The question has become who to believe when it comes to the government determining who gets how much and what "poverty" is.  The Bureau of Labor Statistics has changed the formula used to calculate the inflation rate that affects millions of senior citizens several times since the late 1970's.  Many of us remember the days of 5, 6, 7%+ inflation from those years.  It lead to administrations being voted out of office.  Guess what, if the same formulas were still in use inflation would have substantially  higher than the 0-1% reported in the past few years.  Why is the Oregon minimum wage based on BLS data that is derived primarily from Portland metro area, yet it is applied statewide?  The government is increasingly in charge of who wins and who loses.  The question is, who is in charge of the government?