Washington State Rep. Pramila Jayapal faced a Twitter storm after making a wild accusation about the U.S. poverty rate on her account.
On Wednesday, Jayapal tweeted a call to “Tax the Rich” in the United States.
She wrote “The U.S. has nearly ONE-THIRD of the world’s billionaires. Meanwhile, our poverty rate is the 4th highest in the world. Tax the rich.”
Pluribus editor Jeryl Bier soon corrected the accusation in various tweets.
“Apparently @PramilaJayapal is using this incoherent measure of ‘poverty rate’ from ‘World Population Review’ which defines the poverty line as ‘half the total population’s median household income…’” he wrote.
He continued “From the SAME SITE, World Population Review, using poverty rates from the World Bank, US’s rate is 17.8%. The actual #4, @PramilaJayapal, is Guinea-Bissau at 69.30%.”
Story continues at: Poverty Rate!
