Why Elections Matter

I found this article in the Wall Street Journal very compelling. It provides one more indicator, to me anyway, why American voters should prevent Republicans from retaking majority control of our government.

Here's a few selected excerpts:

• "... stagnant wage growth that made the past decade the worst for American families in at least half a century."
• "...Americans living in poverty rose sharply to 14.3% from 13.2% in 2008—the highest since 1994."
• " The inflation-adjusted income of the median household... fell 4.8% between 2000 and 2009, even worse than the 1970s, when median income rose 1.9% despite high unemployment and inflation."

This one is real chestnut:
"The oldest Americans endured last year better than their younger counterparts. Those 65 and above saw a substantial increase in real median income, up 5.8% for the group... largely because the fortunes of older workers are tied more to Social Security checks than the job market. Without Social Security income, the report showed, some 14 million people eligible for benefits would have fallen below the poverty line."

And so as I listen to the electioneering going on right now, what do Republicans want to do? Cut Social Security, privatize it, or raise the age requirement. This is their dumb-ass response for a system that IS NOT BROKE, and a system that kept 14 million people above the poverty line in the past decade.


Cut entitlement programs. Fuck the poor! End unemployment extensions for the lazy bastards! How Christian of them? It is absolutely mind-blowing to me that these guys have failed in their fiscal responsibility time and time again and then attempt to blame Democrats. What's clear is that the right-wing propaganda machine is effective, VERY effective. Too many Americans believe their "big government is the problem" BS.

The WSJ article goes on:
"The threshold for poverty in the U.S. in 2009 was a family of four earning $21,756. But this only takes into account monetary income, while omitting the many benefits that now form the backbone of the government efforts to lift the poor. Such programs include subsidized housing and the Earned Income Tax Credit.


The poverty rate "misses most of the programs that have been added or expanded in the last 20 years to reduce poverty," says Bruce Meyer, an economist at the University of Chicago.
For instance, the government estimates if the food stamp program was counted, it would have lifted 3.6 million people above the poverty threshold last year.


Let's add up a few numbers here to summarize:
43.6 million below the poverty line
14.0 million kept above the line by Social Security
3.6 million kept above the line by food stamps

That's 61.2 million people, more than 1 in 5 Americans, 20% of us, and it doesn't include those getting extended unemployment benefits, or those who no longer have health insurance because they don't have a job, or other forms of government aid and welfare. All issues that Republicans perpetually oppose at every turn. It begs the question: What are the values of the so-called values voters?