Poverty Levels

A statistics professor - many years ago - introduced us to the subject by asking: "Have you ever heard of the statistician who drowned in a river that was, on the average, one foot deep?" The statistics below concerning Democratic and Republican mayors are probably true. What must be considered is that the leadership and politicians in both major parties are jointly responsible for the current condition of our country. Governments at all levels are crying poverty and unloading employees because of inadequate (like, zero) financial reserves for the economic contractions which have been occurring for hundreds of years. Politicians have conned everybody, including themselves, that using financial techniques like "Keynesian Economics" will make recessions a thing of the past. As we are now realizing, postponing the inevitable only makes the inevitable more severe - a recession becomes a depression. Maybe we can hire some of the courageous young Iranians to visit America and demonstrate for us - before it becomes Amerika.

Bill Madden

Tampa, FL



Interesting - on Poverty in the Cities.

City, State, % of People Below the Poverty Level



1. Detroit , MI 32.5%

2. Buffalo , NY 29.9%

3. Cincinnati , OH 27.8%

4. Cleveland , OH 27.0%

5. Miami , FL 26.9%

5. St. Louis , MO 26.8%

7. El Paso , TX 26.4%

8. Milwaukee , WI 26.2%

9. Philadelphia , PA 25.1%

10. Newark , NJ 24.2%



U.S. Census Bureau, 2006 American Community Survey, August 2007

What do the top ten cities (over 250,000) with the highest poverty rate all have in common?

Detroit, MI (1st on the poverty rate list) hasn't elected aRepublican mayor since 1961;

Buffalo, NY (2nd) hasn't elected one since 1954;

Cincinnati , OH (3rd)...since 1984;

Cleveland , OH (4th)...since 1989;

Miami , FL (5th) has never had a Republican mayor;

St. Louis , MO (6th)....since 1949;

El Paso , TX (7th) has never had a Republican mayor;

Milwaukee , WI (8th)...since 1908;

Philadelphia , PA (9th)...since 1952;

Newark , NJ (10th)...since 1907.

Einstein once said, 'The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.'

It is the poor who habitually elect Democrats---yet they are still poor...

"You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot lift the wage earner up by pulling the wage payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred. You cannot build character and courage by taking away people's initiative and independence. You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves."

-Abraham Lincoln