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So, what did I say about that UN report acomin’ on US poverty?

14. In order to define and quantify poverty in America, the Census Bureau uses ‘poverty thresholds’ or Official Poverty Measures (OPM), updated each year. In September 2017, more than one in every eight Americans were living in poverty (40 million, equal to 12.7% of the population). And almost half of those (18.5 million) were living in deep poverty, with reported family income below one-half of the poverty threshold.

Yep, I said that they would get their numbers wrong.

The OPM is the number of people in poverty *before* the things which government does to reduce poverty. Thus the basic assertions about poverty are bollocks, aren’t they?

The actual answer is that America is both richer and more unequal than other OECD countries.

4 thoughts on “So, what did I say about that UN report acomin’ on US poverty?”

  1. ‘My visit coincides with a dramatic change of direction in US policies relating to inequality and extreme poverty. The proposed tax reform package stakes out America’s bid to become the most unequal society in the world, and will greatly increase the already high levels of wealth and income inequality between the richest 1% and the poorest 50% of Americans.’

    Decadence. Attacking the people who fund him. Time for the U.S. to stop funding the UN. Extreme poverty for the striped pants crowd.

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