'Insidious': Trump White House Lied About US Poverty Levels to Discredit Critical UN Report

Seem's the #45 Administration is catch in yet another lie:

But internal State Department emails and documents obtained by Foreign Policy and the non-profit journalism website Coda Story show that the Trump administration ignored advice of White House economic analysts and knowingly lied to the public about the severity of American poverty, which the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights Philip Alston described as "shocking."

Seems the least the administration could do was be embarrassed about this kind of stuff. I truly believe that there are those among them that are shocked by this escalating pattern of disingenuous rhetoric.

It seems that the best liars are rewarded and those that that show any sense of integrity are shown the door.

I digress, to continue with the article, and this is what I find interesting.

Despite the fact that the U.N. analysis cited government statistics to bolster its claims about poverty in America,

the Trump administration opted to draw from a report by the right-wing Heritage Foundation,

which concluded that 250,000 Americans are living in extreme poverty—a stark contrast to the U.N.'s conclusion that the correct number is 18.25 million.

The Heritage Foundation, the ideology think tank founded by :

The Heritage Foundation was founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich, Edwin Feulner, and Joseph Coors.[5] Growing out of the new business activist movement inspired by the Powell Memorandum,[6][7] discontent with Richard Nixon's embrace of the "liberal consensus" and the nonpolemical, cautious nature of existing think tanks,[8] Weyrich and Feulner sought to create an organization that would supply policymakers with concise, timely position papers.

en.wikipedia.org...

Paul Weyrich, of fame for the "We don't want people to vote" speech: (www.youtube.com...)

The Heritage Foundation that right wing think tank (or smokeless factory as an old professor of mine would say - LOL) that plays fast and loose with the facts and therefore the truth:

Factual Reporting: MIXED

Notes: The Heritage Foundation is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presidency of Ronald Reagan, whose policies were taken from Heritage’s policy study Mandate for Leadership.

Heritage has since continued to have a significant influence in U.S. public policy making, and is considered to be one of the most influential conservative research organizations in the United States.

... uses loaded words and does not always source to credible information.

Has been put on a list by the Union of Concerned Scientists for publishing misleading information regarding climate change. (7/19/2016) Updated (4/22/2017)

mediabiasfactcheck.com...

The Powell Memo is worth reviewing as well:

law2.wlu.edu...

billmoyers.com...

However, what I find interesting is:

The dogmatic adherence to whatever comes out of the Heritage Foundation. It appears to be the only reference point for this administration. Do people truly believe (honestly they must - divine personages save us) that there is only one source for information and that all others, no matter how many or how often, are the work of the devil - erhmmm I mean liberals?

Making up of facts and truth to suit an Idealogical agenda without regard for REALITY is insane.

These people are insane, the country is insane.

This recent post is tangentially related to the subject:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

a reply to: FyreByrd

This is disturbing if true. 18 million are living in poverty. Maybe the 250,000 are living in extreme poverty. Idk what there definition of povertry is. But sense none of them live in poverty their opinions are a bit irrelevant in my opinion.

The country belongs to us not the 1% or even the 5%. But the 100%. The world needs to work for everyone. We need a system that inspires the working class. A system that invest resources in human beings. Where we seek to understand the psychology of the disenfranchised so that we may find long term solutions that bring them back into society. We need to treat each other humanely. We need to help each other not condemn each other.

a reply to: FyreByrd

Any link to the article?

All this ideology purity at all cost stuff reminds me of:

The US vs the USSR, from the Musical "Chess", from the 80s. Here in oratorio form:



Listen to the words.....

Well for one, it is the UN. I would lie to them too. What is the UN's agenda? Too many details missing.

Who cares what the UN thinks or does. Being from New York I’d love the dead beats to pay their bills

a reply to: Isurrender73

The official US poverty levels for 2016:

Some 2016 poverty thresholds were

$12,486 for a single individual under age 65

$14,507 a household of two people with a householder 65 years or older with no children

$24,339 for a family of four with two children under age 18

poverty.ucdavis.edu...

originally posted by: Words
a reply to: FyreByrd

Any link to the article?

