from the x factor. she s said to be deciding between two rival casinos. whoever has the most money gets her. let s talk money with that guy. brian: not only is unemployment at 7.9%, there is record poverty. 46.2 million people says yeah, i m poor. gas prices are soaring. the average now at 3.55 a gallon and more people are on food stamps than ever before. $47.7 million. you think with people being down on their luck, the president would do everything he could to support charities. but you would be wrong. in fact, according to the government accountability institute, audits of charitable organizations under president obama have spiked 80% since the president since president bush left office. what is going on? coincidence? i doubt it. stuart varney is here. what s the big picture? okay. the big picture is from 01 to 08, 6,000 audits of charities per year from 09 to 11, 11,000
discussed. when we talk about food stamps in this country, there is a stigmati sfwl ation, it is a life-saving it is a life-saving program, and i think you put that in the context of how much a family of four makes to live on the port line. that s close to $23,000 for a family of four, $11,000 for an individual, according to the 2011 census. 46.2 million people live in poverty. these are life-saving programs. yet, those who were vilified in the paul ryan budget would like to, you know, cut $134 billion from the program. these are near record levels. we ve never had 46 million americans on food stamps. the secretary of agriculture, tom vilsack said of all the kids in america today half will be on food assistance at some point during their childhood. that s remarkable. how are we going to have a strong america with weak kids? you can t do it. this is such a small investment in the scheme of things. most of the food and nutrition programs, such a small investment, but the impact on ed
you regular stories of people living below the line. the policies and decisions that create the poverty in which they live, what they are doing to survive in tough circumstances and what we can do as a nation to affect poverty. we recognize it s a tough topic and many in politics prefer not to talk about it at all. that s exactly why we want to talk about it. although the official poverty rate didn t increase last year, it was still at 15%. translating to 46.2 million people. when you break it down by age, 21.9% are under the age of 18. 13.7% are between 18 and 64 and 8.7% are over the age of 65. let me crystal clear. those aren t numbers. those are people. we re going to focus our lens on what the obama administration is doing to help the poor. especially since they sent the following to my colleague at the nation. writing even as the president introduced policies leading to
bureau finds that the poverty rate remained unchanged at 15% in 2011. that s better than going up. that means 46.2 million americans are living at or below the federal poverty line. but, and this is important to remember, that s before you take into account all the anti-poverty programs, like 235food stamps and the earned income tax credit we have going. when you bring those into the calculation, the number is probably lower than many millions of people. well, the poverty levels held, the census did find a rise in income inequality. the income of the highest quintile of earners was 1.6%, while the middle fell. so the rich are getting richer and the rest of the country is not. but we do have some genuine good news here tonight. the number of uninsured americans, which usually goes up in bad economies, is dropping. about 1.4 million more americans have health insurance than had it one year ago. after three years of rising uninsured rates,ing the percentage of people without health insura
that means 46.2 million americans are living at or below the federal poverty line. but, and this is important to remember, that s before you take into account all the anti-poverty programs, like 2350d food stamps and the earned income tax credit we have going. when you bring those into the calculation, the number is probably lower than many millions of people. well, the poverty levels held, the census did find a rise in income inequality. the income of the highest quintile of earners was 1.6%, while the middle fell. so the rich are getting richer and the rest of the country is not. but we do have some genuine good news here tonight. the number of uninsured americans, which usually goes up in bad economies, is dropping. about 1.4 million more americans have health insurance than had it one year ago. after three years of rising uninsured rates,ing the percentage of people without health insurance coverage dropped from 16.3% in 2010 to 15.7% in 2011. and for the first time in a decade, th