Child Poverty Soars 41 Percent as the Ultra-Rich Pocket Trillions

When Democratic leaders claimed they cut child poverty in half, it was pure spin — and leftists said so.

Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images

Throughout 2021, Democratic leaders engaged in a concerted propaganda effort to claim they had cut child poverty in half. I and other leftists called them out for it:

Peter Daou @peterdaou

PROPAGANDA, EXPLAINED: You're just below the poverty line. No healthcare. Struggling to get by. You get a one-time financial boost in a pandemic that technically props you above the poverty line. PRESTO! YOU'RE SAVED!! And the politician who signed the bill is a "crusader."

The Purple Robe @SpydyrrHeath

@peterdaou Even if it did cut child poverty in half.... The bill only lasts about a year. After a year child poverty goes back to....full??? Our government is such a joke.

Thia is with … 😏✌️💋🔥 @ThiaBallerina

Cutting child poverty in half. For a few months. For some people. Maybe. And calling it the most progressive bill, since who fn knows, doesn’t exactly scream progress. But if the talking point is repeated enough, you’ll think it’s true. All in a day’s work. 😑

Sure enough, child poverty is soaring:

Nearly 4 million American children fell into poverty in the month of January, due to the expiration of the expanded child tax credit at the end of last year. According to new data released Thursday by Columbia University, there was a 41 percent increase in child poverty between December and January, as millions of families stopped receiving the extra $300 per month. The Columbia release noted that “Latino and Black children experienced the largest percentage-point increases in poverty.”

Yahoo News @YahooNews

According to new data released Thursday by Columbia University, there was a 41 percent increase in child poverty between December and January as millions of families stopped receiving the extra $300 per month.

yhoo.itNearly 4 million children fall into poverty as expanded child tax credit endsMonthly checks stopped going out in December, causing a 41 percent spike in child poverty, according to a Columbia University analysis.

Dr. Victoria Dooley @DrDooleyMD

No child should have to work. No child should live in poverty. Never forget we have the resources to eliminate child poverty. They teased us by reducing it by half for a few months but thrust the kids back into poverty for no reason whatsoever which is pure evil.

Alan MacLeod @AlanRMacLeod

Legalizing child labor rather than increasing the minimum wage 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 https://t.co/v1DiUS8qts

Democrats will blame rotating villain Joe Manchin for blocking the Build Back Better Act, but that’s an empty excuse:

Despite the uproar over Manchin’s intransigence in the face of the Build Back Better Act, the Democratic Party has steadfastly refused to exert meaningful pressure on him. They haven’t threatened his chairmanship; they haven’t backed a primary challenger; and they haven’t warned that they would look into his brazen self-enrichment. The only reasonable conclusion is that they want things this way.

The problem isn’t one senator or one party. It’s the entire system, run by both ruling parties. No matter how often Republicans and Democrats trade power, billionaires keep pocketing more wealth, while millions of children remain impoverished.

No human being should have to live in poverty. Nor should billionaires exist.

Catherine Sterner 😷 @CathSterner

Why do we have child poverty *at all*?! The U.S. is the richest country in the history of the world. It's a choice by our government to allow it at all, but when they actually did something about it to now take it away again is beyond despicable.

washingtonpost.comChild poverty spiked by 41 percent in January after Biden benefit program expired, study findsThe White House was unable to extend an expansion in the Child Tax Credit amid pushback from Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.).

Assal Rad @AssalRad

-Top 1% in the US own more wealth than the entire middle class combined -40 million Americans live in poverty -US billionaires gained trillions of dollars in wealth *during a pandemic* Someone steals steak from Trader Joe’s, MSNBC: what is happening in this country?!

Mac @GoodPoliticGuy

(New Video): Billionaires Amassed $5 TRILLION During Pandemic Billionaires made TRILLIONS while the poorest and most vulnerable in the world fell into poverty. This system is unsustainable and even they know it. youtu.be/isySPY6JSqY

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