After reading much criticism of state Rep. George Cleveland‘s recent comments about poverty, I was surprised to find the following headline on page 4A of this morning’s News & Observer:
Across the globe, fewer people are living in extreme poverty
Below the headline is Annie Lowrey’s New York Times article, which includes the following paragraph:
The report shows that for the first time the proportion of people living in extreme poverty — on less than $1.25 a day — fell in every developing region from 2005 to 2008. And the biggest recession since the Great Depression seems not to have thrown that trend off course, preliminary data from 2010 indicate.
Now I understand the criticism of Cleveland’s remarks. He believes someone making $1.50 a day lives in extreme poverty. He should have known the actual cutoff was $1.25. (Yes, humorless professional lefties, this is sarcasm.)
