Who really is a thought leader?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A thought leader is a real expert, with a capital E. (On June 20, 2026 I blogged about Who is a pseudoexpert?) There are two posts by Nick Morgan at Public Words titled What’s a Thought Leader. Nick begins his first post on July 1, 2025 by stating:

 

“What’s a thought leader?  It’s someone who understands a particular sliver of knowledge as well or better than everyone else.  It’s someone who has added to the world’s awareness of the possibilities that exist for a group of people so that they see themselves in a new way.  It’s someone who understands how to apply one kind of expertise to a field where it hasn’t been applied before.

That knowledge is usually developed over a decade or more, and it comes from a genuine passion, a desire to break open some locked mystery box that has puzzled everyone up until now.”

Nick then said in his second post on July 15 that people are paid to speak for three reasons. One is that they are a celebrity. Another is that they have an important title. And the third is they have marketable expertise. The fourth paragraph of his second post says:

 

“To be able to join that coveted third category of speaker you have to become a thought leader first – a recognized expert in a category of knowledge.  Speaking is something you do once you’ve established that expertise.  You might have an academic title, you might teach, you might do research, you might invent a process, you might coach people to achieve extraordinary things, you might write a book about a compelling subject – all of these are ways to become recognized as a thought leader.  Once you’ve established that expertise, you can then start the next chapter of your thought leadership career.”

 

And in an article at Medium on January 23, 2021 by Mike Olson titled Thought follower he said:

 

“When someone claims that they themselves are a thought leader, I assume they’re really not, and also that they are a little bit of a dick.”

 

Similarly, I ended a post on July 10, 2014 titled Is the advice you’re getting about public speaking almost as ancient as a fossilized tribolite? by saying thought leader means that I thought I was a leader, but I’m not.

 

The paper plane was adapted from here at Wikimedia Commons.  

 

 

A blog post from Seth Godin about having or doing a good job

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A simple graphic like a 2x2 table can explain something more clearly than lots of words. There is a post by Seth Godin on July 21, 2026 at Seth’s Blog titled The Having/Doing job gap. His six-paragraph post is neither concise nor clear. I have described things more clearly, as shown above, via a 2x2 table with four quadrants. On January 19, 2024 I blogged about The joy of 2x2 tables, or charts, or matrixes.

 

At the upper left is when you don’t have a good job but still do a good job, which is better than expected and thus is a gap. At the lower right is another gap when you have a good job but don’t do a good job, and need to improve.

 

At the lower left is when you neither have nor do a good job, which is the worst situation. Finally, at the upper right, is when you both have a good job and do a good job, which is the very best situation and a success.

 

Seth’s long, full post is as follows:

 

“It’s a dance between workers, bosses, and the market.

 

The most stable quadrant happens when a thoughtful and consistent boss hires the right person, pays them fairly, creates positive working conditions and useful training. In return, the company gets extraordinary performance. That’s someone doing a good job who also has a good job.

 

A particularly unstable quadrant is the worker who gets all of the above, but because of culture, choice, or lack of enrollment doesn’t do a good job. That mismatch could last for a while, but it’s shaky.

 

Consider for a moment the boss who takes advantage of people (and the system) by creating lousy conditions and paying too little but still manages to enforce output that they consider acceptable. Once workers realize that they don’t have a good job, they leave, if the culture and economy permit it. Government is critical in helping people doing a good job get unstuck once they realize they don’t have a good job.

 

And the last quadrant is all too common: you don’t have a good job and you don’t do a good job. It’s not clear which came first, but they often go together.

 

Everyone deserves to have a good job. And smart bosses show up to help make that possible.”

 

 

Saying that you can ‘connect the dots’ just is a silly cliche

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Wikipedia page for the phrase connect the dots says that:

 

“The phrase ‘connect the dots’ can be used as a metaphor to illustrate an ability (or inability) to associate one idea with another—to find the ‘big picture’, or salient feature, in a mass of data; it can mean using extrapolation to solve a mystery from clues, or else come to a conclusion from various facts.”

 

But, as is shown above, there can be more than one way to connect even four or five dots.   

 

A post on July 15, 2026 by David Murray at his Writing Boots blog is titled Communicators, stop saying you ‘connect the dots’; It’s dumb.

