NEW YORK, Sept. 13 (DPI) — Reader comments on NYTimes.com mostly drip with sarcasm in response to a report that America’s poverty rate is at its highest since 1983. A sampling:
“One in six Americans are poor? This is very disappointing to Wall Street. We have to get it to one in three.”
“The fix is simple: Cut all taxes for those making $1 million a year or more and pray. Presto, poverty and all other problems are gone.”
“Mission accomplished, Tea Party.”
“This calls for more tax cuts!”
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/14/us/14census.html?hp
Many of the 200 reader comments (as of 3pm) on this week’s report — that census data showing one in six Americans now live below the poverty level — were caustic and resigned to what they see as the erosion of the American middle class. According to the report, the US poverty line in 2010 was based on an income of $22,113 for a family of four.
Some readers, though, saw the report as little more than data to advance political interests. “Don’t attempt to draw any conclusions from this, or someone will accuse you of “class warfare,” wrote one. Wrote another: “While I am far from an insensitive person, this article brings to mind the famous book “How To Lie With Statistics.” … I see many more fat people in our country than I see poor. ”
Such online views are not rare: “This is such a fraudulent statistic. The World Health Organization defines poverty as a family of four living on less than $2920 a year. If we used that definition we would have virtually no on living in poverty in the United States. Instead we use $22,113. We could reduce poverty in this country overnight by using the global definition. Instead we have the Democrats raising that limit every year (last year it was $21,600) in order to get more people dependent on the government for welfare and food stamps – thus increasing their voting base. And so our citizens sit on their butts collecting doles while the truly poor from Mexico and South America flood over the borders to do the work these indolent bums refuse to do.”
Another gave practical advice:
1. End the two wars that we cannot afford.
2. Shrink the size of government
3. Decrease government spending
4. Streamline government regulations
5. Have government get out of the way so we can all live life.
One lengthy comment expressed a widely held sentiment that the rising poverty rate was a symptom of an economic problem what won’t be solved soon: “Government cannot make the private sector do the right thing. Banks didn’t lend. Businesses didn’t hire. The middle class pulled back … There is no magic pill here folks. Romney doesn’t have one either. It’s going to take a very long time to come out of this … And we expect Obama to ride in on a white horse to fix us?
“Keep dreaming folks. Our politics is broken and no Republican or Democrat can fix it. ”
Finally, one reader pointed out that ‘class warfare’ is something of a misnomer for now: “It’s not “class warfare” until the bullets start flying.”
The reader adds, “That said, do we really want to see what happens in a heavily armed society when people have no job, no savings, no health care, and nothing to lose?”