About that poverty report by the AP...

I snorted fluids through my nose when I read this over at Instapundit:

THE HORROR: When half of all households are below the median income. I blame Barack Obama, and I want a president who won’t rest until everyone is above the median income! But how likely is that when most people are perfectly satisfied to live in a society where twenty percent are in the bottom quintile?

Posted by Glenn Reynolds at 2:57 pm

The I read the linked article and didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

The other day AP published an article titled, "Census shows 1 in 2 people are poor or low-income," which pointed to a US Census Bureau report showing that half of all households earn less than the median national income. Yes, you read that correctly.

The AP's Hope Yen reported:

Squeezed by rising living costs, a record number of Americans -- nearly 1 in 2 -- have fallen into poverty or are scraping by on earnings that classify them as low income.

The Census Bureau's definition of a 'low-income household' is less than $45,000, as the AP's Yen wrote:

Many middle-class Americans are dropping below the low-income threshold -- roughly $45,000 for a family of four...

As we noted in a post on the AP 'story,' the US Census Bureau estimates that the median 2009 US household income was about $50,000.

Sounds like a report on Lake Woebegone:

Lake Wobegon is characterized as the town where "all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average."

My goodness! Half the US households are below the middle (median) income level! Who would have thunk it!

Lies. Damn lies. And statistics. (Although that usually only works if you can confuse people with the statistics--not your stupidity.)