 

He says that:

 

“1.  In a dynamic and ever-evolving world, there are no fixed dots to connect. If there were, you  wouldn’t hire a communicator to connect them, you’d hire the sort of slightly weird person who you might bring along to an escape room. But luckily for communicators, dots aren’t a thing.

 

2.  Even if there were dots, it’s laughably arrogant to anoint yourself the only one who can connect them. Imagine telling an intelligent colleague from another discipline, ‘Don’t worry, I’m here to connect the dots. Gotcha covered, Buttercup.’

 

3.  It’s insufferable, listening to communicators telling each other on LinkedIn and at conferences that their value has nothing to do with the actual skills and philosophies and strategic approaches we have developed over years of studying and working on difficult communication problems. Rather, we just magically ‘connect the dots.’ (We must have a lot of free time, in between).”

 

He says we need to find a far richer and more meaningful metaphor.

 

 

On June 18, 2026 David Murray published his 4,493th post in the Writing Boots blog he started back in 2008

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

David Murray edits the magazine Vital Speeches of the Day and runs the Professional Speechwriters Association. On June 18, 2026 he published his 4,493th post in the Writing Boots blog he had started back in 2008. It is titled Writing Boots: I Can’t Live With It, and I Can’t Live Without It. (I only have 3157 posts or ~70% of his total). I enjoy reading his blog, which he posts at almost every weekday (although Fridays usually are just a linked video).

 

He says he has used this blog:

 

"as a chance to sharpen my knives.

 

to remind myself, on muggy gray Tuesdays between magazine articles and books and other public stunts, that I exist.

 

to draw crowds by starting fights.

  

to be a self-righteous prick.

 

to write gentle poems that you wouldn’t read otherwise.

 

to make reading my thoughts, your habit.

 

to get things off by chest.

 

to settle scores.

 

to preen.

 

to figure out what I think.

 

to force myself to say something, every day.

 

to make saying something every day easy and natural. (It’s easier to write every day than once a week, a daily columnist and I agree).

 

To say whatever the fuck I want.

 

To keep from complaining that I’m not allowed to say whatever the fuck I want."

 

The writer image was cropped from Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

Images generated by artificial intelligence tools may be inaccurate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a post by Dan Russell on his SearchReSearch blog for April 22, 2026 titled SearchResearch (4/23/26): AI image gen tools are great, as long as you don’t ask for accuracy. One of his examples is an electric kettle. Two images are shown, one from ChatGPT and another from Gemini. Both are missing the important bimetallic thermostat that cuts off the current when the water boils.

 

An 11-minute explanatory YouTube video by Quasar-Ed from November 4, 2024 is titled The Engineering behind Electric Kettles.

 

An image of a boiling kettle came from Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

Be aware of speakers and audience members with mobility challenges

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a useful post by Rich Hopkins at his Speak & Deliver blog on February 27, 2026 titled A Plea to Meeting Planners. He had his left leg amputated below the knee. Rich says to plan inclusively:

 

 “Ask speakers about mobility needs in advance - Ensure ramps are visible, safe, and easy to use - Provide seating options on stage - Reduce unnecessary distances when possible - Think about attendee navigation, not just speaker logistics.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As shown above, on stage there preferably should be a chair with arms rather than a high stool.

 

Rich made it to the semi-finals (top eighty) of the Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking seven times and the finals (top ten) three times, as was discussed in an article by Joe Rubino in the Broomfield Enterprise on August 17, 2011 titled Broomfield man aiming to be the roast of Toastmasters.

 

You can watch an 8-minute YouTube video of his speech titled What We Knew Then at Rich Hopkins 2006 Toastmasters World Championship of Public Speaking Third Place. (At 6 – 1 /2 minutes he sits down in a chair). And you can watch his Top Ten speech from 2008, Unthinkable.

 

Most of us don’t think much about mobility challenges either for speakers or the audience. I only did after I broke my fibula, which I blogged about on November 24, 2016 in a post titled What I’m thankful for today – recovering from a broken fibula.

 

There also is an article by Dane Cobain at speakerHUB on September 26, 2023 titled How to Make Your Public Speaking Events More Accessible.

