The Brookings Institution has the bad news
From the Washington Post. Look for the money quote in bold (emphasis by TGW)
Extreme Poverty Spikes in U.S., Study Finds
WASHINGTON — The number of people living in neighborhoods of extreme poverty grew substantially, by one third, over the past decade, according to a new report, erasing most of the gains from the 1990’s when concentrated poverty declined.
More than 10 percent of America’s poor now live in such neighborhoods, up from 9.1 percent in the beginning of the decade, an addition of more than 2 million people, according to the report by the Brookings Institution, an independent research group.
Yeah, I know you can't draw a graph from just one data point, but when the gains made during a Democratic Administration are erased during a Republican one, you should at least look for causation. Were the parties reversed, Fox would be trumpeting the triumph of the free market.
Speaking of Fox and Fiends, look for the following talking point to appear. This conservative gem reached the made it into Popurls vis Newsvine:
Food stamp use has exploded during the Obama administration, reaching an all-time high of 45.8 million in August.
Democrats have rushed to expand every federal program so as to make as many people as possible dependent on the government. Thus, the food stamp explosion is mostly due to a combination of incompetence and deliberate laxity in administering the program.
Eliminating waste is the last thing the Democrats want to do. Wasteful spending is the lifeblood of their party.
Wow. Assuming that this comes from a Dittohead, priding himself on parroting what he hears on the radio, the right has a new piece of pretzel logic: the as distribution of food stamps is do to failure to run the program properly; in other words, the proof that the program does't work is that it's working.
Sound familiar? The same criticism was leveled at the Cash fir Clunkers program, which the right claimed didn't work because so many clunkers were turned in so fast that the program ran out of cash; the program worked, proving it didn't work.
But here's a little hope: voters in a least one one huge state seem to be smelling the bullsh*t (via Washington Post, again)
Will voters buy the idea that GOP is sabotaging economy? by Greg Sargent
In Florida, it seems, the answer is yes:
Steve Benen flags what seems to be a first: A poll gauging whether voters are prepared to believe that Republicans are deliberately sabotaging the recovery in order to take back the White House. With the Obama campaign and Democrats signaling that this argument will be central in 2012, this seems like a relevant question.
The poll, which surveyed Florida voters, was conducted by Suffolk University. I tracked down the poll’s internals, and here’s the relevant question:
Do you think the Republicans are intentionally stalling efforts to jumpstart the economy to insure that Barack Obama is not reelected?
Yes 49
No 39
Undecided 12
This is only one state, but as Steve notes, “it’s a large, diverse swing state that both parties take very seriously.” And nearly half of these voters say they believe this — even though the question is asked in a very provocative way.
Now, the article goes on to point out that Obama nad Romnye are tied 42-42 in FL, so this may not help the Dems.
Yet.
But I have to wonder if this can't be made a lot bigger. The Senate Reps are creating a record for themselves of blocking every jobs vote that comes up, thank to Harry Reid's very smart move of scheduling regular votes on small pieces of the larger failed bill (they pass, it's a policy win; they fail, a political win), and the House Reps can't do anything better than reaffirm "In God we Trust". Plenty of hay to be made there that at best, they do nothing, and at worst they stop progress.
However, if a significant number of voters think that the Reps are actually trying to make things worse, that's a whole new ballgame; the shift from incompetents to traitors. Time for the Dems to take mantle of patriots away from them.