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Thursday, July 26, 2012
100 Million Poor People In America And 39 Other Facts About Poverty That Will Blow Your Mind
Dees Illustration
Michael Snyder,
Contributor
Activist Post
Every single day more Americans fall into poverty. This should deeply alarm you no matter what political party you belong to and no matter what your personal economic philosophy is.
Right now, approximately 100 million Americans are either "poor" or "near poor". For a lot of people "poverty" can be a nebulous concept, so let's define it.
The poverty level as defined by the federal government in 2010 was $11,139 for an individual and $22,314 for a family of four.
Could you take care of a family of four on less than $2000 a month?
Millions upon millions of families are experiencing a tremendous amount of pain in this economy, and no matter what "solutions" we think are correct, the reality is that we all should have compassion on them. Sadly, things are about to get even worse. The next major economic downturn
is rapidly approaching
, and when it hits the statistics posted below are going to look even more horrendous.
When it comes to poverty, most Americans immediately want to get into debates about tax rates and wealth redistribution and things like that.
But the truth is that they are missing the main point.
The way we slice up the pie is not going to solve our problems, because the pie is constantly getting smaller.
Our economic infrastructure is being
absolutely gutted
, the U.S. dollar is slowly
losing its status
as the reserve currency of the world and we are steadily getting poorer as a nation.
Don't be fooled by the government statistics that show a very small amount of "economic growth". Those figures do not account for inflation.
After accounting for inflation, our economic growth has actually been negative all the way back into the middle of the last decade.
According to numbers compiled by
John Williams
of shadowstats.com, our "real GDP" has continually been negative
since 2005
.
So that means we are getting poorer as a nation.
Meanwhile, we have been piling up astounding amounts of debt.
40 years ago the total amount of debt in the United States (government, business and consumer) was
less than 2 trillion dollars
.
Today it is
nearly 55 trillion dollars
.
So we have a massive problem.
Our economic pie is shrinking and millions of Americans have been falling out of the middle class. Meanwhile, we have been piling up staggering amounts of debt in order to maintain our vastly inflated standard of living. As our economic problems get even worse, those trends are going to accelerate even more.
So don't look down on the poor. You might be joining them a lot sooner than you might think.
The following are 40 facts about poverty in America that will blow your mind....
#1
In the United States today, somewhere around
100 million Americans
are considered to be either "poor" or "near poor".
#2
It is being projected that when the final numbers come out later this year that the U.S. poverty rate will be the highest that it has been
in almost 50 years
.
#3
Approximately
57 percent
of all children in the United States are living in homes that are either considered to be either "low income" or impoverished.
#4
Today,
one out of every four
workers in the United States brings home wages that are at or below the poverty level.
#5
According to
the Wall Street Journal
,
49.1 percent
of all Americans live in a home where at least one person receives financial benefits from the government. Back in 1983, that number was below 30 percent.
#6
It is projected that about
half of all American adults
will spend at least some time living below the poverty line before they turn 65.
#7
Today, there are approximately
20.2 million Americans
that spend more than half of their incomes on housing. That represents a 46 percent increase from 2001.
#8
During 2010, 2.6 million more Americans fell
into poverty
. That was the
largest increase
that we have seen since the U.S. government began keeping statistics on this back in 1959.
#9
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the percentage of "very poor" rose
in 300
out of the 360 largest metropolitan areas during 2010.
#10
Since Barack Obama
became president
, the number of Americans living in poverty has risen by 6 million and the number of Americans on food stamps has risen by 14 million.
#11
Right now, one out of every seven Americans is on food stamps and
one out of every four
American children is on food stamps.
#12
It is projected that
half of all American children
will be on food stamps at least once before they turn 18 years of age.
#13
The poverty rate for children living in the United States is
22 percent
, although when the new numbers are released in the fall that number is expected to go even higher.
#14
One university study estimates that child poverty costs the U.S. economy
500 billion dollars
a year.
#15
Households that are led by a single mother have a
31.6%
poverty rate.
#16
In 2010,
42 percent
of all single mothers in the United States were on food stamps.
#17
According to the National Center for Children in Poverty,
36.4 percent
of all children that live in Philadelphia are living in poverty,
40.1 percent
of all children that live in Atlanta are living in poverty,
52.6 percent
of all children that live in Cleveland are living in poverty and
53.6 percent
of all children that live in Detroit are living in poverty.
#18
Since 2007, the number of children living in poverty in the state of California has increased
by 30 percent
.
#19
Child homelessness in the United States has risen by
33 percent
since 2007.
#20
There are 314 counties in the United States where
at least 30% of the children
are facing food insecurity.
#21
More than 20 million
U.S. children rely on school meal programs to keep from going hungry.
#22
A higher percentage of Americans is living in
extreme poverty
(6.7 percent) than has ever been measured before.
#23
If you can believe it,
37 percent
of all U.S. households that are led by someone under the age of 35 have a net worth of zero or less than zero.
#24
A lot of younger Americans have found that they cannot make it on their own in this economy. Today, approximately
25 million
American adults are living with their parents.
#25
Today,
one out of every six
elderly Americans lives below the federal poverty line.
#26
Amazingly, the wealthiest 1 percent of all Americans own more wealth than the bottom 95 percent
combined
.
#27
The six heirs of
Wal-Mart
founder Sam Walton have a net worth that is roughly equal to the
bottom 30 percent
of all Americans combined.
#28
At this point, the poorest 50% of all Americans now control
just 2.5%
of all of the wealth in this country.
#29
Back in 1980,
less than 30%
of all jobs in the United States were low income jobs. Today,
more than 40%
of all jobs in the United States are low income jobs.
#30
Right now, the United States actually has a
higher percentage
of workers doing low wage work than any other major industrialized nation does.
#31
Half of all American workers earn
$505 or less
per week.
#32
In 1970,
65 percent
of all Americans lived in "middle class neighborhoods". By 2007, only
44 percent
of all Americans lived in "middle class neighborhoods".
#33
Federal housing assistance outlays increased by a whopping
42 percent
between 2006 and 2010.
#34
Approximately
50 million
Americans do not have any health insurance at all right now.
#35
Back in 1965, only one out of every 50 Americans was on Medicaid. Today,
approximately one out of every 6
Americans is on Medicaid.
#36
It is being projected that Obamacare will add
16 million more Americans
to the Medicaid rolls.
#37
Back in 1990, the federal government accounted for
32 percent
of all health care spending in America. Today, that figure is up to
45 percent
and it is projected to surpass
50 percent
very shortly.
#38
Overall, the amount of money that the federal government gives directly to the American people has risen
by 32 percent
since Barack Obama entered the White House.
#39
It was recently reported that 1.5 million American families live
on less than two dollars a day
(before counting government benefits).
#40
The unemployment rate in the U.S. has been above 8 percent
for 40 months in a row
, and 42 percent of all unemployed Americans have been out of work
for at least half a year
.
Recently, I wrote
a long article
about why there will never be enough jobs in the United States ever again.
That means that a whole lot of Americans are not going to be able to take care of themselves.
As our economy gets even worse, there is going to be a tremendous need for more love, compassion and generosity all over the country.
Don't be afraid to lend a helping hand, because someday you may need one yourself.
This article first appeared here at the
Economic Collapse Blog
. Michael Snyder is a writer, speaker and activist who writes and edits his own blogs
The American Dream
and
Economic Collapse Blog
. Follow him on
Twitter here
.
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