Scaping By: Ehrenreich Interview

[Max Sawicky]

. . .
Johnson's people, however, seized on the emergerncy food budget and made
that the basis for the national poverty line.  They then multiplied the
food spending by 3 (based on misuse of spending patterns, which have in
any case changed a lot) to get the full budget.  As a bonus the number
came out to $3,000 for a family of 4, which made a great headline in
announcing the program.  . . .

Unfortunately this is a two-edged sword.

The right wing line on the poverty line is that since
the food is now a fifth of family budgets instead of
a third, you should stipulate that 60% of the family
budget (3/5th's) is the poverty line.  (see Robert
Rector of Heritage Fndn, among others)

mbs