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.”

Republicans high on New Hallucination; Democratic Mayors liberal policies failed Black Communities?

This story just kind of fell into place, with video and screen captures. The Trump inspired Alt-Right has kicked into high gear with their latest meme, pictured here in a quick Google search:

It's shear lunacy, especially after watching Scott Walker and his legislative plundering pirates attack Milwaukee, strip them of local control and reject efforts to develop a regional thriving business hub.

The Baltimore Sun posted this editorial comment that takes us quickly down the rabbit hole, expecting us to believe that state and national economic policy had nothing to do with minority high unemployment = poverty = the racial gap:

I would ask the black voters of these cities to seriously question whether they believe their lives have been materially improved since their grandparents lived there. Despite a half century of promises, it takes little reflection to agree that life in urban black communities has improved only marginally, if at all. 

While Democrats are fast to point out the problems are the result of "the drug war" or the "unbridled capitalism" of white-owned businesses who took jobs away, you will never hear them look inward and consider that perhaps their leadership and well-meaning but poorly advised liberal social agendas are to blame for much of the misery in poor urban communities. It is time such communities look to new ways of thinking about urban management. If something doesn't work after 50 years of trying the same things over and over, well, it might be time for a change.

 All in with Chris Hayes explored this concept, getting some surprising and unexpectedly ridiculous answers. Really the definitive discussion that exposes its vapid emptiness:

Chris Hayes: "...inner cities in America particularly poor and black areas, are having a hard time is because of Democratic leadership, when everything we know about the accrued history of white supremacy, and red lining, and segregation, and white flight, and disinvestment, is the reason largely that has brought us about to this moment..."

James Rowen's Political Environment reflected on just a few examples of what the state and Scott Walker did to make sure a Democratic leaning Milwaukee gets sufficiently punished:

Blaming someone else...again?

In the wake of GOP Gov. Scott Walker's pledge of $4.5 million in aid to Milwaukee's job-depressed north side after violence there two weeks ago, I noted on this blog that Walker in 2010 campaigned against and helped forfeit federally-funded Amtrak rail line expansion work worth more than $800 million which included train assembly and maintenance work underway and targeted at low-income north side Milwaukee residents.

I also wrote several posts - - one summary, here - - pointing out that Walker has long been a champion of spending more than $6 billion on the freeway system in the Milwaukee area which keeps the region heavily segregated by race and income by routinely omitting transit upgrades hat could help Milwaukee workers in a city land-locked by state law connect with jobs and other opportunities in the suburbs.

I also want to remind readers of Walker's disinterest in and outright hostility to  Milwaukee job creation when he was a GOP state legislator representing suburban Wauwatosa and, later, as Milwaukee County Executive:

* From his legislative perch, Walker sided with other suburban politicians and killed and helpedkill a light rail system in Milwaukee that would have provided construction work, plus housing and business development at stations and along the rail corridors - - a job-creating phenomenon which has occurred in other cities when light rail was built and expanded.

Walker did away with residency rules, came up with a plan to take away local control the school system, and ended citizen approved paid sick leave. Yea, so lets blame the Democrats.

Republicans Push Poverty into Suburbs with Minimum Wage Freeze and Right to Work, now blame Democratic Mayor Tom Barrett.

It was bound to happen; stagnant and declining wages are turning our once middle class suburbs into crime ridden pockets of poverty.

The Atlantic: According to Confronting Suburban Poverty in America, by Elizabeth

Kneebone and Alan Berube of the Brookings Institution, across much of the country, poverty is increasingly a problem found in the suburbs. The number of poor in the suburbs surpassed the number of poor in the cities in the 2000s, and by 2011, almost 16.4 million suburban residents lived below the poverty line. But poverty has increased so quickly in some suburbs that these areas are ill-equipped to deal with it, she said. “Many of these communities lack the infrastructure, safety-net supports, and resources to address the needs of a growing poor population,

And with wage freezes, right to work, union busting and Scott Walker policies, Wisconsin doing just what you would think:

WSJ: Despite a new report showing Wisconsin has the fastest-shrinking middle class in the U.S., the Gov. Scott Walker administration says the state is headed in the right direction.

Get a little whiplash from that?

Our once thriving suburban neighborhoods are now declining. They're no longer free from the same urban problems.

Thank you Republicans, and while you're at it, blame somebody else like always...maybe a Democrat:

JS: A suburban Republican lawmaker, State Rep. Janel Brandtjen (R-Menomonee Falls), ripped into Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett and said she would push for funding cuts to the city unless steps are taken to slash Milwaukee's crime rate … in the wake of a high-profile Milwaukee carjacking that ended with a chase into Washington County and the arrest of five juveniles.

