What's all the talk about?

Tuesday – September 13, 2011

What’s all the talk about?

I don’t know why everyone is in such a tizzy over some new statistics.

WASHINGTON - Filed: by Hope Yen of the Associated Press.

The ranks of the nation's poor swelled to nearly 1 in 6 people last year, reaching a new high as long-term unemployment woes left millions of Americans struggling and out of work. The number of uninsured edged up to 49.9 million, the biggest in over two decades.

The Census Bureau's annual report released Tuesday offers a snapshot of the economic well-being of U.S. households for 2010, when joblessness hovered above 9 percent for a second year. It comes at a politically sensitive time for President Barack Obama, who has acknowledged in the midst of a re-election fight that the unemployment rate could persist at high levels through next year.

The overall poverty rate climbed to 15.1 percent, or 46.2 million, up from 14.3 percent in 2009.
Reflecting the lingering impact of the recession, the U.S. poverty rate from 2007-2010 has now risen faster than any three-year period since the early 1980s, when a crippling energy crisis amid government cutbacks contributed to inflation, spiraling interest rates and unemployment.
Measured by total numbers, the 46 million now living in poverty is the largest on record dating back to when the census began tracking poverty in 1959. Based on percentages, it tied the poverty level in 1993 and was the highest since 1983.

Broken down by state, Mississippi had the highest share of poor people, at 22.7 percent, according to rough calculations by the Census Bureau. It was followed by Louisiana, the District of Columbia, Georgia, New Mexico and Arizona. On the other end of the scale, New Hampshire had the lowest share, at 6.6 percent.

The share of Americans without health coverage rose from 16.1 percent to 16.3 percent -- or 49.9 million people -- after the Census Bureau made revisions to numbers of the uninsured. That is due mostly because of continued losses of employer-provided health insurance in the weakened economy.

Congress passed a health overhaul last year to address rising numbers of the uninsured. While the main provisions don't take effect until 2014, one aspect taking effect in late 2010 allowed young adults 26 and younger to be covered under their parents' health insurance.

Brett O'Hara, chief of the Health and Disability Statistics branch at the Census Bureau, noted that Brett O'Hara, chief of the Health and Disability Statistics branch at the Census Bureau, noted that the uninsured rate declined -- from 29.3 percent to 27.2 percent -- for adults ages 18 to 24 compared to some other age groups.

The median -- or midpoint -- household income was $49,445, down 2.3 percent from 2009.
Bruce Meyer, a public policy professor at the University of Chicago, cautioned that the worst may yet to come in poverty levels, citing in part continued rising demand for food stamps this year as well as "staggeringly high" numbers in those unemployed for more than 26 weeks. He noted that more than 6 million people now represent the so-called long-term unemployed, who are more likely to fall into poverty, accounting for than two out of five currently out of work.
Other census findings:

--Poverty rose among all race and ethnic groups except Asians. The number of Hispanics in poverty increased from 25.3 percent to 26.6 percent; for blacks it increased from 25.8 percent to 27.4 percent, and Asians it was flat at 12.1 percent. The number of whites in poverty rose from 9.4 percent to 9.9 percent.

--Child poverty rose from 20.7 percent to 22 percent.

--Poverty among people 65 and older was statistically unchanged at 9 percent, after hitting a record low of 8.9 percent in 2009.”

I wanted to be accurate, so I cut a pasted an article, which I never do, but today we must start addressing the trend that has developed over the course of many years, but now has accelerated over the course of three years.

These statistics come as a result of liberal ideals and liberal policy making. It’s been the quest of the liberal to create the perfect set of conditions so that social architecture can be performed. For many years now our deficits have swelled due to entitlement programs, large government agencies, spending and giving aid to some that take it because its there to take. This only helps to encourage the high poverty levels that we see in this report today.

Every report that contains these types of figures centers around one cause, unemployment. The statistic of 9% unemployment has lingered for two years and shows no signs of improving. This is the new norm, so I guess we are now being conditioned to get used to it.

Our Forefathers used three words continually through our founding documents. These words are; happiness, prosperity and posterity. These are the keys to solving the problems that our country faces today. Our current leaders do not understand what you and I see when we walk down Main Street. They have not demonstrated the ability of solving the problems that many of them have created on Main Street. High unemployment, high energy cost and slow economic growth are the results of bad policy. This is what has to change.

When you walk down Main Street, do you see happy faces? When you walk down Main Street, do you see signs of prosperity? Do you feel that a jobless recovery will deliver on the promise of happiness and prosperity for our posterity? Do you believe that continued government spending on false markets will deliver prosperity to us and to our posterity? When you walk down Main Street, do you see the signs of a growing economy with a growing sense of opportunity that our posterity will enjoy? Do you often wonder how our posterity will pay for the errors of those who have been engrained with the Washington experience? These are all legitimate questions that we must now start to ask and then demand solutions too.

I believe that the fight for Liberty, Freedom and Independence is ongoing. Its not that we don’t have these things any longer, it’s that we don’t have enough of these things anymore. This is the basis of how we can restore job growth, lower the cost of energy and increase economic growth which results in wealth on Main Street.

It is wealth that we are talking about. It’s the ability to create personal wealth regardless if you pump gas, cut lawns or run a business. We are all in this now and we are all being pulled down because of these statistics.

There is a term that we all have used. It’s called dumbing down. This term mainly has its roots in educational debates, but there is a reason that it can be used here. We have been dumbed down to accept the status quo. The status quo in this case is, now costing everyone. From the very rich to the very poor these statistics not only brings down our standard of living but our personal standards as well.

These figures don’t instill the one thing that will provide a healthy economy and jobs so that this kind of poverty can be reversed. That word is confidence.

Gregory C. Dildilian
Founder and Executive Director
Pinecone Conservatives

A footnote: I will have confidence when the solutions come form a practical person who can lead with confidence. Then, we will be asking: what’s all the talk about?