When Governor Klink and the DFL legislative majority were making the case to squander the “surplus” [1], they put “cutting poverty by 30%” as one of their goals.
So – how is poverty in Minnesota doing?
Well – we don’t know.
Official poverty stats conveniently trail real time by a couple of years.
Official poverty rates trail real time by a couple of years. In 2022, the official poverty rate in MN was 9.6% – up from 9.3% in 2021, and an even 9% in 2020.
So at some point – 2023? 2024? 2025? – the poverty rate needs to drop to 6.4% – a rate the state hasn’t seen in recent memory.
I’m going to go out on a short, sturdy limb and guess the rate isn’t dropping to a historic low next year.
Any action on that bet?
[1] Which, let’s not forget, wasn’t really a surplus
Well, when you ran out of other people’s money to provide handouts, the leaches will go back to Chicago, hence skewing the curve. So mathematically it is possible.
Obviously, this is anecdotal, but several conservative YouTubers, TikTokers and Rumblers, were interviewed attendees to the DNC. There seems to be a prevailing theme; the were a lot of on line influencers that were paid by someone or some group, to attend. Assuming this is true, and due to the way the DemoCommies roll, I have no reason to believe it isn’t, I’m betting they were paid from campaign funds.
1) How exactly does Tampon Timmy define poverty?
2) How exactly will Tampon Timmy define poverty next year?
Note: the common definition is based on a calculation using family size and percentage of median family income.
Given the same income, who is poorer: a retired widow in Pine City living on social security who owns her own home or a Macalester graduate working as an MPR intern and renting in downtown Minneapolis?
And who will receive more DFL largess?
Poverty is a cash crop. No incentive to reduce it for anyone involved.
JPA: Your comment implies that running out of other people’s money would mean stopping entitlements. We do not have a state government which is willing to do that. They’ll figure some other way to keep the entitlement train rolling.