"Last week homeowners in Washington County were held hostage in their homes by the actions of five young criminals from Milwaukee," Brandtjen wrote. "All night long the Milwaukee police, SWAT teams and law enforcement from Washington County combed the darkness for five youths with guns. Families were forced to unlock their gun cabinets and instruct their loved ones to shoot to kill.”

It's an NRA dream come true. Gee, isn’t that what real Americans are supposed to do with their firearms? Shoot to kill.

What Rep. Brandtjen doesn’t get is how her party’s economic supply side bumbling is depressing wages and turning our once thriving suburbs into poverty stricken neighborhoods. The Atlantic reported how middle class neighborhoods are turning run down slums with rising crime rates. Brandtjen should a little reading first, instead of taking the easy way out by blaming Mayor Tom Barrett:

The seven-year freeze in Wisconsin’s minimum wage has contributed to the widening income inequality in our state ... Wisconsin had a faster decline than any other state in the percentage of households in the middle class during the period 2000 to 2013.

So what was obvious to Democrats and most Wisconsinites struggling to get by, is now suddenly a revelation that must be...the Democrats fault, someone like...Mayor Barrett:

Thanks for creating another problem.

"The violence and the crime that has plagued Milwaukee for decades has now begun to spill over into Milwaukee's suburbs. I lay the responsibility for this growing and out of control problem at the door of the mayor's office. Mayor (Tom) Barrett may not care about the safety of his family but I certainly do care about mine." 

"The people of southeast Wisconsin will not sit by and watch your administration destroy the entire region with failed liberal policies and a 10 second 'Tommy Tough Talk' sound bite. If you do not fill the hundreds of vacant police officer positions, apprehend and arrest car thieves, demand prison for repeat criminals and start standing up to the judges who let repeat offenders off easy, you will be in my opinion 'assisting and enabling' the very criminals who are responsible for the record number of shootings, carjackings and murders."

The solution for all of these mind numblingly expensive "tough on crime" solutions, is to punish Milwaukee with funding cuts. Brilliant:

Brandtjen said she would be "openly advocating for funding cuts to Milwaukee unless steps are taken to dramatically cut crime in Milwaukee. "Our 7 year minimum wage freeze and right work-for-less law can't be the problem....I will no longer sit by while you destroy Milwaukee and its flourishing suburbs. I cannot justify financing your failed policies in Milwaukee until you take public safety seriously."
State Rep. Mandela Barnes (D-Milwaukee) called Brandtjen's statement irresponsible, saying it underscored an anti-Milwaukee sentiment among Republicans. "This is a top-down message from the de facto leader of the Republican Party, Donald Trump," Barnes said.

"From what I heard, they're going to build a wall around Milwaukee and Milwaukee is going to pay for it," Barnes said, an apparent reference to Trump's proposal to make Mexico pay for a wall on the border with the United States.

Cutting state funding for Milwaukee would make crime worse, Barnes said. "She would just make a bad situation worse. I don't think she truly understands what she said or what she means."

Walker Economy Flops, Wisconsin in Decline: wages down, higher paying jobs disappear!!!

After 5 years, Scott Walker's big talk about bringing in higher paying jobs instead of committing to a minimum wage hike was a miserable failure.

But then so was his similar plan as a presidential candidate:

Roll back living wage, minimum wage, prevailing wage, equal pay: Walker campaigned against raising the minimum wage. “It is a job-killing agenda,” he said. “It’s done for political expediency. It’s a cheap headline.”

Wrong, and wrong again:

Walker: "The left claims that they're for American workers and they've just got really lame ideas — things like the minimum wage. Instead of focusing on that, we need to talk about how we get people ... the careers that pay far more than the minimum wage."

Who's now got the track record proving how lame his own ideas were? This is all on Scott Walker, and no one else. JS:

Median household income fell by a significant margin in two-thirds of Wisconsin counties from 2009 to 2014, according to figures released Thursday by the U.S. Census Bureau. The trend mirrors the nation, which saw median income decline by 7.5% to $53,482, after adjusting for inflation.

"We've taken a definite step downward," said Tim Smeeding, professor of public affairs and economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Things don't look good."

Where are the jobs paying two or three times the minimum wage?

Jobs in which a person without a college education could earn a middle-class wage disappeared only to be replaced by mostly low-wage positions. The sagging incomes show a middle class that is struggling.

Rural conservative true believers got a Scott Walker shocker:

The rural areas of the state saw some of the steepest declines in income, according to comparisons of the 2005-2009 and 2010-2014 American Community Survey figures.

