Newsbusters Reports:

 

In a Washington Post opinion piece published on December 6, longtime expansionary entitlement program apologists Peter Edelman and Barbara Ehrenreich ripped into the 1996 welfare reform law and its alleged effect on the poor during the struggling economy of the past two years.

 

In the course of their rant, Edelman and Ehrenreich told readers something that the rest of the press has largely ignored since Barack Obama took office in January: Homelessness is up, as in way, way up:

 

According to the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty (NLCHP), the number of homeless Americans is up by 61 percent since the recession began in December 2007.

 

In fact, a new report from a source normally favored by the press tells us that new “tent cities” have sprung up, and that others in existence a year ago have grown. Does anyone think these facts would remain so well-hidden if Bush 43 were still in office?

 

Interestingly, it seems that Edeleman and Ehrenreich appear to have serendipitously misinterpreted their information source.

 

 

 Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.

 —Tom Blumer is president of a training and development company in Mason, Ohio, and is a contributing editor to NewsBusters