Op-Ed: Why is liberal California the poverty capital of America? By Kerry Jackson Guess which state has the highest poverty rate in the country? Not Mississippi, New Mexico, or West Virginia, but California, where nearly one out of five residents is poor. That’s according to the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure, which factors in the cost of housing, food, utilities and clothing, and which includes noncash government assistance as a form of income. Given robust job growth and the prosperity generated by several industries, it’s worth asking why California has fallen behind, especially when the state’s per-capita GDP increased approximately twice as much as the U.S. average over the five years ending in 2016 (12.5%, compared with 6.27%). It’s not as though California policymakers have neglected to wage war on poverty. Sacramento and local governments have spent massive amounts in the cause. Several state and municipal benefit programs overlap with one another; in some cases, individuals with incomes 200% above the poverty line receive benefits. California state and local governments spent nearly $958 billion from 1992 through 2015 on public welfare programs, including cash-assistance payments, vendor payments and “other public welfare,” according to the Census Bureau. California, with 12% of the American population, is home today to about one in three of the nation’s welfare recipients. Harvard University study found evidence that “higher minimum wages increase overall exit rates for restaurants” in the Bay Area, where more than a dozen cities and counties, including San Francisco, have changed their minimum-wage ordinances in the last five years. “Estimates suggest that a one-dollar increase in the minimum wage leads to a 14% increase in the likelihood of exit for a 3.5-star restaurant (which is the median rating),” the report says. These restaurants are a significant source of employment for low-skilled and entry-level workers. Apparently content with futile poverty policies, Sacramento lawmakers can turn their attention to what historian Victor Davis Hanson aptly describes as a fixation on “remaking the world.” The political class wants to build a costly and needless high-speed rail system; talks of secession from a United States presided over by Donald Trump; hired former attorney general Eric H. Holder Jr. to “resist” Trump’s agenda; enacted the first state-level cap-and-trade regime; established California as a “sanctuary state” for illegal immigrants; banned plastic bags, threatening the jobs of thousands of workers involved in their manufacture; and is consumed by its dedication to “California values.” All this only reinforces the rest of America’s perception of an out-of-touch Left Coast, to the disservice of millions of Californians whose values are more traditional, including many of the state’s poor residents. With a permanent majority in the state Senate and the Assembly, a prolonged dominance in the executive branch and a weak opposition, California Democrats have long been free to indulge blue-state ideology while paying little or no political price. The state’s poverty problem is unlikely to improve while policymakers remain unwilling to unleash the engines of economic prosperity that drove California to its golden years. Kerry Jackson is the Pacific Research Institute’s fellow in California studies. This essay was adapted from the winter issue of City Journal. http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-jackson-california-poverty-20180114-story.html
LATimes need to stop publishing fake news from conservative inbreds who make shit up as they go Using Census data on poverty, we've created a list of the states, and D.C., with the highest poverty ratings. 7. Kentucky • Number of people living below poverty during 2013: 800,635 • Percentage of people living below poverty during 2013: 18.8% • Number of people living below poverty in 2012: 823,197 • Food stamp use ranking: Kentucky has the 10th-highest food stamp use-percentage in the U.S. 6. District of Columbia • Number of people living below poverty during 2013: 115,551 • Percentage of people living below poverty during 2013: 18.9% • Number of people living below poverty in 2012: 108,732 • Food stamp use ranking: D.C. has the highest food stamp-use percentage in the U.S. 5. Georgia • Number of people living below poverty during 2013: 1,843,768 • Percentage of people living below poverty during 2013: 19% • Number of people living below poverty in 2012: 1,848,533 • Food stamp use ranking: Georgia has the eighth-highest food stamp use-percentage in the U.S. 4. Arkansas • Number of people living below poverty during 2013: 565,469 • Percentage of people living below poverty during 2013: 19.7% • Number of people living below poverty in 2012: 568,065 • Food stamp use ranking: Arkansas has the 16th-highest food stamp use-percentage in the U.S. 3. Louisiana • Number of people living below poverty during 2013: 888,019 • Percentage of people living below poverty during 2013: 19.8% • Number of people living below poverty in 2012: 891,981 • Food stamp use ranking: Louisiana has the seventh- highest food stamp use-percentage in the U.S. 2. New Mexico • Number of people living below poverty during 2013: 448,461 • Percentage of people living below poverty during 2013: 21.9% • Number of people living below poverty in 2012: 426,245 • Food stamp use ranking: New Mexico has the third-highest food stamp use-percentage in the U.S. 1. Mississippi • Number of people living below poverty during 2013: 695,915 • Percentage of people living below poverty during 2013: 24.0% • Number of people living below poverty in 2012: 698,252 • Food stamp use ranking: Mississippi has the second-highest food stamp use-percentage in the U.S. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2015/02/15/cheat-sheet-states-poverty/23325629/
It wasn't news, it was an op-ed piece and they have been doing it for a while by bringing in dumb Cons to write these fact free fluff pieces. I never said it was news, stop hearing voices in your head.
US Census Bureau Supplemental Poverty Measure https://www.census.gov/library/publications/2017/demo/p60-261.html Yep California is number one with a SPM of 20.4% -- Census SPM spreadsheet. https://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/demo/tables/p60/261/table5.xlsx
Nice try, account for living costs in a very wealthy state with expensive housing and pretend it's the same kind of poverty that red states are experiencing.
You better go read the definition of SPM at the Census Bureau website and how it accounts for living costs and other factors. But I expect you will read nothing, remain completely ignorant while pushing your talking points. Here is a SPM map from the Census Bureau to help you out.
I know very well what SPM is, SPM is high in California because of expensive housing which is a problem for wealthy states. Notice how all the states with the highest economic output having similar figures - the only way to solve this problem is to become a poor red state.
Let's get to the point. Take a look at the map - the majority of blue states have much higher functional poverty than red states. Why do blue states have so many people living in poverty? Why aren't the blue states assisting these people more with housing, food, and welfare? It's tragic that blue states have such an obscene functional poverty rates. Over 20% in California! What are all these blue states doing wrong that so many of their residents suffer so?
I can't imagine why anyone would be unclear about what is happening in California. They are rapidly becoming a third world state, with the middle class leaving, the ultra rich getting ultra richer and a massive influx of extremely poor people , most of whom do not even speak English. They can argue their economic policies are just fine, since they averaged twice the US GDP growth rate, but the fruits of that growth largely fell to Silicon valley monopolists.