Will our 15 percent poor country get a jobs bill?

The new poverty numbers came out today, and they aren't pretty. The Census Bureau reports that more than 15 percent of Americans are living in poverty--a number that's gone up for three consecutive years and is the highest it's been since 1959. (Here's how the Census Bureau defines poverty.)

We need more jobs, and we need more support for the poor (unemployed and employed alike). One effective tool on both fronts would be increased funding for food stamps, the best single form of economic stimulus there is. But the wisdom of disinterested economists is no match politically for the scorn of Glenn Beck and Gretchen Carlson, so we won't be getting more food stamps money any time soon.

The president has, however, called for the second best kind of stimulus--expanded unemployment benefits--along with payroll tax breaks, infrastructure spending and other  stimulus measures. The White House is of course avoiding the word "stimulus," which has been a dirty word ever since that time in 2009 when the country enacted less stimulus than we needed and then blamed it for having less of an effect than we'd hoped. But a jobs bill is a stimulus bill.