The Real Numbers: Half of America in Poverty -- and It's Creeping toward 75%

[BlueStreak]

83. There are some really dishonest claims here

"the average household in the bottom 50% brings in about $18,000 per year. That's less than the poverty line for a family of three ($19,000) or a family of four ($23,000)."

Clearly the intention is to imply that half the country is at the poverty level. Indeed, that is EXACTLY what the thread title says.

No, that isn't how statistics work.

If the average income for the bottom 50% is $18K, that means a great many of those in the bottom 50% are far above $18K. If this were a median instead of a mean, that would tell us that only 25% of the public is $18K or lower. If it is the mean, then perhaps 30% are at $18K or below.

I certainly agree that is a huge number and a big national problem (as well as a tragedy for that ~30%), but it does not help anything to grossly misrepresent what the data says. The real data is bad enough. We don't need to pull a "Faux News" with our arguments.