]New York Times columnist Paul Krugman went on a tweetstorm Saturday morning about an easily-overlooked economic report the Trump White House released earlier in the week.
Krugman pointed out that "with everything else" going on in Trumpworld — a reference to the newly-submitted report by special counsel Robert Mueller on Russian collusion — many may have missed the Economic Report from the President that included apparent joke references to "interns" like Jabba the Hutt and Spider-Man.
The report "says that we basically have no policy in America," Krugman wrote, noting that a few years prior, former House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) issued his own report "claiming that the War on Poverty should be [canceled] because it completely failed to reduce poverty."
Here's their chart. Worth noticing that just a few years ago Paul Ryan had a report claiming that the War on Povert… https://t.co/ROa49eGEte— Paul Krugman (@Paul Krugman)1553345213.0
Donald Trump's administration, the columnist wrote, now says the "War on Poverty" should be canceled because it was won by America.
"Let's focus on the absurdity and cruelty of the no-poverty claim," Krugman mused, writing that the US Census found that 5.7 percent of the American population lives on less than half the total annual income of the official poverty line.
"For a single parent with two children, the poverty threshold is $19,749," he noted. "So the White House is basically saying that a single mother with 2 kids and an income of $10K, that is, half the poverty line is ... not poor."
"Does anyone who has ever stepped outside a gated suburban community believe that?" the columnist wondered.
Krugman noted nine percent of Americans are still uninsured and questioned the government's numbers.
"Do you really believe that the number of poor people is only a quarter as large as the number of uninsured?" he wrote.
"I know that complete lack of empathy or understanding of other people's hardship is basically a required qualification to serve in the Trump admin," Krugman concluded. "Still, this really beggars belief."
You can read the rest of the thread below:
According to the Census, 5.7 percent of the U.S. population lives below 1/2 of the official poverty line. For a sin… https://t.co/OsrBbUlqnB— Paul Krugman (@Paul Krugman)1553345534.0
You can follow the links from @MilesCorak for serious scholarship on this issue, but the absurdity of the claim sho… https://t.co/Ca7pUl2Wox— Paul Krugman (@Paul Krugman)1553345813.0
I know that complete lack of empathy or understanding of other people's hardship is basically a required qualificat… https://t.co/HHIlf5HMsJ— Paul Krugman (@Paul Krugman)1553346088.0
