Fox News Analyst Says The Poor Have It Great! His Proof? They Get Gout (VIDEO)

Author: February 4, 2012 6:39 pm

Another day, another Fox News correspondent put his *um* foot in his mouth. Fox News Business Analyst Charles Payne came to Mitt Romney’s defense by saying that he doesn’t worry about the poor either because Americans don’t die and poor people are getting gout. From Raw Story:

“Mitt was right,” he said. “The very poor in this country do have a lot of programs, a lot of benefits. People aren’t dying in America. You know, in fact, the very poor suffer from gout. In the 1920 and 30s, that was called the rich man’s disease.”


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Here’s the video:

Payne is correct in saying that gout was once considered a rich man’s disease, but the fact that it occurs in the poor is not  a sign of financial progress. A major cause of gout in this country is obesity. Another is a diet high in meat. The diet of the 21st century poor often consists of the closest dollar menu…a lot of fat, starch, sugar, salt and yes, meat. Meat was expensive and rare in diets of the early 20th century poor. Obesity among the poor was even more rare. Now, meat and corn are subsidized by the government, making them cheaper and more accessible than healthy foods.

As for his assertion that Americans aren’t dying, well besides the obvious absurdity of the statement, he’s completely wrong if he’s implying that poverty doesn’t kill Americans. A shocking Columbia University study determined that in 2000, 875,000 or 36% of total deaths were directly attributed to social factors, including poverty, lack of education, racial segregation, lack of social support, and income inequality. Another study attributes an annual 45,000 deaths to lack of health insurance, hardly a problem of the wealthy.

 

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3 Comments

  • Second Amendment Democrat

    Obviously, he needs to immediately be fired, have his assets frozen, his home foreclosed and his car reposessed. He can then be truly free to enjoy his wonderful poorness.

    If he will agree to do this, I will agree to pay for his medical treatment for gout.

  • Don’t do it to yourself. I doubt is that kind of stupid is contagious, but birds of a feather, well…. Your brain would probably be leaking out of your ears after the first day, or maybe you’d just cut your own throat before lunch. I find it hard to believe people this dumb actually exist, but then again it is the Republican party.

  • I keep saying ‘you can’t fix stupid’….however I have to add that there is an upside for them…they get hired at FOX!

    I wonder if I can pretend to be dumb enough to get a job there and if I could stomach it long enough to make it worthwhile…

    Oh well, if I could manage it, I’m sure I’d have lots of stories to post to Addicting Info!

    Nah, I just can’t do it.

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