In 1820, 94% of the world's population lived in extreme poverty. In 1990, 34.8%, and in 2015, just 9.6%.

In 1820, 94% of the world's population lived in extreme poverty. In 1990, 34.8%, and in 2015, just 9.6%. https://t.co/mN2Z7uE0oa

— HumanProgress.org (@HumanProgress) June 20, 2018

If the media truly reported the important changes in the world, they could have run the headline NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN EXTREME POVERTY FELL BY 137,000 SINCE YESTERDAY

Why won’t the UN tell us what really reduces poverty? https://t.co/cp15bzMExa pic.twitter.com/cmmdDnTT4X

— Cato Institute (@CatoInstitute) March 15, 2018

If the media truly reported the important changes in the world, they could have run the headline NUMBER OF PEOPLE IN EXTREME POVERTY FELL BY 137,000 SINCE YESTERDAY every single day for the last 25 years. https://t.co/izjadntivj pic.twitter.com/01VKn3ayBo

— Cato Institute (@CatoInstitute) March 15, 2018

LATimes: "The generous spending, then, has not only failed to decrease poverty; it actually seems to have made it worse."

LATimes: "The generous spending, then, has not only failed to decrease poverty; it actually seems to have made it worse." https://t.co/sIcBnj0p98 #CAPolitics

— HJTA.org (@HJTA) March 7, 2018

CA scored poorly in citizen opportunity and fiscal stability but ranked worst in the nation in "quality of life," due to people feeling unsupported by those around them. https://t.co/j6hiJ7jwpw #CAPolitics

— HJTA.org (@HJTA) February 28, 2018

Humanity is making swift progress — through the free actions of billions of individuals — toward ending poverty and better preserving the environment

Humanity is making swift progress — through the free actions of billions of individuals — toward ending poverty and better preserving the environment. https://t.co/z5iWr6S0tA

— Cato Institute (@CatoInstitute) February 2, 2018

Poverty declined globally from 1.7 billion people in 1999 to 767 million in 2013, or from 28% of people in 1999 to 11% in 2013.

Poverty declined globally from 1.7 billion people in 1999 to 767 million in 2013, or from 28% of people in 1999 to 11% in 2013. The most significant progress was in Eastern & South-Eastern Asia, where the poverty rate fell from 35% in 1999 to 3% in 2013. https://t.co/DoWNE3g8De pic.twitter.com/1vGrKjSiNS

— Cato Institute (@CatoInstitute) January 19, 2018

Maybe people in high-tax states will choose to elect legislators and governors who take less of their money?

When Pat Brown was governor, CA was #1: economic growth, K-12 schools, middle class prosperity. With Jerry Brown as governor, CA is #1: highest poverty, highest K-12 failure rate, highest gas prices, highest housing cost, highest traffic jams. CA is broken. Time for a change.

— Doug Ose (@DougOse) December 29, 2017

Maybe people in high-tax states will choose to elect legislators and governors who take less of their money?

— Ron Flanders (@redauerbach) December 29, 2017

Not going to happen..The Republicans are a dead Party in Calif..Have to maybe elect a moderate Democrat but they also dont exist..Be Well https://t.co/F2g7fMxZpP

— Michael Reagan (@ReaganWorld) December 29, 2017

Have you ever tried 1) voting in Republicans instead of Democrats or 2) Moving to a red state. Hell, Illinois is losing 1 citizen every 4 1/2 minutes because of the high taxes Madigan forced on Rauner.

— skyefaerie (@oldbooksdolls) December 29, 2017

My children and Grandchildren live in Calif. https://t.co/P3nka8XYXe

— Michael Reagan (@ReaganWorld) December 29, 2017

California under Jerry Brown... pic.twitter.com/7pqTEBsaYk

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) December 29, 2017

Venezuela’s democratic façade has completely crumbled

Venezuela’s democratic façade has completely crumbled https://t.co/uhlttWnWR1

— Instapundit.com (@instapundit) July 10, 2016

Not long ago, the regime that Hugo Chávez founded was an object of fascination for progressives worldwide, attracting its share of another-world-is-possible solidarity activists. Today, as the country sinks deeper into the Western Hemisphere’s most intractable political and economic crisis, the time has come to ask some hard questions about how this regime — so obviously thuggish in hindsight — could have conned so many international observers for so long.

Chávez was either admired as a progressive visionary who gave voice to the poor or dismissed as just another third-world buffoon. Reality was more complex than that: Chávez pioneered a new playbook for how to bask in global admiration even as he hollowed out democratic institutions on the sly.

