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Joe Biden’s claim that ‘almost half’ of Americans live in poverty (false)
Washington Post ^ | June 20, 2019 | Salvador Rizzo

Posted on 06/21/2019 1:35:32 PM PDT by reaganaut1

“We have . . . almost half the people in the United States living in poverty.”

— Former vice president Joe Biden, in remarks at the Poor People’s Campaign presidential forum, June 17, 2019

What does it mean to be poor? Biden took an expansive view at a presidential candidate forum hosted by anti-poverty advocates.

The Census Bureau calculates the poverty rate in different ways. Using the official poverty measure, 12.3 percent of U.S. residents were below the federal poverty line in 2017. Using the supplemental poverty measure, the rate was 13.9 percent. Biden says it’s much more: almost half the country.

We surveyed several leading researchers on poverty, and almost all agreed Biden was including people who are not poor.

The Facts The Biden campaign told us he was using the supplemental poverty measure (SPM) and counting every individual and family whose income was below 200 percent of the poverty line. That formula gets him to 140 million people, or 43.3 percent of the U.S. population in 2017.

Biden spokesman Andrew Bates said the Poor People’s Campaign, which hosted the candidate forum where Biden made these remarks, uses the same formula.

“Poverty spans every race, creed, color and sexual orientation,” the Rev. William J. Barber II of the Poor People’s Campaign said at the start of the forum. “... All of those numbers combined makes up 43.5 percent of this nation — not 30, not 23, but almost half of this nation — and any nation that ignores half of its people, half of the people, is in a moral and economic crisis that is constitutionally inconsistent, economically insane and morally indefensible.”

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: biden; poverty
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To: Red Badger

Reminds me of a George Carlin bit.
“Think how stupid the average person is, and realize half are even stupider than that!”


21 posted on 06/21/2019 1:47:39 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: reaganaut1

So romney’s 47% is close to Biden’s truth ?


22 posted on 06/21/2019 1:48:07 PM PDT by stylin19a (2016 - Best.Election.Of.All.Times.Ever.In.The.History.Of.Ever)
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To: reaganaut1

WP has kicked El Groper under the bus.
Normal MSM logic would say the WP is back to supporting Hillary.


23 posted on 06/21/2019 1:49:03 PM PDT by Zathras
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To: reaganaut1

We live in a time of astonishing wealth. Go to any big box store, like Costco or Walmart, and think about the shelves stocked with food and every item imaginable. When I did my MBA I discovered that Walmart had over 200,000 products. The average store stocked 70,000. Now realize that there are thousands of those stores worldwide, each one stocked. We live in a country where the “poor” can be grossly obese. Probably several times a week I think about how fortunate we are to be living here and now.

So, what is it half the people are missing? A new car? When I got my first job some of the other bagboys went out and bought Corvettes. I don’t recall how new they were, but they were Corvettes. Pretty much, we live in a time when the average person lives better and longer than kings did just 100 years ago. God bless air-conditioning and refrigeration. Tonight I will have food somebody else prepared in a factory half a world away. Poor? No.


24 posted on 06/21/2019 1:49:12 PM PDT by Gen.Blather
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To: reaganaut1

If poverty means struggling to live in a house that is beyond one’s means, not driving a current model car, not being able to comfortably eat out often, not being able take resort vacations a couple of times a year then Biden is probably correct.


25 posted on 06/21/2019 1:49:24 PM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: bigbob

Poor people, texting on their little iPhone 9 screens.
They probably don’t even have Bluetooth headphones...


26 posted on 06/21/2019 1:49:25 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: eyeamok

And this guy is a contender? Joe stop please stop just go away. His poor wife. As Nancy Kerrigan said “whyyy”?


27 posted on 06/21/2019 1:51:44 PM PDT by magua (It's not racism, it's just that thisBecause itÂ’s being reported that a lot of this started in 2015.)
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To: reaganaut1

Biden’s definition of ‘poor’ is anyone having less than his son, Hunter.


28 posted on 06/21/2019 1:52:58 PM PDT by RedMonqey (Welcome to Thunderdome... America 2019)
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To: RedMonqey

Don’t knock Hunter he’s perfect democratic presidential material. He’ll screw anything that moves even if it is his sister-in-law, does cocaine and he’ll deal with any government that is willing to put money upfront. Not so slow he probably took after his mother. Now there’s a contender.


29 posted on 06/21/2019 1:57:36 PM PDT by magua (It's not racism, it's just that thisBecause itÂ’s being reported that a lot of this started in 2015.)
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To: reaganaut1

America’s “poor” are the envy of the world.


30 posted on 06/21/2019 2:01:52 PM PDT by fwdude
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To: Atticus

I bet if you polled this half the country would agree with him.


31 posted on 06/21/2019 2:03:15 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer.)
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To: reaganaut1

Democrats bring non-productive people into the country. Those people get welfare. They are listed as “poor.”

By doing that, the country has a permanent “poor” problem. The moment the problem gets better, they bring in a half million or so more non-productive people, and the number of “poor” rises.


32 posted on 06/21/2019 2:05:12 PM PDT by I want the USA back (The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it. Orwell.)
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To: reaganaut1

Intelligence deficits? More like 75%...


33 posted on 06/21/2019 2:07:31 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (This space for rent...)
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To: magua

BTW, this is from the WaPo.

Rush is Right. The media has the full-court press on to get Joe out of this race.


34 posted on 06/21/2019 2:09:11 PM PDT by Buckeye McFrog (Patrick Henry would have been an anti-vaxxer.)
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To: reaganaut1

The poor in this country have 60+” big screen TVs and cell phones.

Real third world existence eh Joe.


35 posted on 06/21/2019 2:09:57 PM PDT by Vaquero ( Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: reaganaut1

Another million man march count. According to the center for poverty research at UC Davis, the highest it’s ever been is 22.4 percent in 1959. And if you don’t count the illegals that can’t find work and live on the streets or with relatives, the last full count was done in 2017 and was 12.3%

Joe must have been misunderstood. He normally is when he opens his mouth.

rwood


36 posted on 06/21/2019 2:16:26 PM PDT by Redwood71
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To: reaganaut1

Democrats have been in power for 50 years


37 posted on 06/21/2019 2:17:20 PM PDT by mountainlion (Live well for those that did not make it back.)
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To: magua

(Snicker, snicker)


38 posted on 06/21/2019 2:17:25 PM PDT by RedMonqey (Welcome to Thunderdome... America 2019)
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To: tgdunbar

Or half the population pays no income taxes.


39 posted on 06/21/2019 2:18:32 PM PDT by ActresponsiblyinVA
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To: tgdunbar

Or half the population pays no income taxes.


40 posted on 06/21/2019 2:18:33 PM PDT by ActresponsiblyinVA
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