"Poverty Rates Down" and Earth is Flat

As usual, the mainstream media trumpets verbatim the government's ridiculous claims on the economy without offering readers the slightest semblance of critical analysis or background.

The title of the story reads: "Poverty rate down for first time this decade." The body of the article is even more outrageous.

The nation's official poverty rate declined last year for the first time this decade, the Census Bureau reported Tuesday.

Meanwhile, real median income rose 0.7 percent for American households from $47,845 in 2005 and to $48,201 in 2006, according to the annual Census report on income, poverty and health insurance coverage.

Good news - right? Wrong.

That doesn't even make up for inflation.

And it gets even worse - much worse.

On the darker side of the economic picture, though, the number of Americans without health insurance also increased from 44.8 million or 15.3 percent of the populace in 2005 to 47 million or 15.8 percent in 2006. Texas had the highest proportion of uninsured residents at 24.1 percent.

The poverty rate fell from 12.6 percent in 2005 to 12.3 percent in 2006, although the number of people living in federally defined poverty stayed about the same at 36.5 million. The federal income threshold for poverty for a family of four in 2006 was $20,614.

First of all, .3% variation could easily reflect statistical error - standard of deviation. The number to look at is the total and that, by their own standards, has not improved.

Even if their statistics are accurate, keep in mind that the reporter only included the federal poverty threshold for 2006.

In order to analyze the numbers, we need to know what the threshold was in 2005 and whether it was adjusted for inflation.

If a family earns the same money in 2006 than they did in 2005, they are more likely to live in poverty, even if the government does not lower the threshold.

In other words, examining "poverty rates" is meaningless if the definition of poverty is not adjusted for inflation.

But, it gets even worse.

Despite the rise in median household income, median earnings fell for both men and women who worked full-time and year-round.

Measured in constant dollars adjusted for inflation, the median income for male workers fell 1.1 percent from $42,743 in 2005 to $42,261 in 2006. For female workers, the decline was 1.2 percent from $32,903 in 2005 to 32,515 in 2006.

The median household income rose because THERE WAS AN INCREASE IN FULL-TIME, YEAR-ROUND WORKERS that offset the declines in earnings, explained David Johnson, the Census Bureau Chief of Households and Economics Statistics.

In other words, the title of the article is complete and utter BULLSHIT - "the poverty level is down for the first time in decades" because MORE AND MORE AMERICANS ARE WORKING HARDER THAN EVER JUST TO STAY AFLOAT!

Is there any level to which the mainstream media will not stoop to keep Americans lulled and ignorant of the dire state of our predicament?

Apparently, not.

A person needs a masters in economics or a degree in law just to untangle their web of deception.