 

Images of an amputee, a chair and a stool were adapted from Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

Brian Jenner raps about what he does as a speechwriter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was looking at a post by David Murray at his Writing Boots blog on February 4, 2026 titled Apparently, it takes diff’rent strokes to move the world of professional speechwriting. He had embedded a two-minute YouTube rap video by Brian Jenner from February 21, 2018 titled The Speechwriter Rap – Brian Jenner – Speechwriter. Text for the first minute is:

 

“I expect you’re here because 

    you’ve got a speech to make

You need to impress, there’s a lot at stake

You’re wondering – what can a speechwriter do?

That’s my job title; I’ll explain to you

On the phone, because that’s the inexpensive way

You tell me in your own words, what you’d like to say

I’ll then quiz you gently about your ideas

The journalist in me will calm all your fears

When’s the event? What’s the setting?

How many guests? Won’t that joke be upsetting?

With a clear understanding, I’ll be ready to go

Whoah! Did we agree on a fee? Oh dear no

Before that’s sorted, nothing begins

In business, we like it, when everyone wins

As a writer, for years I’ve scribbled and spoken

Check out my books, with your next book token

My skill is: I’ve written dozens of speeches

My, my. There’s a lot that experience teaches”

 

On October 19, 2025 I blogged about when Brian Jenner discusses the state of speechwriting.

 

An image of a man typing on a laptop was cropped from one at Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

An excellent blog post on how to rehearse a speech

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an excellent post by Nick Morgan at his Public Words blog on February 6, 2024 titled How to Rehearse a Speech which has the following half-dozen useful suggestions:

 

As soon as you can, ‘freeze’ the script.

 

Record the speech and play it on walks, runs, drives, and anything else repetitive you do before the event.

 

Break the speech into chunks and rehearse them out of order.

 

Spend time connecting your motion on stage with the moments of your speech.

 

Memorize the flow of the speech, not the specific words.

 

Practice the speech with different emotional tones.

 

The image of Brittney Marie came from Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

What type of funny are you?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a post by Andrew Tarvin at the Humor That Works blog on August 29, 2024 titled What Kind of Funny Are You? He lists the following seven (which I have arranged in alphabetical order):

 

Advocate

Encourages the use of humor to promote a positive environment, inspiring others to find their own funny sides.

 

Curator

Collects and shares humorous content that resonates, building connections through shared laughter.

 

Engineer

Strategically uses humor to solve problems and improve the atmosphere, employing wit as a tool to lighten tense situations or enhance communication.

 

Entertainer

Uses charm and delivery to captivate audiences, ensuring that their performance enhances the humor’s impact.

 

Enthusiast

Finds humor in the simplicity and absurdity of everyday life. They remind us of the joy that can be found in small, everyday moments.

 

Inventor

Crafts original humor from personal experiences, turning everyday observations into comedic gold.

 

Skeptic

Critically evaluates the use of humor, ensuring it is appropriate and effective within the given context.

 

And there also is an 11-minute video on August 27, 2024 titled What kind of funny are you? | Dave & Andrew Tarvin | TEDx Greenhouse Road

 

Is that a real quotation or just a paraphrase?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday I was looking at a post on the Gem State Patriot News blog on December 14, 2025 by retired surgeon Dr. John Livingston which is titled The Seed We Choose to Grow.

 

His seventh paragraph states that:

 

“A recent Psychology Today article offers a more secular explanation; put plainly: ‘Self-hatred often leads to outward hate. People who loathe themselves frequently project that inner contempt onto others, seeing them through a lens of criticism and disdain. The result is a harmful feedback look, where internal struggles manifest as hostility, and hostility in turn deepens the internal turmoil. Hate becomes both the symptom and the fuel.’ “

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But he does not provide a link to that article, or say who wrote it, or when it was published in that magazine, or what the title was. I tried Google searching for some of the sentences in his ‘quote’ and came up empty. My conclusion is that he instead just is paraphrasing from who knows where.

 

I previously wrote about John in a post on October 22, 2024 titled How not to write a blog post (or speech) using a quotation. He is so careless a writer that you never can rely on the contents of his blog posts.

 

Brian Jenner discusses the state of speechwriting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an interesting blog post by Brian Jenner at The Speechwriter on October 14, 2025 titled The State of Speechwriting. He says that what we need is:

 

“public meetings

  choices

  a concept of society

  emotion

  borders

  to see both sides

  a vision of the future”

 

On December 20, 2023 I blogged about Getting better at speechwriting by learning from professsional organizations. In that post I described how Brian had started both the U. K. Speechwriters Guild and the European Speechwriter Network.