Now that we've made getting food stamps harder and health care out of reach: 

Falling incomes translate into increased poverty down the line. In Milwaukee County, the percentage of people living in poverty increased by 3.9 points to 21.9%. More than half of the counties in the state saw increases in the portions of people living in poverty.

For a detailed look at all this, check out Jake's Economic TA Funhouse! 

Hey nation, Walker's increasing poverty in Wisconsin.

My head still hurts when I think of Scott Walker's excuse for not raising the minimum wage, and I'm paraphrasing, "We don't need to raise the minimum wage, we need to help people get better paying jobs."

Magical thinking is never helpful, and pretending there aren't any minimum wage jobs that need pay hike is irresponsible.

But destroying union wages and benefits, passing right-to-work, pushing the end of prevailing wages and a jobs plan that attacks any business not in the good graces of the republican party, isn't exactly putting food on the table, fattening our wallets or making families feel more secure.

Walker's policies are just now taking their toll:

jsonline: Despite modest improvement in employment, poverty rose slightly in Wisconsin between 2012 and 2013, according to a study released Tuesday by University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers.

The Wisconsin Poverty Measure rose from 10.2% in 2012 to 10.9% in 2013, around 2.5 percentage points below the official poverty rate.

"We thought the economy was getting better because we saw more jobs and we were surprised when we saw poverty go up," said Julia Isaacs, a report author and senior fellow at the Washington, D.C.-based Urban Institute. The Wisconsin Poverty Measure accounts for family income and such benefits as food assistance and refundable tax credits.

And guess who ran on the deception things were getting better? The same guy I quoted above, Scott Walker:

As jobs were added in 2012, the poverty rate declined she said. In 2013, there were still more jobs added but poverty increased. "Looking more closely, while jobs are going up in Wisconsin, a lot of the growth is in jobs in low-wage occupations," she said.

Under the Wisconsin Poverty Measure, the child poverty rate increased slightly from 11% in 2012 to 11.8% in 2013, while the elderly poverty rate rose from 6.2% in 2012 to 9% in 2013.

The Words of Republican Gov. John Kasich On Poverty...shocking?

Gov. John Kasich just obliterated the Republican talking points about the poor. Are you listening Paul Ryan? From Lawrence O'Donnell:

Our New Low Wage Economy Revealed in New Numbers

All three of these stories came up in my research today by chance, and clarified everything for me.

After the Great Recession, business adjusted to the change and the possibility that it all could happen again. It was the “disaster” they need to lower wages and benefits. It worked.

Think Progress: Low-wage service employees at two federal buildings in Washington, DC are walking off the job on Tuesday to call attention to unlivable pay rates and widespread wage theft by federal contractors. The walkouts follow a May report from Demos that low labor standards among contractors make the federal government a larger low-wage employer than Walmart and McDonald’s combined. “We find that nearly two million private sector employees working on behalf of America earn wages too low to support a family,” the report said.

This is how the “wealthiest country in the world” treats its people. They've even found a way to freeload:

Large,profitable U.S. corporations actually paid just a 12.6 percent effective tax rate in 2010. That’s barely a third of the 35 percent corporate rate on the books, and it’s actually lower than the median effective tax rate for middle-class Americans. The number comes from a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study intended to clarify the terms of debate as lawmakers weigh changes to the business tax code … the GAO’s work is based on actual corporate tax returns for 2010. The researchers found that large companies – those “with assets of $10 million or more” – that are profitable paid about 12.6 percent of their global income in U.S. taxes. The figure rises to 16.9 percent of global income if all foreign, state, and local taxes are factored in. Companies that took a loss for the year actually paid a higher rate than the profitable ones.

And yet they’re suffering from a “penalty tax” for being successful, right?

And what kind of jobs are we creating? We were warned…

The economy added 195,00 jobs in June and the unemployment rate remained the same, at 7.6 percent … leisure and hospitality added 75,000 jobs and retail added 37,000.

Under Walker, Wisconsin saw the Largest Increase in Children Living in Poverty last Year.

Don’t want to move to Louisiana, Arkansas, West Virginia, or Mississippi? Just wait, they’re coming to us.

Channel3000: Wisconsin saw the largest increase in children living in poverty at 21.4 percent, and increase from 12.7 percent in 2011.

This is what “Open for Business” means, a Dickensian renaissance in Wisconsin? And when it comes to health, we've slipped from one of the best, to a state that’s not keeping up with our own reputation.

Wisconsin ranks 16th in overall health in 2012, down four spots from last year's United Health Foundation's America's Health Rankings.

How low can we go?

The report said Wisconsin also ranked 50th in per capita public health funding at $39.

So how long will it be when we’re just like our southern slums?

