Obama and Poverty

   Kyle Becker | On 29, Jul 2013 writing for ijreview.com  took an eye opening look at poverty in this country and how it has fared under the Obama Administration.

1. Progressive Poverty 

"Four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and an elusive American dream." (AP, "Exclusive: Signs of Declining Economic Security," July 28, 2013)

2. Weakest Recovery 

"Since World War II, 10 U.S. recessions have been followed by a recovery that lasted at least three years. An Associated Press analysis shows that by just about any measure, the one that began in June 2009 is the weakest." (AP, "Economic recovery is weakest since World War II," August 15, 2012)

3. Hope and Change? 

Under Obama, the poverty rate grew from 14.3% in 2009 to nearly 17% in April 2013. The poverty rate fell from 15.2% during the peak of the 1982 recession to 12.8% when Reagan left office. (Based on BLS figures. See Peter Ferrara at Forbes, "Reagaonomics vs. Obamanomics: Facts and Figures," May 5, 2011).

4. Welfare Explosion 

"[S]ince President Obama took office [in January 2009], federal welfare spending has increased by 41 percent, more than $193 billion per year... Despite an unprecedented increase in federal anti-poverty spending, the national poverty rate has not declined, the [Cato] study finds." (CNS News, "Study: More Than Half a Trillion Dollars..," June 25, 2012)

5. More Americans Struggling 

"About 97.3 million Americans fall into a low-income category, commonly defined as those earning between 100 and 199 percent of the poverty level, based on a new supplemental measure by the Census Bureau that is designed to provide a fuller picture of poverty. Together with the 49.1 million who fall below the poverty line and are counted as poor, they number 146.4 million, or 48 percent of the U.S. population." (AP/NBC, "Dismal Prospects," December 15, 2011)

6. Long-Term Unemployment 

"An unprecedented 4 in 10 jobless workers—nearly 5 million people—have been out of work for 27 weeks—nearly six months—or longer, pushing the average duration of unemployment up to 37 weeks, nearly 16 weeks longer than during the worst of the 1980s downturn, according to the law project's data." (NBC, "Slow Crawl to Poverty," April 4, 2013)7. Growing Inequality 

As can plainly be seen from the Congressional Budget Office data, all income groups gained under President Reagan, and inequality fell after his policies were implemented. Inequality fell during the Clinton recession and rose under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama

8. Obama Wants to Reduce Government Dependency 

First Lady Michelle Obama recently claimed in a political fundraising email that Barack Obama wants to free Americans from "any form of public assistance." Currently, nearly 110 million Americans receive some form of federal welfare. (Weekly Standard, "Over 100 Million Now Receiving Federal Welfare," August 8, 2012). President Obama said on the 2008 campaign trail that spreading the wealth around is "good for everybody.

Also, under President Obama, 46.2 million people are on food stamps. The population of this country currently stands at 316,331,000.





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