America's Poor: The Numbers & The Myth

The coiffed news readers at the nation's television stations have been practically apoplectic in reporting that the world's richest country is awash in poverty.  Some 46.4 million Americans are now entombed in beggary, the highest figure in the nation's history, they have gleefully recited from their teleprompter.

Those figures, compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau, were recently released just as Congress began wrestling with the federal budget. The news was timed to arm Democrats with data to justify fattened funding for a host of federal programs, most notably food stamps.

As has been the case so often, the Democrat footmen in the media omitted a few salient facts that would cast a different light on the Census data.

For instance, the federal poverty level is adjusted annually.  The threshold is established by using metrics developed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).  The official yardstick measures inflation, size of a family, ages of the members, total family income and a few other benchmarks.

The household income includes only earned wages.  It does not take into account any federal aid, such as food stamps, housing assistance, Medicaid and other non-cash state or federal benefits. Likewise, there is no accounting for the discrepancies in living costs between geographic regions.

Different federal agencies that administer aid programs employ different poverty guidelines.  That fuels confusion about the exact income point for poverty in the U.S.

Currently, the official federal poverty level for an average family of four is $23,550.  However, a family of eight can earn up to $39,630 and still be counted as poor.  In many industrialized countries, an income of $40,000 would be considered upper middle class.

Most Americans are surprised by the federal income delineation between poor and middle class. Surveys show that the majority imagine the poor are lacking food, shelter, clothing and transportation.  They consider poverty to connote that a family is destitute.

But many of America's poor live in luxury compared to their brethren in other parts of the world.

According to Census data, 80.9 percent of the households below the poverty level have cell phones.  Nearly 6 in 10 (58.2%) own computers.  Practically all (96.1%) have televisions.  Almost 80 percent have satellite or cable TV service.  Ninety-seven percent have refrigerators.  Nine in 10 have microwaves.  Most of the world's poor have none of these conveniences.

Those facts were missing from the media's newscasts, but the most glaring omission of all is the spike in unemployment under President Obama's stewardship.

Since Obama assumed office, poverty in the United States has zoomed 16.73 percent.  Median income has fallen every year of Obama's reign.  Twenty-even percent of African-Americans live at or below the poverty line, the highest since the civil rights movement.

The president gets a pass from the media because he always points the finger at his predecessor, George W. Bush.  But his blame-shifting rings hollow after nearly five years in office, billions in stimulus spending and record funding for federal poverty programs.

There is no escaping the fact that poverty has grown worse under President Obama.  His own government's measurements prove it. Obama needs to point the finger at himself for a change.