FactCheck.org: Another Rick Perry Whopper

[pampango]

Texas Gov. Rick Perry makes another wildly false claim in a new Web ad — saying that the U.S. poverty rate has hit an “all-time high.” In fact, the rate is the highest since 1993, but 7.3 percentage points lower than it was in 1959, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent annual tally.

Perry’s false claim about the poverty rate follows his false claim during his second debate appearance, when he said Obama’s stimulus measure “created zero jobs” since it was signed in February 2009. That untrue statement was called out not only by us, but other fact-finders as well, including debate cosponsor CNN.

But Perry’s ad simply gets it wrong about the poverty rate. The Census Bureau said on Sept. 13, when it released the most recent annual figures on poverty and income:

U.S. Census Bureau: The poverty rate in 2010 was the highest since 1993 but was 7.3 percentage points lower than the poverty rate in 1959, the first year for which poverty estimates are available. Since 2007, the poverty rate has increased by 2.6 percentage points.

So the poverty rate is not even close to being the highest in the 51 years for which we have official figures, let alone at an “all-time” high — which would be higher than even during the Great Depression, or the era of slavery.

http://factcheck.org/2011/09/another-rick-perry-whopper/

[Andy823]

1. Well...

One fact he and the other morons running on the republican ticket don't seem to understand is that it was the "REPUBLICANS" who got us in this mess and who are doing their best to make it worse, not better!

[gratuitous]

2. Poverty is at its highest rate since . . .

Huh, since about the time the Great Society programs in the war on poverty were enacted in the 1960s. What a curious coincidence, I'm sure, since it's now accepted wisdom that government doesn't do anything to affect American society except for the worse. And it's even more coincidental that poverty rates have been trending upward ever since the Reagan administration and the dismantling of the social safety net.

The world of Republican policy is a place full of wonder.

[markpkessinger]

8. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

You got it!

[Tippy]

3. Perry is a LIER.....

Do people really want a lier for President...He has already told so many why would Republicans even vote for him...I know the answers but wanted to see it in print. Is this why they want to do away with teachers?

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

4. Doesn't Texas have one of the highest?

[yourout]

5. Everything is bigger in Texas.....even when it isn't.

[yellowcanine]

6. Well it is higher than sometimes in the past so technically he isn't totally wrong.

:rofl:

[ellenfl]

7. and the poor are all in texas . . . eom