[Daily Caller] The Golden State has reached a poverty rate that is now twice as bad as West Virginia's and substantially worse than the rates of poverty in Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas and Texas, according to a new measure of poverty developed by the federal Census Bureau.Democrat-run Caliphornia earned its last-place rank under the federal government's new measure of poverty, which incorporates more detailed analyses of welfare payments and the local costs of food, gasoline and housing. (View the new census data report)
The state's costs are boosted by its environmental and workplace regulations, and by 38 million residents' competition for housing close to the sea.
The new measure, however, also incorporates a a controversial calculation of relative equality that demotes states -- such as Caliphornia -- with a wide gap between wealthy people and people with less than one-third of the state residents' average income.
Caliphornia snatched the last-place prize from Mississippi, which had the highest poverty rate under the older and simpler measure, which gauged people's ability to buy basic services and goods.
Democratic Caliphornia Gov. Gerry Brown's office did not release a comment Nov. 15 about the new ranking, but did note that he would be attending a housing conference, the "Greenbuild International Conference and Expo," in San Francisco Nov. 16.