Tuesday, November 08, 2011
Finally measuring right!
For some unknown reason the Census Bureau has finally adopted the meaningful measure of poverty that non-Commies have been advocating for a long time. Until now the bureau measured only taxable income, which meant that welfare recipients with two new cars and plasma televisions and free health care counted as poor, while non-welfare folks who were struggling to eat counted as middle class.
Now they've included all the gov't welfare programs, both cash and non-cash; and they're also adjusting for cost of living in different cities.
The results are especially interesting when applied backward to previous years, as in this graph supplied by the UK Guardian. I've marked presidential terms.
You can tell immediately which presidents helped poor people and which hurt.
Nixon and Ford were sort of neutral. Carter, Bush The Father, Bush The Son, and Obama were bad for the poor. Reagan and Clinton were good for the poor.
Eat that, you partisan assholes. ¶ 4:35 AM
Now they've included all the gov't welfare programs, both cash and non-cash; and they're also adjusting for cost of living in different cities.
The results are especially interesting when applied backward to previous years, as in this graph supplied by the UK Guardian. I've marked presidential terms.
You can tell immediately which presidents helped poor people and which hurt.
Nixon and Ford were sort of neutral. Carter, Bush The Father, Bush The Son, and Obama were bad for the poor. Reagan and Clinton were good for the poor.
Eat that, you partisan assholes. ¶ 4:35 AM
