Numbers exist, their meaning created by their context.
Lately I’ve been coming across a bunch of sad numbers pointing to unhappy things.
3.8
Per the April federal government report, inflation now stands 3.8% per year. That’s almost twice the Federal Reserve Board’s target of 2% per year.
Yet, I doubt that number. Yes, they wheedle and ‘seasonally adjust’ the data so that when I see broccoli at my local grocery jump from $2.99 to $3.99 a pound in April, well, that can be explained away as an outlier, not a true indicator of inflation: it still costs me $3.99 a pound at the checkout.
Last month the official national unemployment rate stood at 3.8% of the work force. That’s not horrible.
Still, dig deeper with me and look at the “U 6” total in the April BLS report. That represents workers who need and are able to work fulltime yet can only find part time work. In April that total was 8.2% of the workforce, or, one in 12 working people. (You meet a lot of these folks at food pantries.) Harder to quantify are those in the gig economy, delivering meals, groceries or such as a fulltime, parttime or second – or third – job. The federal bureaucracy hasn’t convinced me that they know how to sort and count these millions of workers.
1,450
Divide the roughly $9 billion in Missouri General Revenue (that which pays for most education for example) by 6.28 million Missourians [2025 official estimate] and you wind up with about $1,450 per citizen per year to be replaced if the Individual Income Tax gets voted away. So, a family of four ‘s share would be $5,800 – just over $111 a week!
A friend heard a man bragging that he was going to “save” $120 a paycheck by not paying Missouri income tax… I wonder what the cost of a six pack of beer will be in a state without an income tax?
[Remember, Missouri has the second lowest beer tax in the nation at 6 cents a gallon: the national median is around 20 cents a gallon.]
700,000
According to national hunger researchers, 700,000 is close to the number of hungry children nationwide removed from the SNAP (food stamp) rolls since the One Big Beautiful Bill began taking effect. They were not kicked off because their parents are prospering, no, most all lost benefits because the bureaucracy now makes it close to impossible for many families to get the help they qualify to get.
I’m sorry that I don’t have a good feel for how many of those kids live in Missouri. The Department of Social Services has decided that the Monthly Management Report for the Family Support Division and the MO HealthNet Division no longer qualifies as ‘public data.’ Instead all they share is their Caseload Counter which merely lists the households on food stamps.
Let’s not scare voters with sad numbers.
Glenn
Banner imagines a not-too distant future for many Missouri residents if these numbers continue.