Newest Census yields startling poverty numbers

Hat tip to Action NC for Tweeting this story:

Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans - nearly 1 in 2 - have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income. The latest census data depict a middle class that's shrinking as unemployment stays high and the government's safety net frays. The new numbers follow years of stagnating wages for the middle class that have hurt millions of workers and families.

Of course, the Free Market corporate lackies think this is a great way to reshape the country:

Robert Rector, a senior research fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation, questioned whether some people classified as poor or low-income actually suffer material hardship. He said that while safety-net programs have helped many Americans, they have gone too far, citing poor people who live in decent-size homes, drive cars and own wide-screen TVs.

"There's no doubt the recession has thrown a lot of people out of work and incomes have fallen," Rector said. "As we come out of recession, it will be important that these programs promote self-sufficiency rather than dependence and encourage people to look for work."

Just another painfully rehashed "Cadillac-driving food stamp person" meme, supported by absolutely no data or substance. And he also fails to mention: Since we have a consumer-driven economy, as long as folks migrate from the middle- to the low-income category at this rate, we're not likely to emerge from this recession anytime soon, so that "encourage people to look for work" position is another non-substance point of view.

You know, if these idiots at the Heritage Foundation were merely observers, commenting on our state of affairs and such, I probably wouldn't care as much. But their "Action" arm is out there lobbying and throwing punches at those folks on the bottom rung, which kind of pisses me off:

On November 18th, we announced that s. 1904, the Welfare Reform Act of 2011 would be included on our legislative scorecard.

It’s time to take action in support of encouraging independence and self-sufficiency, breaking the cycle of federal program dependency.

Of course, there's not a word about big oil's dependency on Federal subsidies to buttress their already gargantuan profit margins.