The family seems very nice, but:
1. They have NINE KIDS. That's ELEVEN mouths to feed. I applaud the couple for being willing to foster/adopt so many, but I wonder how the story narrative would've differed if they'd been a Black couple w/9 kids?
1. They have NINE KIDS. That's ELEVEN mouths to feed. I applaud the couple for being willing to foster/adopt so many, but I wonder how the story narrative would've differed if they'd been a Black couple w/9 kids?
https://twitter.com/EvanMcS/status/1456248799848980481
2. The wife claims that "In June $1 was worth $1, now it's 70 cents"...making it sound like the inflation rate has been *43% since June*, which I find...questionable.
3. She claims a gallon of milk was $1.99 in March, and today it's $2.79.
In reality, the average price for a gallon of milk nationally appears to have been $3.55 in March vs. $3.65 in October.
ams.usda.gov/sites/default/…
In reality, the average price for a gallon of milk nationally appears to have been $3.55 in March vs. $3.65 in October.
ams.usda.gov/sites/default/…
4. I don't know how old their kids are, but thanks to the #AmRescuePlan, they're getting between $250 - $300/month PER KID. That's $2,250 - 2,700/month, or $27,000 - $32,400 for the year.
5. Also, as @stellaaaa just pointed out, foster parents get food subsidies. I don't know the exact details but in Texas it looks like it's up to $400/month PER KID. nacac.org/help/adoption-… 
HAVING SAID ALL OF THIS, the milk thing isn't really the point. It's certainly possible that her local grocery store really was only charging $1.99/gallon last spring, and inflation *has* been an issue this year. HOWEVER...
The problem here isn't with the *family*, who, again, seem perfectly nice. The problem is with the *REPORTER* and *CNN*, who CHOSE to seek out an extreme outlier family (the average household size in the U.S. is around 2.5 people) as being representative of "typical" America.
Going back to my first tweet, it's worth remembering the contrast between the depiction of a rural, white couple raising 9 kids vs. the racist 1980's "Welfare Queen" myth:
newrepublic.com/article/154404…
newrepublic.com/article/154404…
FWIW, I don't know how accurate Stastica.com is, but their data claims only 6.76M U.S. households had 3 or more kids under 18 last year.
I can't imagine more than a couple hundred thousand of those have NINE kids.
statista.com/statistics/183…
I can't imagine more than a couple hundred thousand of those have NINE kids.
statista.com/statistics/183…
Also, think about how a woman who *gives birth* to a large number of kids is typically portrayed as opposed to a woman who *adopts/fosters* a large number of kids.
If you think the latter is "more deserving" of help than the former, what's that say about your view of each?
If you think the latter is "more deserving" of help than the former, what's that say about your view of each?
ALSO: The CNN report doesn't mention what this couple actually does for a living or what their household income is. If it's supposed to be a report about how inflation is "hitting the middle class" it seems kind of important to know whether this couple is in that range or not.
100% of the poverty level for a family of 11 is $58,280/yr, or 2.2x as high as for a family of four, which is what most people think of as a "middle class" baseline.
$175,000/year for this family would put them at 300% FPL, which is what I typically think of as "middle class"
$175,000/year for this family would put them at 300% FPL, which is what I typically think of as "middle class"
The point is that CNN went out of their way to find an EXTREME outlier while failing to even *mention* the CTC. After all, the claim is that "socialist spending" is what's *causing* inflation, right? Well, a big chunk of that "socialist spending" INCLUDES THE CHILD TAX CREDIT.
If a policy causes my expenses to increase by $300/month but that *same policy* also *increases my income* by $300/month, it's pretty disingenuous to mention the first but not the second (especially if there are additional factors which caused the former).
A sincere question for @EvanMcS or @brikeilarcnn: How exactly did you decide to feature the Stotlers in your piece? You make a point early in the story of noting that you're based in New York, yet you chose a family of 11 living in the tiny town of Kennedale, Texas (pop. 8,543).
I'm genuinely curious--did Mr. or Mrs. Stotler contact CNN? Did a local affiliate run a story on them & kick it up to the national HQ? Did a producer assign you to run a story about "inflation hitting the middle class" and push you to find the most extreme example possible?
Well, that at least answers one question: They earn less than $440K/year. The fact that the #AmRescuePlan's Child Tax Credit has been a MAJOR help to them seems like the kind of thing that should've been mentioned IN THE SEGMENT THAT AIRED, though...
https://twitter.com/brikeilarcnn/status/1456286975623933971
I realize this is a bit petty, but ironically, she manages to get the number of kids wrong in a tweet ripping on someone for "not watching the piece."
They claim to have NINE kids, not eight.
They claim to have NINE kids, not eight.
https://twitter.com/brikeilarcnn/status/1456282993308233733
"We have 2 biological kids...we adopted a sibling group of 2...then 3...then 1...and then we have a kid living with us right now whose come in a foster situation."
I mean for God's sake, there's a total of 12 people (I'm assuming the 2nd one includes a girlfriend or something) in these framed photos on the wall under a big sign that reads "FAMILY" *while the guy is listing how many kids he has*.
HOLD EVERYTHING…. Some of the kids are IN THEIR TWENTIES???
https://twitter.com/charles_gaba/status/1456457996289126415
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