So sorry....

www.commondreams.org...

Another big problem with the media is that Right wing media and left wing media both lie, but in opposite ways. So we the citizen try to look up the truth and generally the first 5 pages of google are either Right or Left wing news sources. Who do we trust? it's getting really hard to research stuff any more.

Most people, however, arent' as informed as we are here and just trust their partisan news sources. Meaning those that watch fox news will believe everything they say without question and those that watch MSNBC will believe everything Rachel Maddow tells them with out question.

There are millions in the US who live in poverty and even more who live paycheck to paycheck. It wouldn't surprise me if the administration lied about figures, seems to be what every President ends up doing. Limiting immigration,enforcing the borders and helping businesses through tax breaks seems to be creating more jobs which is good. Now if we could just get wages up - that is the biggest issue IMO.

We don't owe the U.N. anything least of all the truth.

Screw them and their fake agenda driven 'reports'.

There are definitely millions upon millions in the US living in poverty, and I'm sure the extreme poverty numbers are fairly accurate as well. It's sad the admin tried to whitewash that fact. The author/website believes poverty could be eliminated rather quickly by any administration, and while it seems clear Trump and his admin would rather continue to sweep this under the rug, we as a people should prioritize the less fortunate, not corporations.

Who knows... maybe the left will succeed in the next presidential election and they'll have the spotlight and the opportunity to end poverty once and for all...

Or like the Obama administration, will the dream slowly crumble as people (once again) wake up to the fact that nothing will ever truly change and the poverty-stricken won't be saved by any administration.

We shall see.

originally posted by: amazing
Another big problem with the media is that Right wing media and left wing media both lie, but in opposite ways. So we the citizen try to look up the truth and generally the first 5 pages of google are either Right or Left wing news sources. Who do we trust? it's getting really hard to research stuff any more.

Most people, however, arent' as informed as we are here and just trust their partisan news sources. Meaning those that watch fox news will believe everything they say without question and those that watch MSNBC will believe everything Rachel Maddow tells them with out question.

originally posted by: Metallicus
We don't owe the U.N. anything least of all the truth.

Screw them and their fake agenda driven 'reports'.

GAWD - this isn't about the UN.

a reply to: FyreByrd

According to your post we are talking about "Extreme Poverty" as defined by the UN correct?

Extreme poverty, abject poverty, absolute poverty, destitution, or penury, was originally defined by the United Nations in 1995 as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.

Link

You think there are 18+ Million US citizens who fit that definition?

Was the Obama Admins number 18 Million ?

Researchers at the University of Michigan National Poverty Center have also looked at extreme poverty over the period 1996 to 2011. They used the World Bank definition of deep poverty as living on $2 a day per person or less, an income level dramatically lower than the Census Bureau definition.

The study showed that from 1996 to 2011, the number of U.S. households living of $2 a day per person or less increased from 636,000 to 1.46 million. This included in 2.8 million children in 2011, which is about 16 percent of all children in povert

a reply to: FyreByrd

Amazingly, the UN report never define "extreme poverty" undocs.org...

At least the Herritage Foundation report applies an actual metric to it. www.heritage.org...

Who's to be believed and who's lying here... the party that slung an accusation which is undefined and seemingly uses a highly arbitrary, internally hidden metric? Or the party which produced an easily fact checked report with a clear metric and defined parameters?

a reply to: pavil

Exactly... the real amazing thing here is that there are people who live in s-hole countries which lack even a smidgen of what is openly given by the government to America's poor and the UN, with their enlightened arrogance and holier than thou horsecrap points fingers at the US because we aren't taxing our own people enough? GTFO United Nations, don't let America's door hit your ass as you leave.

a reply to: FyreByrd

The only reason Info Wars are where they are at on that graph is because it stops going right and down.

a reply to: burdman30ott6

an easily fact checked report

LOL...fact checks? I thought you were a Trump supporter......