 

The cartoon was adapted from one at OpenClipArt.

 

 

Don’t just bring an empty plate when you are invited for dinner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a humorous blog post by Laurie Smale on September 22, 2025 titled Magic Minute Quirky Aussie Custom. He begins by stating an idiom:

 

“Just about every Australian newcomer I’ve met has been thrown by the perplexing Aussie request to ‘bring a plate’ when invited to an informal gathering among friends.”

There is an explanation at the Australian National University web page containing Bring a Plate in Meanings and origins of Australian words and idioms:

 

“An invitation to bring a plate of food to share at a social gathering or fundraiser. There are many stories of new arrivals in Australia being bamboozled by the instruction to bring a plate. As the locals know, a plate alone will not do. In earlier days the request was often ladies a plate, sometimes followed by gentlemen a donation. First recorded in the 1920s.”

 

And the Wikipedia page for a potluck says that:

 

“Other names for a ‘potluck’ include: potluck dinner, pitch-in, shared lunch, spread, faith supper, carry-in dinner, covered-dish-supper, fuddle, Jacob's Join, bring a plate, pot-providence and fellowship meal.”

 

Carrie Newcomer has an August 28, 2023 YouTube video of her song Potluck.

 

A related idiom is discussed by Martha Barnett at A Way with Words on June 14, 2013 in an article titled Ring the doorbell with your elbow. Why your elbow? Because both your hands are full!

 

An image of an Alberta potluck came from Wikimedia Commons. 

  

An often parodied, thirty-three-word, unpunctuated poem from nine decades ago

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in 1934 family physician and poet William Carlos Williams wrote a poem which I have shown above in a form that might have been taped to the door of an icebox. It even has a Wikipedia page.

 

Originally it was:

 

This is just to say

 

I have eaten

the plums

that were in

the icebox

 

and which

you were probably

saving

for breakfast

 

forgive me

they were delicious

so sweet

and so cold

 

It appeared on the wall of a building in The Hague. There is an 80-page 2012 book by Gail Carson Levine titled Forgive Me, I Meant to Do It: false apology poems that describes how to do a parody on pages 22 and 23:

 

“Imagine his wife coming downstairs in the morning after dreaming about those plums all night and waking up tasting them. Possibly she opens the icebox door (no refrigerators then) and finds a poem in the neatly washed-and-dried plum bowl. Maybe she laughs or maybe she goes for a very long walk or maybe she seats his breakfast and then writes her own false apology poem-

 

Which you can do too. Many poets have written them, following the form invented by William Carlos Williams. But don’t even consider writing this kind of poem unless you can get yourself into a grouchy mood. You will be wasting your time.

 

If you do decide to write, your poems should be mean, or what’s the point? Mine are, and William Carlos Williams’s is too, in its subtle way. He’s glad he got to those plums first!

 

You don’t need a title because William Carlos Williams has given you one, which can be repeated endlessly until your reader is completely sick of it. You also don’t need a new ninth line, because that’s always the same too: Forgive me. Notice that there are three stanzas, which you may agree are quite enough, and each stanza is four lines long, which you may think are four too many. The first stanza states the horrible offense. The second stanza describes the effect of the offense. The last stanza begins with ‘Forgive me,’ and continues with the false apology, because the writer is not sorry at all. There is no punctuation (how nice), and the beginning words of only the first and ninth lines need to be capitalized. The line beginnings and endings substitute for capital letters and punctuation. Normally, capitals and punctuation help the reader understand, so be careful to end your lines in a way that is very clear, unless you want to confuse your reader, which might be the wisest course.

 

Also, think about the rhythm of the lines. After you’ve cleared everyone out of the house, read your stanzas aloud to help you decide where to end a line. Funny poems are still poems.

 

You don’t have to follow William Carlos Williams’s form exactly if you don’t want to. I haven’t. You can add or subtract lines and stanzas. Or you can abandon the form completely and write false apology poems in your own cruel way.

 

For those of you who lack an ounce of mean and are reading this book only for research into the psychology of unpleasant people, you can write a real apology poem. However, even this will not be possible if you are too angelic to have anything to apologize for.

 

Whatever way you do it, have fun and save your poems!”

