
Posted by:Chuck Simmins

#11  No problem. However it's word-smithed, the official number overstates things by quite a bit.
Posted by: Slats Glans2659   2008-08-27 23:45  

#10  Not only do they look at just income, they look at personal income BEFORE any government benefits (at every level) money stolen from the rest of us by the gummint and forked over to them is added in.

There - fixed that for ya', slats.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2008-08-27 20:36  

#9  Not only do they look at just income, they look at personal income BEFORE any government benefits (at every level) are added in.
Posted by: Slats Glans2659   2008-08-27 19:59  

#8  The other thing about poverty is that if you correlate it with age it becomes clear that most of the poor are young and the rich are old. The old, on the other hand may not earn much at all since they have accumulated over time for retirement creating a deceptive bell-curve of bull$hit.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2008-08-27 13:55  

#7  All discussions of Poverty in the US tend to fall off the mark:

They measure income instead of financial resources. There are several reasons people can spend one or more years without income. Going back to school, starting a business, etc.

If you look at people's standard of living (as opposed to income), very few people live in poverty. The real number is under 5%.

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al   2008-08-27 12:42  

#6  Correction Jack, the phrase is "Lies, Damn Lies, and statistics"

I like my fther's version.
"Be very careful of Statistics and Averages, you take a man with one foot on a hot stove, and one foot on a block of ice, On the average, he's comfortable."
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2008-08-27 11:17  

#5  The Dems will use the old saw of Mark Twain: "There are lies, lies and then there are statistics." Watch as they find the dark lining in the silver cloud.
Posted by: Jack is Back!   2008-08-27 09:20  

#4  McZoid had become hysterical and abusive, so he was banned, ed. The moderators don't seem to have as much patience for such behaviour as they used to. A pity -- when he was sensible he had an elephantine memory for the kind of information I am unable to remember.
Posted by: trailing wife    2008-08-27 07:58  

#3  These are statistical poverty rates which include people who'd qualify as middle class in most other countries in the world. Chronic or the traditional image of poverty is a smaller number unlikely to alter because of human free will. Those who
- choose to abuse drugs and alcohol
- choose to create families before having the skills to provide food, clothing, and shelter by their own means
- choose to blow off their educational opportunities
- choose to keep to the 'old ways' which are correlated to poverty
will insure that poverty will remain among us no matter how many trillions are spent on programs and bureaucracies.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2008-08-27 07:57  

#2  That's not OS. BTW, is this troll the former McZoid blowing a mental gasket? I haven't seen him post anymore.
Posted by: ed   2008-08-27 06:09  

#1  They are NOT going to brag these numbers up in Denver.
Posted by: tipover   2008-08-27 01:33  

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