Our quarterly update of selected statistical indicators of Obama’s presidency.
Obama’s Numbers (October 2015 Update)
Issues: poverty
Jeb Bush on Poverty, Economic Growth
Republican Jeb Bush on “Fox News Sunday” made economic claims about poverty and growth from tax cuts that don’t measure up to the facts.
FlackCheck Video: Rand Paul Announcement
This “Campaign Watch” video from FactCheck.org’s sister website, FlackCheck.org, covers some claims made by Sen. Rand Paul that we fact-checked before and after he made his announcement to run for president.
Rand Paul Revises History of Cheney Criticism
Sen. Rand Paul dismissed comments he once made about Dick Cheney’s motives for invading Iraq by claiming they were made “before I was involved in politics for myself.” That’s false.
Romney’s Poverty Points
Mitt Romney said that under President Obama “there are more people in poverty in America than ever before.” That’s true, but the poverty rate — which accounts for population changes — was higher under several former presidents than it is currently.
Obama’s Numbers October 2014 Update
Income, Poverty, Spending and Obamacare: Our regular update of the statistical record.
Bachmann Botches Poverty Stats
Rep. Michele Bachmann was wrong on two counts when she claimed today’s poverty rate is “only slightly below where it was in 1964” and that the small improvement in the rate “came with a $20 trillion price tag.”
A New Front in the ‘War on Women’
Mitt Romney’s senior adviser Ed Gillespie distorted some economic facts on “Meet the Press” when he accused President Obama of creating a U.S. economy that is “hostile” to women.
Gillespie said the “number of single-mother families living in poverty” is now the highest “in recorded history.” But poverty statistics date only to 1959, and the poverty rate for single mothers — which is a better indicator than the total number — is still relatively low,
Another Rick Perry Whopper
Texas Gov. Rick Perry makes another wildly false claim in a new Web ad — saying that the U.S. poverty rate has hit an “all-time high.” In fact, the rate is the highest since 1993, but 7.3 percentage points lower than it was in 1959, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent annual tallies.
Perry’s false claim about the poverty rate follows his false claim during his second debate appearance, when he said Obama’s stimulus measure “created zero jobs”
‘Second Poorest’ Nation?
In a September 10 press conference, President Barack Obama characterized Afghanistan as "the second poorest country in the world." It’s an impoverished country indeed, but second poorest? The CIA World Factbook doesn’t think so.
It lists Afghanistan as number 210 of 227, with a per capita gross domestic product of $1,000 in 2009. That’s orders of magnitude lower than the richest country, Liechtenstein, with a GDP of $122,100 per person — but it’s much higher than the per capita GDP of the actual second poorest country,