 

An example of her parodies (from page 8) is:

 

This is just to say

 

My bulldozer

has flattened

the thorny

hedge

which

you mistakenly

expected to sleep behind

until the prince came

 

Forgive me

I’m charging tourists

ten dollars

to visit the castle

 

She also has versions based on stores for children like Jack and Jill (page 14), Jack and the Beanstalk (page 28), Red Riding Hood (page 55), Rapunzel (page 62), and Humpty Dumpty (page 66), etc.

 

There is another 48-page book from 2007 by Joyce Sidman titled This Is Just to Say: Poems of apology and forgiveness. She has apology poems written by a class of sixth graders and responses to them. One example from page 8 is:

 

This Is Just to Say  

 

I have stolen the jelly doughnuts that were in the teacher’s lounge

and which you were probably saving for teachers.

 

Forgive me. They were delicious, so sweet and so gloppy.

Too bad the powdered sugar spilled all over my shirt

and gave me away.

 

By Thomas

 

I got started on this topic by finding a blog post from David Murray at Writing Boots on August 22, 2025 titled Friday Happy Hour Poem (and a true story). His parody is:

 

 This Is Just to Say, by Eddie [the dog]

 

I have eaten the chicken shawarma (I think it was)

that was on the picnic blanket and which my owner

subsequently made me understand you were surely

eating for dinner with your young daughter,

when I ran over from playing with the other dogs

in the middle of Smith Park because I smelled something good, and ransacked before you and the little girl knew what hit you.

Forgive me. It was delicious, so moist, and so savory.  

 

 

There is a big difference between an anecdote and an antidote

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a post by Dr. John Livingston at the Gem State Patriot News blog on August 2, 2025 titled Factions and Bullies. His subject was the tenth Federalist Paper by James Madison, published in November 1787 and titled The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection (continued). John began the seventh paragraph by claiming (my italics):

 

“Madison asserted and I must paraphrase that the anecdote for factional violence is a large Union with diverse life experiences and a common moral ethic.”

 

But there is a big difference between an antidote and an anecdote. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, an anecdote is:

 

“A usually short narrative of an interesting, amusing, or biographical incident.”

 

And an antidote instead is:

 

“A remedy to counteract the effects of poison”

                                         or

“Something that relieves, prevents, or counteracts“

 

As usual, Dr. Livingston didn’t bother to proofread what he wrote. Perhaps he just dictated it.  Rather ironically on July 27, 2025 he blogged about What’s in a Word. I last blogged about another mixup in a post on July 25, 2025 titled There are haves and have nots; but there are just two halves, and no halve nots.

 

An image of a story book came from OpenClipArt, and an image of a medicine bottle was adapted from the Library of Congress.

 

 

Disinformation from the Gem State Patriot News

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a post from Bob ‘Nugie’ Neugebauer at the Gem State Patriot News blog on July 27, 2025 simply titled Disinformation. The third sentence in his last paragraph says that:

 

“You will not find any disinformation in our newsletter and if you ever should we ask that you please let us know where we have gone wrong.”

 

But I already tried to do that, and was rejected. In a previous post on June 22,2025 titled Idaho Faces Growth and Ideological Challenges the fourth paragraph began by claiming that:

 

“Our nation’s welfare system represents a catastrophic failure that has entrenched poverty rather than eliminating it. Since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society programs, poverty rates have remained frozen around 15% instead of continuing their post-World War II decline.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I discussed that claim in a post on June 25, 2025 titled The U.S. poverty rate has not been ‘Frozen around 15%’ since the Great Society. As shown above, from 1990 to 2023 it had moved up to 15.1% and down to 10.5%.  And I sent Mr. Neugebauer the following comment:

 

“Bob:

 

You are quite wrong about the rate for poverty. The only time the poverty rate was ‘frozen’ at around 15% was between 2010 and 2014. It was ‘frozen’ at 12.6% from 2003 to 2005 and at 11.5% from 2020 to 2022. In 2019 (under Trump) the poverty rate had fallen to 10.5%, which is 4.5% lower than the 15% you cited. Clearly you don’t know what you are talking about. For details see a post at my Joyful Public Speaking blog on June 25 titled The U.S. poverty rate has not been ‘Frozen around 15%’ since the Great Society.”

 

He rejected it and never posted that comment on his blog.

