The Patriot Post® · 'Poverty,' Defined by Statisticians

Thomas Sowell: “Most of the households in the bottom 20 percent of income earners have nobody working. There are more heads of household working full-time and year-round in the top 5 percent than in the bottom 20 percent. What this means statistically is that liberals can throw around numbers on how many people are living in ‘poverty’ – defined in terms of income received, not in terms of goods and services provided by the government. … ‘Poverty’ is in the eye of the statisticians – more specifically, the government statisticians who define what constitutes ‘poverty,’ and who are unlikely to define it in ways that might jeopardize the massive welfare state that they are part of. … Despite whatever good intentions some liberals may have had in creating the ever-growing welfare state, practical politicians know that more dependency means more votes for supporters of bigger government.”