Posted on 12/23/2011 10:47:59 AM PST by SeekAndFind
New Yorkers can be forgiven for shock at the newspaper headlines last week informing them that millions more of them were “near poor” or “low income.” They might relax a bit on learning that the “root cause” is simply new definition of poverty from the Census Bureau.
Indeed, under the Census definition, a family in New York City is “near poor” if it has full medical insurance and an annual income below $77,000. (In Oakland, Calif., the figure is $88,000!)
The Census report actually put nearly half the US population as “low income” — and news stories typically implied the startling new number was the result of sharply deteriorating economic conditions.
In fact, it was a surreptitious and dubious shift by the Obama administration, setting the “near-poverty” income level very close to the median-household income in most communities. (“Median income” is the point at which half the households have more income, and half have less.)
Thus, it was foreordained that, using this new standard, the Census folks “discovered” that almost half the population is living in “near-poverty” conditions. That is, if you define “near poverty” as an income roughly equal to the median, that means that by definition nearly half the population will always be “poor” or “near poor” — regardless of any changes in actual living standards.
Obama’s new poverty measure will produce very odd results. For example, if the real income of every single American were to magically double overnight, the new measure would show no drop in poverty or “near poverty,” because the poverty- and near-poverty income thresholds would also double.
In other words, the president has introduced a statistical trick that gives new meaning to the saying that “the poor will always be with you.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
“Indeed, under the Census definition, a family in New York City is “near poor” if it has full medical insurance and an annual income below $77,000.”
I have friends in NYC. The above statement is not untrue.
This is why many did not participate in the census. They knew it was a fraud and sham which was designed to provide information for TAXTION, VOTER DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES, AND INCOME INFORMATION — all fed back to Obama and his mob strictly to provide for more empowerment and destruction of individual wealth along with its redistribution.
But you knew that already, right?
This is why many did not participate in the census. They knew it was a fraud and sham which was designed to provide information for TAXTION, VOTER DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES, AND INCOME INFORMATION — all fed back to Obama and his mob strictly to provide for more empowerment and destruction of individual wealth along with its redistribution.
But you knew that already, right?
$77,000 for a family in NYC IS poor.
$77,000 for a family in Grays Harbor County, Wa. is doing pretty darned good.
It’s all in the geography.
Above? Not below??
..and the independent, “moderate” voter thinks this is reasonable; that is, the Democratic Progressive paradigm is no different than that of a Republican Conservative. Yea Gods, we a so doomed.
A lie is a lie is a lie and 0bama and his administration have perfected the lie. It has reached the point where I don’t believe ANYTHING this president says, ever. It’s easier to simply assume that he’s lying, because he always is.
We pay that asshat how much in salary, benefits, retirement and “free” vacations? Hell, Chewie and the kids just flew to Hawaii to the tune of $4 MILLION, and prior to that went to Spain for a week of shopping and sightseeing on our dime.
That jackass and his grifting family have been raping us for millions every month, and then he has the balls to tell us that people like me are rich and not paying our fair share.
Frack him, his family, his administration, Eric Holder, the DOJ, the DNC, the ACLU, La RAZA, unions and every other fugging leach sucking my life's blood to finance their fairytale existence.
Their next vacation should be an all-expense paid, family stay in one of our outstanding federal penal institutions.
He is the epitome of a lying, conniving, cheating, stealing, grifting, soulless, immoral, bastardized POS.
Ernie
This describes me and my family. You see, according to the Obama Administration, we are poor. Allow me to briefly describe what it is like to be "poor" according to our President.
I'm an E6 in the Navy with more than 8 years of service. My wife is a stay at home mother to our two young sons. We live in a decent 3 br. / 2 ba. single family home with a two-car garage and a large yard. In the summer I run the air conditioning. Next spring we will be moving to a 4 br. home. I crunched the numbers and we can easily afford it. I can afford payments on a 2009 Toyota minivan. We have a couple of nice HDTVs, PS3s, computers, cell phones, cable, Netflix, internet and on and on. I have an electric guitar collection worth thousands of dollars as is my wife's jewelry collection. My wife and sons never go without. There's plenty of food in the fridge, clothes in the closet and toys in the bedrooms. Our credit card debt is minimal and I have no problem making the monthly payments. We have thousands in our savings account. There are presents under the Christmas tree. Nice ones!
Yet, my family qualifies for WIC as well as subsidized utility bills. I'm sure there's other "freebies" we'd qualify for if I looked into it. We choose not to receive WIC and I pay my electric bill in full but we qualify nonetheless. In the eyes of the government, this places my family (and many others just like ours) in the demographic of one out of two Americans who are poor or "low income".
I certainly don't feel poor but apparently we are. And to think, all this time I've considered myself fortunate. Guess I was wrong. Go figure...
Maybe I need to get my butt to one of those "Occupy" demonstrations to draw attention to the miserable poverty that I live in.
RE: Above? Not below??
$76,000 is above $75,000 isn’t it? Well with that, you’re considered ‘near poor’ in NY. Don’t ask me why.
I can see where this is going...
People who actually contributed tens of thousands to Social Security over decades of their working lives can suck it up with cuts, increased Medicare costs and inflation which deceptively excludes some basic necessities.
Meanwhile the professional welfare leeches will have their "benefits" increased, "free" Medicaid indexed, and the threshold for being poor increased to more than the average worker makes.
Wonderful.
I just hope that when adults are voted back in all of these outrageous increases of free money can be reversed.
When are you going to tell us what you really think?
Right, if you are paying $5,000 a month for housing, and you make $75,000 a year, then you are effectively poor.
We are the poor!!! But rich in spirit and our belief in God — not that he is trying to take that away too.
“It’s all in the geography.”
Yes and those who feel poor in New York still have the freedom to move to a lower cost of living community inside the USA or outside. No doubt in Kenya, $77,000 would be a princely income.
RE: if you are paying $5,000 a month for housing, and you make $75,000 a year, then you are effectively poor.
________________________
In the very expensive city of New York, you can get a decent sized apartment near the subway not far from NYC (Manhattan) for less than or equal to $2,000.
Who is so stupid to pay $5,000 on housing when his income is just $75,000? That’s paying 80% of your income for a roof over your head. Anyone who thinks like that deserves everything he gets (including going broke).
So if you’re making over $75,000 you’re considered poor?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.