California poverty rate now highest in the nation — by FAR

 RIDER COMMENT:  The story below has prompted me to add an unpleasant fact to my “California vs. the Other 49 States” fact sheet.  As is my policy, I had to drop another telling fact, trying to keep the piece to two printed pages.

The new fact is based on a more sophisticated measure of poverty, now used by the U.S. Census Bureau.  It’s called the “Supplemental Poverty Measure,” and better reflects the cost of living in a state or region.  The old poverty figure used the same dollar threshold regardless of where one resided.  This one adjusts for costs — first and foremost housing costs.

The result doesn’t work well for California. We’ve vaulted to the top spot — the WORST poverty rate in the nation.

And not by a small margin.  We are at 23.5%, compared with the national average of 16.1%.  The second worst state is Florida is at 19.5%.

Stated differently, California’s real poverty rate is 55.7% higher than the average for the other 49 states (not including CA).  And CA is 20.5% worse than its nearest challenger Florida.

The dropped fact? — The one about CA community colleges offering thousands of enrichment courses (including ballroom dancing and baking pastries) for little or (far more commonly) no student cost.

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/14/california-poverty_n_2132920.html