BCT Editorial – 6/22/08

This page was last updated on June 22, 2008.

The new poor; Editorial; Beaver County Times; June 22, 2008.

The editorial subtitle is “It’s becoming more difficult for many Pennsylvania families to remain self-sufficient.”

There have been several editorials on this topic since September 2004 and they are all basically the same editorial with the words moved around. Among these retreads are “Even worse,” “A real challenge,” “With us always,” “Morally right,” “Dire straits,” “Bottom line,” “Disturbing trend,” “Crisis stage,” and “Hard times.”

I suggest you read the following papers.

Understanding Poverty in America (Backgrounder #1713); Robert E. Rector and Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D.; The Heritage Foundation; January 5, 2004.

Poverty and Inequality; The Heritage Foundation; August 25, 2004.

The Data on Poverty and Health Insurance You’re Not Reading (WebMemo #556); Kirk A. Johnson, Ph.D.; The Heritage Foundation; August 27, 2004.

Don’t let it be said the Times isn’t doing its bit for the Obama campaign. Counting “Hard times,” this is at least the second editorial in a few weeks telling us we’re going down en economic rat hole. You may recall “Hard times” told us “Food banks and soup kitchens are doing a booming business,” “Despair is in the air,” and we got a comparison to the Great Depression. Can a “McBush” or “McSame” editorial be far behind? <g>

What’s interesting is how quickly things change. Back in “Crisis stage,” the Times told us “The number of Americans living in poverty declined for a first time since President Bush took office, and the nation’s medium household income has increased for a second straight year.” As I’ve noted before, Times editorials and consistency are not on speaking terms.

You won’t be surprised to find that if you go to the PathWaysPA website, you’ll find the “solutions” to the perceived problems are all the same old “rob Peter to pay Paul” programs of the past with different names.

Let’s look at a couple of paragraphs in particular. The editorial states, “But because of increasing health-care expenses, stagnant wages and rising food and fuel costs, many families have hit the wall. Their credit cards are maxed out and their home-equity piggy bank has been emptied.” My grandparents (and parents) lived through the Great Depression. They would have never considered living so near the edge that an economic hiccup would have pushed them over the edge, and they would have been considered low-income for the day. They didn’t have healthcare insurance, credit cards to fall back on (a sucker’s bet), and never in a million years would they have risked losing their homes by borrowing against them.

The second paragraph is related to the first. It says, “The self-sufficiency standard is important because it reflects the struggles of families that are working hard and playing by the rules, something the official poverty level masks.” If you’re living on the edge to the point that any economic disturbance throws you into a tailspin, you are not “playing by the rules.”

The point I’m getting to is this. Given that economic hiccups like the one we’re in (Growth is still positive for Heaven’s sake!) bear no resemblance to recessions, let alone depressions, if you’re in fiscal trouble it’s because of poor personal choices.

Finally, at no point did the editorial mention the potential effect of taking 15.3% (Medicare and Socialist Security taxes) right off the top of a person’s paycheck. Using the $47,916 cited in the editorial, that’s $7,331 the family never sees. It gets worse, though. Overall, the average family eventually turns over nearly 33% of its income to all levels of government. This is near the all time high of 34% in 2000. Keep in mind, Mr. Obama and his fellow travelers want to increase taxes by allowing the rate cuts of 2003 to expire.