Poverty Rate Down slightly, thanks to Safety Net Programs...soon to get the GOP Axe!!!

I'm fascinated by how the Walker administration wants to use the success of our social safety net programs to justify killing off these same programs.

The fact that we have the fastest declining middle class in the U.S. is troubling enough. And yet officially, we saw a small drop in the poverty rate...but only if you're willing to count our safety net programs as INCOME. I've highlighted the important parts of a new study that are now being ignored by Republicans:

The Wisconsin Poverty Report showed that the drop in the poverty rate. Timothy Smeeding, an economist at the LaFollette School of Public Affairs said, "The labor market is leading the way. Social safety net programs are still helping and we're making progress." Unlike the federal government's official poverty measure — which is based on pretax cash income — the WPM accounts for family income and government benefits.

Killing Safety Nets for Capitalism: The phony "fellows" at the MacIver Institute couldn't help but brag up Mr. Government himself, career politician and capitalists lackey, Scott Walker:

“This is confirmation of what fiscal conservatives have been saying all along – by far the best way to lift a person out of poverty is capitalism..."

See, supply side works? Forget about stagnant wage growth and a decreasing middle class.

Great Recession Politics: Poverty is the lowest it's been since...9 years ago ? right after the Great Recession, a free market capitalist gift from our Republican friends?!! How hard was that? You gotta almost laugh if they weren't so serious. According to the report:

"The Wisconsin Poverty Measure (WPM), (fell) to 9.7 percent, the lowest rate recorded in our nine years of writing this report.”

Ignoring our safety nets, MacIver heaped every conservative idea they could think of to make their flimsy case:

MacIver Institute President Brett Healy: “Governor Walker and the Legislature should be commended for their historic reforms – Act 10, massive tax cuts, tort reform, simplification of the tax code, regulatory reform – that have led to a growing economy. 

With our "social safety net programs" on the chopping block, capitalism has defeated liberalism for good:

Brett Healy: "I hope my friends on the far left will remember this lesson – if we truly want to help our fellow citizens in need, we need to rein in government, not expand it. We need to unleash the awesome power of capitalism to make long-lasting and meaningful change that actually helps people.” by far the best way to lift a person out of poverty is capitalism and a growing economy, not another new government program.”