posted 09-26-2003 08:14 PM            

34.6 Million In US In Poverty In 2002
9-26-3

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly 1.7 million people in the United States slid into poverty in 2002 and incomes slipped for the second year in a row, the U.S. government said on Friday in a report sure to provide new ammunition for Democrats trying to unseat President Bush.

The Census Bureau's annual report showed the number of people living below the poverty line rose to 34.6 million last year, from 32.9 million in 2001, when the national economy first went into recession.

A family of four with two children was considered to be living in poverty in 2002 if its total income was $18,244 or less.

A sluggish recovery has failed to create new jobs for the 3.3 million private sector employees who have been thrown out of work since Bush took office in January 2001.

The report said the real median income fell 1.1 percent last year to $42,409. The percentage of the population living in poverty grew for the second year in a row to 12.1 percent, from 11.7 percent in 2001.

Bush, who faces re-election in 2004, blames the Sept. 11 attacks and a wave of corporate scandals for the economy's failure to pull more quickly and strongly out of the recession of early 2001.

He says tax cuts he has pushed through will fix the nation's economic malaise and says they are already starting to show results.

But Democrats blame the tax cuts themselves in large part for the soft economy, as well as bulging federal deficits that have abruptly taken the place of fat surpluses projected just a few years ago.

posted 09-26-2003 09:26 PM               

quote:

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Originally posted by the professor:
Most of the poverty stricken in America got it way better than any other country.

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posted 09-26-2003 10:28 PM               

You’re right!!! Some aren't working because they abuse the system! But what are the other folks supposed to do? There are 3.3 million unemployed. How on earth are things going to get better? And when? Something has got to change.

posted 09-26-2003 10:56 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by the professor:
So far we have used millions of taxpayer money to pay for socialized programs that were to ease this situtation , guess what, they failed as we both know or we wouldn't be having this chat. You can't throw money at every problem you see and expect it to get better.

[Edited 1 times, lastly by the professor on 09-26-2003]

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A load of bull,

I suppose shoveling our tax dollars into Cheney's, Bush's, defense contractors, and oil companies pockets is not "welfare". Typical Neo-Con thinking.

Welfare for poor.......UGGGGGhhhhhhh!! No Goooood!

Welfare for Rich.......Mmmmmmmmmm!!! Goooood!

The richest man in the world, Bill Gates, is a human worm, would step on his mother to get ahead. On of my best friends just retired from Apple Computer, after starting in 1977. He met Gates several times, and said you would count your fingers after shaking hands with him.

posted 09-26-2003 10:59 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by the professor:
My opinion is to lower taxes and possibly a flat tax and get corporations to bring back the factories by making it affordable to do so and also have many incentives in place, that would be where I would start because in doing so and through out time you will create what is known as the trickle effect of job growth.

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Oh yes, they'll be trickling downstream, right into South America.

posted 09-26-2003 11:23 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by the professor:
There you go being ignorant again, Gates should be right up your alley with being a money hungry socialist yet you also turn on your own. Evil will always betray evil I guess.

Another it's Bush's fault for the homeless, have you nothing new? You forget how the economy was in decline before he took office. Answer me this how did Clinton get off squandering the so called surplus?
You gonna blame Bush for that as well? Just try to remember that defence contractors are also Americans defending your sorry ass while you sleep everynight and they also contribute to an economy.

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Nope, Gates is a money hungry Capitalist, not Socialist.

Evil......Amazing how much evil was done in the name of your god... Well, the Bible predicted there would be false prophets, and you are one of them

Where did I ever say I was a fan of Clinton? Again, you are sterotyping.

Bush is just a stupid storeroom dummy or mannequin, with other Neo-Cons with their hands up his butt, ordering him what to do and say.

posted 09-26-2003 11:42 PM            

Peter C. Peterson
Chairman, Federal Reserve Bank, NY

posted 09-30-2003 12:46 AM            

Job Losses At Great
Depression Level
9-29-3

Instead of creating 510,000 jobs in 2003, as President Bush predicted, the Republican-led economy has suffered a net loss of 473,000 jobs so far this year.1/2

The Timken Company, an Ohio-based steel and bearings manufacturer where the President launched his Jobs and Growth package in April, embarrassed the Administration two weeks ago with an announcement it will cut 900 jobs.3

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that mass layoffs were the cause of 134,000 jobs lost in August.4 August marked the seven consecutive month of job losses, a cold dose of reality in the face of the President's wishful rhetoric.5

The President sold his tax package last spring as a mechanism to create jobs, saying, "[T]he best way to create demand for goods and services is to let people have more of their own money . . . that's why tax relief is important in the year 2003 . . .

[T]hat's what the whole purpose of the package is, to create the conditions for job growth."6

His promises haven't borne out, but the President has tried to ignore the reality, claiming most recently two weeks ago in Michigan, "I'm sure the numbers are beginning to look better."7 At the same time, Vice President Dick Cheney said, "the tax-cut package that we've passed now three times does offer very bright prospects for the future."8

So far, however, economic growth has not translated into jobs. In the past 22 months just over one million Americans have lost their job. Added to the 1.78 million lost jobs during the seven-month recession, the period represents the largest sustained loss of jobs since the Great Depression.9

Sources:
1. "The President's Jobs and Growth Plan: Creating New Jobs", White House Fact Sheet.
2. "Bush Wants to Create More Jobs, but How?", New York Times, 9/28/03.
3. "Timken Lowers Sights, Plans to Cut 900 Jobs," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 9/19/03, p. B11.
4. "134,000 Lost Jobs in August 'Mass Layoffs'", Washington Post, 9/26/03
5. "August Jobs Miss Administration's Target," Economic Policy Institute, 9/5/03.
6. Presidential Speech, 4/24/03.
7. Presidential Speech, 9/15/03.
8. Meet the Press, 9/14/03.
9. "Defying Forecast, Job Losses Mount for a 22nd Month," New York Times, 9/06/03.
http://www.misleader.org/daily_mislead/Read.asp?fn=df09292003.html