U.S. poverty rises

Sunday, Sept. 19, 2010 | 2:05 a.m.

The government delivered sobering news Thursday when it reported that the nation’s poverty rate last year was 14.3 percent, the highest since 1994. The Census Bureau figure, which translates to 43.6 million Americans, is not altogether surprising because of the damage the Great Recession has done to our economy. Massive layoffs and home foreclosures have contributed to a shrinking middle class.

But the poverty rate could have been much worse had it not been for the economic stimulus package approved in 2009 by President Barack Obama and the Democratic-led Congress. The Democratic Obama administration inherited a financial and housing crisis that erupted during Republican President George W. Bush’s second term. Obama correctly recognized that the recession, caused by a disdain for financial regulation and by Bush-era policies that favored wealthy special interests, hurt the middle class the most.

As noted by Jared Bernstein, chief economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, the stimulus legislation helped keep the poverty level from going higher because it provided more than $40 billion in increased unemployment insurance benefits, $37 billion in tax cuts for working families, $13 billion in one-time extra Social Security payments of $250 per recipient, and $12 billion worth of expanded tax credits for lower-income workers. Unemployment benefits alone kept 2.3 million Americans out of poverty last year, Bernstein said.

Bernstein aptly stated that “especially in a tough job market but even in better times, families often need a safety net to catch them when they fall, or when their incomes aren’t high enough to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads.”

The Census Bureau reported that the average poverty threshold for a family of four last year was $21,954, which excluded the value of homes and other accumulated wealth. It doesn’t take much for a hardworking family that has had to endure job losses, upside-down mortgages and piles of medical bills to fall into poverty. With Nevada leading the nation in unemployment, chances are good that valley residents have friends, loved ones or former co-workers who have become impoverished, if they haven’t fallen into financial disarray themselves.

These are the times when people come to rely on a government safety net the most. Tens of millions of Americans are thankful that one exists because it gives them a fighting chance to get back on their feet and become productive citizens once again.

Don’t bother telling that to Sharron Angle, the extremist Republican candidate seeking to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, the Nevada Democrat. According to Angle’s myopic view of the world, senators should not lift a hand to help create jobs and they certainly shouldn’t get involved in an extension of unemployment benefits. Angle has said that people who receive unemployment assistance are “spoiled.”

Imagine how much higher the poverty rate would be if Angle and fellow Tea Party favorites ran Congress. That’s something the public should keep in mind when they vote in the November general election.