With Socialism Failing To Provide, Venezuelans Resort To Looting In Order To Survive

With Socialism Failing To Provide, Venezuelans Resort To Looting In Order To Survive https://t.co/2Ejd6yoeek

— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) May 1, 2016

The world is more prosperous than it has ever been in the past. Prosperity is rising & global inequality decreasing.

The world is more prosperous than it has ever been in the past. Prosperity is rising & global inequality decreasing. https://t.co/N8gZnjF7Ja

— Cato Institute (@CatoInstitute) April 26, 2016

George Takei: Justice Clarence Thomas Is a "Clown in Blackface"

Star Trek’s George Takei goes on RACIST RANT, calls Clarence Thomas a CLOWN IN BLACKFACE http://t.co/4ezoI6zsPJ pic.twitter.com/F6we1G2rp9

— Right Scoop (@trscoop) July 2, 2015

Gay Activist Calls Justice Clarence Thomas 'Clown in Blackface'... http://t.co/YElDneNQeS

— DRUDGE REPORT (@DRUDGE_REPORT) July 2, 2015

Holy ****: George Takei Just Doubled Down, Said 'Black Face' Isn't Racist, And Called Clarence Thomas A Race Traitor http://t.co/0WhrVFgQ5k

— The Federalist (@FDRLST) July 3, 2015

Liberals won't call a team "Redskins," but "Blackface" is ok to describe Justice Thomas? #CulturalRot #tcot #ccot pic.twitter.com/ibBnfq9WzI

— Linda Suhler, Ph.D. (@LindaSuhler) July 2, 2015

According to @GeorgeTakei, only one of these people is wearing black face: pic.twitter.com/EINDDdim8C

— Cuffy (@CuffyMeh) July 3, 2015

@theofficialjmg @jtLOL I've learned a lot the last few days. I learned that you don't have dignity unless someone gives it to you.

— Joel Engel (@joelengel) July 3, 2015

George Takei: 'Blackface' not racist; Clarence Thomas has 'abdicated his African American heritage' http://t.co/7bNoJbh1Me

— TwitchyTeam (@TwitchyTeam) July 3, 2015

My Grandfather's Son by Clarence Thomas, one of the most riveting and inspiring autobiographies I've ever read. Crushing poverty to SCOTUS.

— Debra Burlingame (@DebraBurlingame) July 3, 2015

Ouch. pic.twitter.com/uDb0bqHbls

— Instapundit.com (@instapundit) July 3, 2015

DUPREE: Open Letter to George Takei: Being a black conservative takes courage #ApologizeTakei http://t.co/zQHnKk1wgf pic.twitter.com/1sHiupUtcU

— DupreeNation ★彡 (@WayneDupreeShow) July 3, 2015

New vid => A Point-By-Point Rebuttal to Obama’s RIDICULOUS “Poverty Summit” Remarks

New vid => A Point-By-Point Rebuttal to Obama’s RIDICULOUS “Poverty Summit” Remarks http://t.co/i7J5gBU4ZR pic.twitter.com/x3bsLpaGyV

— Steven Crowder (@scrowder) May 13, 2015

On poverty, Obama is hypocritical and clueless. He is all ideological agenda, no facts: http://t.co/d3kFoV3xAq @powerlineus #tcot

— John Hinderaker (@jhinderaker) May 12, 2015

WOW: HYPOCRITE-IN-CHIEF: Obama: Wealthy Ignore Poverty By Sending Kids To Private Schools http://t.co/bgokV3op2s pic.twitter.com/I7MGOT38Yt

— slone (@slone) May 13, 2015

Mark Levin CASTIGATES Obama and his dime-store Marxism about the rich http://t.co/LcaAMvc1Hh

— The Right Scoop (@TheRightScoop) May 13, 2015

Thomas Sowell: Obama versus America

◼ Make no mistake about it, there is no society of human beings in which there are no rotten people. But for a President of the United States to be smearing America in a foreign country, whose track record is far worse, is both irresponsible and immature. - Thomas Sowell/Human Events

In his recent trip to India, President Obama repeated a long-standing pattern of his — denigrating the United States to foreign audiences. He said that he had been discriminated against because of his skin color in America, a country in which there is, even now, “terrible poverty.”...

Nothing that happened to Barack Obama when he was attending a posh private school in Hawaii, or elite academic institutions on the mainland, was in the same league with the appalling treatment of untouchables in India. And what Obama called “terrible poverty” in America would be called prosperity in India.

