The Big Lie

According to Thomas Sowell, who is usually pretty brainy, the big lie is that we have working poor in America. Yep the working poor in America have basically disappeared; we have the unworking poor and the middle class. "While there are working people who are poor, most poor people are not working full time, not working very long, or not working at all." He then quotes a complicated formula used to determine this.

"Census data make it unmistakably clear. When it comes to full-time year-around workers, there are more heads of households who fall into that category in the top 5 percent of income earners than in the bottom 20 percent -- in absolute numbers."

Yep. Nothing could be clearer. Of course a suspicious person might wonder at all those qualifiers, and question whether or not Mr. Sowell is being entirely forthright. It would seem his figures would disqualify people who are working nearly full time (as many are; businesses like employees who work 35 hours a week so they don't have to pay overtime or medical). They would also disqualify seasonal workers or workers who have been laid off, no matter how long (or how short) they were out of work.

Of course it's all in the definition of working poor. Sowell, sensing, perhaps, that even a cusory glance around most communities will reveal the existence of working poor, then defines the term for us. Apparently the Working Poor are those who remain poor for a long period of time, for one thing. Consistently poor. So if you had a good year a couple of years back, got out of poverty for a little while, well, you aren't part of this category.

The other factor is what number are we using to determine working poor? Is it $22,000 a year? $15 an hour? Or is it the ability to pay for enough groceries, health care, housing? It's not the latter, by the way. That would raise the bar a little higher than is politically prudent.