The five least healthy states are South Carolina (46), West Virginia (47), Arkansas (48), and Mississippi and Louisiana, which tied for the 49th slot.

Get Ready for It: Families in Poverty Living Large, What’s the Problem?

While conservatives push to eliminate the minimum wages and most benefits, they’re also busy changing the public perception of poverty in America. Not surprisingly, they’ve concluded; poor people have it made.

The Heritage Foundation: If poverty means lacking nutritious food, adequate warm housing, and clothing for a family, relatively few of the more than 30 million people identified as being “in poverty” by the Census Bureau could be characterized as poor. The average poor person, as defined by the government, has a living standard far higher than the public imagines.

But do the poor live like millionaires? That’s one perception conservatives are pushing into the public’s subconscious as a way to finally remove their outrage over poverty in America.  

As scholar James Q. Wilson has stated, “The poorest Americans today live a better life than all but the richest persons a hundred years ago.”

So true, so true. Look at all the things we have now that only millionaires would have had in 1905: 

In 2005, the typical household defined as poor by the government had a car and air conditioning. For entertainment, the household had two color televisions, cable or satellite TV, a DVD player, and a VCR. If there were children, especially boys, in the home, the family had a game system, such as an Xbox or a PlayStation. In the kitchen, the household had a refrigerator, an oven and stove, and a microwave. Other household conveniences included a clothes washer, clothes dryer, ceiling fans, a cordless phone, and a coffee maker … the typical poor family was not overcrowded and was in good repair. In fact, the typical poor American had more living space than the average European. The typical poor American family was also able to obtain medical care when needed. By its own report, the typical family was not hungry and had sufficient funds during the past year to meet all essential needs.

So what’s to complain about? Ignoring the massive income disparity, the poor have it made. The following are “positioning” statements that portray poverty as no big deal.

In reality, the living conditions of poor Americans have shown significant improvement over time … exaggeration has the potential to promote a substantial misallocation of limited resources for a government that is facing massive future deficits. Each year the U.S. Census Bureau issues a report claiming that over 35 million Americans live in poverty.  In fact, without a detailed description of living conditions, public discussions of poverty are meaningless.

All this talk of poverty is meaningless, isn’t it? After all, poverty counts don’t consider safety net programs that boost the poor’s overall wealth.

For example, there are over 70 means-tested welfare programs that provide cash, food, housing, medical care, and social services to poor and low-income persons. The bottom line is that the economic resources available to poor persons are vastly greater than the Census claims. The assertions that poverty is widespread … provide justification for policies to greatly expand the welfare state and further “spread the wealth.” Poor families clearly struggle to make ends meet, but in most cases, they are struggling to pay for air conditioning and cable TV while putting food on the table.  

 Sounds to me like someone needs to sacrifice a few "luxuries." How do conservatives sleep at night? Very well, thank you.

Think Wisconsin turned Blue to Red in the Midterms? It's only just the beginning...

Just how Republican red will the state be after a few years of their hard core right wing agenda? In this case, red represents poverty. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

In a sign that a waning economic tide lowers all boats, the majority of Wisconsin counties saw their poverty rates increase by more than 10% since 2000, a new report from the University of Wisconsin Extension finds.

And newly released figures from the Census Bureau show there are now 10 counties with poverty rates higher than 15%, including Milwaukee County, where 18% of residents are impoverished.

In the last decennial census, only two - Menominee and Milwaukee counties - had rates that high.

I've got an idea, since the poverty level is a symptom of the private sector, let's lower the wages and benefits of public workers so we can all feel the pain of poverty.

Why American Education is on the Ropes. Poverty.

An article about poverty in Janesville, Wisconsin made it perfectly clear how it effects our kid’s education. It’s the root cause of low achievement and graduation rates. Poverty controls their lives.

StateJournal: Rock County is scrambling to help two groups of needy children - those who were born into poor families and those who fell from the middle class when the Janesville GM plant closed in December 2008 … Rock with the second worst child-poverty rate in the state … The Janesville Public School District is seeing more students coming to class hungry, without a good night's sleep and distracted by the stress of living in need, said Ann Forbeck, school district homeless education coordinator.

"The stress of the economy tends to increase family conflict, and if there's drug and alcohol abuse or violence, those things can become more severe," Forbeck said.

More than two-thirds of the district's students are poor enough to get free or reduced-price lunches.

They've needed donated school clothes, shoes and classroom supplies. Now an effort is underway to find funding for bus passes for those who don't have transportation.
"Kids are missing school because they can't afford to get to school," she said.

Thanks to the economic collapse caused by the unintended consequences of free market politics, the story here doesn’t sound anything like the America we grew up in. I have a feeling it will only get worse.

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