The history of the human race has not always been a pretty picture, regardless of what part of the world you look at, and regardless of whatever color of the rainbow the people have been.

If you want to spend your life nursing grievances, you will never run out of grievances to nurse, regardless of what color your skin is. If some people cannot be rotten to you because of your race, they will find some other reason to be rotten to you.... KEEP READING

CALIFORNIA POVERTY RATE: 23.4%...

◼ Census Bureau: California still has highest U.S. poverty rate - Dan Walters/Sacramento Bee

California continues to have – by far – the nation’s highest level of poverty under an alternative method devised by the Census Bureau that takes into account both broader measures of income and the cost of living.

Nearly a quarter of the state’s 38 million residents (8.9 million) live in poverty, a new Census Bureau report says, a level virtually unchanged since the agency first began reporting on the method’s effects.

Under the traditional method of gauging poverty, adopted a half-century ago, California’s rate is 16 percent (6.1 million residents), somewhat above the national rate of 14.9 percent but by no means the highest. That dubious honor goes to New Mexico at 21.5 percent.

But under the alternative method, California rises to the top at 23.4 percent while New Mexico drops to 16 percent and other states decline to as low as 8.7 percent in Iowa....

The Public Policy Institute of California used a similar methodology last year to gauge poverty in the state’s 58 counties, called a California Poverty Measure.

It pegged the statewide poverty rate at 22 percent and found some of the highest rates in the San Francisco Bay Area and coastal communities usually considered affluent due to their high costs of housing. Los Angeles had the highest rate in the state, 26.9 percent, followed by Napa at 25.5 percent.

◼ Neel Kashkari Spent a Week Pretending to Be Homeless - Business Week

500 economists, including three Nobel laureates, on Wednesday urged Congress to junk President Obama's proposal to boost the minimum wage to $10.10, claiming it will cut jobs and raises prices.

◼ Over 500 economists slam minimum wage hike as a jobs killer - Paul Bedard/Washington Examiner

...“One of the serious consequences of raising the minimum wage is that business owners saddled with a higher cost of labor will need to cut costs, or pass the increase to their consumers in order to make ends meet. Many of the businesses that pay their workers minimum wage operate on extremely tight profit margins, with any increase in the cost of labor threatening this delicate balance,” they warned.

Among the signers were economists from major schools, including Obama’s alma mater, Nobel laureates Vernon Smith, Edward Prescott and Eugene Fama, and George Shultz, who was secretary of State, Treasury secretary, and a former top budget chief.

It was timed to coincide with a Senate hearing on legislation to boost the minimum wage, which the Congressional Budget Office warned could lead to thousands of job cuts.

“To address the very real concerns of out of work and low-wage workers, many of our nation’s policymakers point to raising the minimum wage as a ‘silver bullet’ solution,” the economists wrote. “Although increasing wages through legislative action may sound like a great idea, poverty is a serious, complex issue that demands a comprehensive and thoughtful solution that targets those Americans actually in need.”

“Poverty has of late become a subject of concern in both political parties.” The inequality business is booming. Obscene wealth is unfashionable. Poverty is “in.”

◼ Poverty Chic: The latest political fashion - Matthew Continetti/Washington Free Beacon

Politics, like fashion, is a matter of whims, of fast-changing impulses, of consensus that has all the staying power of New England weather. In fashion as in politics one must know which clothes to wear, which opinions to have in hand. A commonly accepted accessory, like a commonly accepted opinion, is a badge of membership in the tribe. The wrong choice, the sartorial misstep, the injudicious comment mark one as an outlier, out of sync with his environment, disconnected from the currents of opinion that govern the world....

Today that sense has given us a politics of poverty, inequality, and social justice, and has launched political celebrities such as de Blasio and Elizabeth Warren and Barack Obama. But fashion is fickle. Trends vanish. And the next fad might not fit the New York Times’ definition of haute politique.

◼ Pinch’s Poverty Chic - Ed Driscoll/PJMedia

This speech, from Senator Marco Rubio, is well worth your while.

◼ Rubio on Poverty and the Welfare State - Yuval Levin/National Review Online

Rubio offers a great example of how conservatives should be thinking about poverty in America, and about the conceptual perversity and (resulting) practical inadequacy of our vast array of anti-poverty programs. And he helps us also to see how the Democrats’ misguided emphasis on inequality as the core of that problem opens up real opportunities for Republicans to lay out for the country their vision of the American Dream, and their agenda for helping more Americans achieve it.