 

 

There are haves and have nots; but there are just two halves, and no halve nots.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you do not proofread, you can get total nonsense. There is a post by Dr. John Livingston at the Gem State Patriot News blog on July 20, 2025 titled Heart and Soul with a second paragraph that begins:

 

“The progressive line has always been that there are halves and halve nots and the halves are always exploiting the halve nots.”

 

No, it has not ever been. Halves is the plural for half. We can get biblical by quoting from Matthew 13:12 in the King James version:

 

“For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath.”

 

The cartoon was partly colored in from this one at Wikimedia Commons.

 

 

The U.S. poverty rate has not been ‘Frozen around 15%’ since the Great Society

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sometimes just a little research reveals that a political pundit doesn’t know what he’s talking about. A post by Bob ‘Nugie” Neugebauer at the Gem State Patriot News blog on June 22, 2025 titled Idaho Faces Growth and Ideological Challenges claims:

 

“Our nation’s welfare system represents a catastrophic failure that has entrenched poverty rather than eliminating it. Since Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society programs, poverty rates have remained frozen around 15% instead of continuing their post-World War II decline. This system rewards dependency by incentivizing single-parent households, discouraging marriage, and enabling able-bodied individuals to avoid work.”

 

Did he look that up or just borrow it from somewhere else? I found an article by Rachel Bade at Politico on September 17, 2013 including that headline. It is titled Pro Report, presented by POWERJOBS: Obama orders security revie – Navy cut security to reduce costs – U. S. poverty rate frozen at 15 percent – Uninsured rate declines. It says:

 

“U.S. POVERTY RATE FROZEN AT 15 PERCENT. One-in-seven Americans still lived below the poverty line last year, several years out from the recession. (The poverty line, FYI is just over $23,400 for a family of four). That’s about the same as last year, and the sixth straight year without improvement, according to an AP analysis. Although the unemployment rate sank from 9.6 percent in 2010 to 8.1 percent last year, poverty didn’t, and that’s unusual, analysts say: ‘Typically, the poverty rate tends to move in a similar direction as the unemployment rate, so many analysts had been expecting a modest decline in poverty,’ AP’s Hope Yen writes.”

 

There also is a 2017 book by Jon H. Widener titled The Nexus: Understanding Faith and Modern Culture which says:

 

“In the US, the poverty rate was going down until President Lyndon Johnson began the War on Poverty in the 1960s. Since then the poverty rate has been frozen at 14 to 15 percent and has stayed there despite an outlay of $20 trillion over all those years and despite the continuing outlay of $1 trillion a year. The unabashedly collectivist Obama administration continued these policies during its eight years.”

 

Another article at Debt.org on December 21, 2023 titled Poverty in the United States has a section titled Poverty Levels Over Time which instead states:

 

“In the late 1950s the poverty rate in the U.S. was approximately 22%, with just shy of 40 million Americans living in poverty. The rate declined steadily, reaching a low of 11.1% in 1973 and rising to a high of nearly 15% three times – in 1983, 1993, and 2011 – before hitting an all-time low of 10.5% in 2019. However, the 46.7 million Americans in poverty in 2014 was the most ever recorded.”   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I looked up a detailed report by Robert D. Plotnik et al. of the Institute for Research on Poverty titled The Twentieth Century Record of Inequality and Poverty in the United States (Discussion Paper 1166-98 July 1998). Figure 3 on page 24 is shown above, with data for 1947 to 1996 (I added the times for the Great Society). Since those programs ended in 1968 the poverty rate ranged from 12% to 15% and never was frozen. In 1974 the rate hit a minimum of around 12%, 3% lower than the 15% cited by Mr. Neugebauer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How about more recently? There is a web page by Abigail Tierney at statista on September 16, 2024 titled Poverty rate in the United States from 1990 to 2023. A replot of her graph is shown above. The only time the rate was ‘frozen’ at around 15% was between 2010 and 2014. It was ‘frozen’ at 12.6% from 2003 to 2005 and at 11.5% from 2020 to 2022. In 2019 (under Trump) the poverty rate had fallen to 10.5%, which is 4.5% lower than the 15% cited by Mr. Neugebauer. Clearly he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.

 

The 1883 Josh Shaw painting of empty pockets was adapted from Wikimedia Commons.