Too much of too little

◼ A diet fueled by food stamps is making South Texans obese but leaving them hungry - Washington Post

...The family checkup had been scheduled at the insistence of a school nurse, who wanted the Salas family to address two concerns: They were suffering from both a shortage of nutritious food and a diet of excess — paradoxical problems that have become increasingly interconnected in the United States, and especially in South Texas.

For almost a decade, Blanca had supported her five children by stretching $430 in monthly food stamp benefits, adding lard to thicken her refried beans and buying instant soup by the case at a nearby dollar store. She shopped for “quantity over quality,” she said, aiming to fill a grocery cart for $100 or less.

But the cheap foods she could afford on the standard government allotment of about $1.50 per meal also tended to be among the least nutritious — heavy in preservatives, fats, salt and refined sugar. Now Clarissa, her 13-year-old daughter, had a darkening ring around her neck that suggested early-onset diabetes from too much sugar. Now Antonio, 9, was sharing dosages of his mother’s cholesterol medication. Now Blanca herself was too sick to work, receiving disability payments at age 40 and testing her blood-sugar level twice each day to guard against the stroke doctors warned was forthcoming as a result of her diet....

California still has highest poverty rate under new method

◼ California still has - by a huge margin - the highest poverty rate of any state under an alternative Census Bureau calculation that includes the cost of living. - Dan Walters/Sacramento Bee

The Census Bureau report, issued Wednesday, says that nearly a quarter of California's 38 million residents live in poverty by the alternative method - almost 9 million - and the state's 23.8 percent rate is approached only by Washington, D.C.'s 22.7 percent.

Among other states, the second highest alternative poverty rate is found in Nevada at 19.8 percent while the lowest rates are found in Iowa (8.6 percent) and Wyoming (9.2 percent). Nationally, the alternative rate is 16 percent.

California's official poverty rate is 16.5 percent and while higher than the national official rate of 15.1 percent, it is surpassed by those of many other states.

The official rate is based on half-century-old criteria that have been criticized as being obsolete, leading the Census Bureau to develop the alternative method that uses broader indices, including the cost of living. The official rate assumes, in essence, that the cost of living is the same nationwide....

◼ REPORT: 49.7 Million Americans Living in Poverty... - AP

Administration officials have declined to say whether the new measure eventually could replace the official poverty formula, which is used to allocate federal dollars to states and localities and to determine eligibility for safety-net programs such as Medicaid.

Congress would have to agree to adopt the new measure, which generally would result in a higher poverty rate from year to year and thus higher government payouts for aid programs

STUDY: Families living in poverty up in 49 states...

◼ 15% of youth out of school, work... - AP

...49 states have seen an increase in the number of families living in poverty and 45 states have seen household median incomes fall in the last year. The dour report underscores the challenges young adults face now and foretell challenges they are likely to face as they get older.

◼ ObamaCare Website Troubles Are Just The Beginning - Investor's Business Daily
◼ 100 School Districts Cut Work Hours, Blame ObamaCare - Investor's Business Daily
◼ ObamaCare Employer Mandate: A List Of Cuts To Work Hours, Jobs - Investor's Business Daily

In the interest of an informed debate, we've compiled a list of job actions with strong proof that ObamaCare's employer mandate is behind cuts to work hours or staffing levels. As of Oct. 17, our ObamaCare scorecard included 351 employers.

Editorial: State not-so-golden for many

◼ New measure tags California as poorest state. - OD Register

New census data, which takes into account geographical differences in its "Supplemental Poverty Measure," ranks California as the poorest state in the nation. "The supplemental measure uses new poverty thresholds that represent a dollar amount spent on a basic set of goods adjusted to reflect geographic differences in housing costs. The official poverty thresholds are the same no matter where you live," said Kathleen Short, the report's author.

...California is a heavily blue state – marked by a harmful tax-and-spend culture. One way to reduce additional outmigration and further erosion of the tax base would be to do away with the state's income tax structure and replace it with a flat tax, which ensures individuals are less likely to underreport income and that Californians aren't punished disproportionally when income rises.

◼ Bust: California named worst-run state in the nation - HotAir

It should also be noted, the promise of maybe closing this year’s deficit is predicated on whether “lawmakers can resist more spending and the economy continues to improve.” I present to you, a supermajority Democratic legislature. Also, this delicious paragraph from the L.A. Times:

The election wasn’t even over Tuesday when state Treasurer Bill Lockyer’s phone started ringing. Activists of all stripes had the same message for him: With voters apparently poised to approve billions of dollars in tax hikes, it was time to spend more money.

“They had to be reminded the money has already been spent,” Lockyer said.