A report (PDF) released this week show that millions Americans are struggling to keep their heads above water and an increasing number of families are sinking below the poverty level.
According to the new numbers by the U.S. Census Bureau, 15.1 percent or more than 46 million Americans are living in poverty, which is the highest number since the data started being collected over 50 years ago. The median household income has taken a dip while poverty has gone up, falling more than two percent. The figure is back at 1996 levels at $49,445. The Raw Story laid out five interesting facts about the Census Bureau's dismal poverty report.
Kase Wickman outlined the following five "most shocking" facts about the national poverty report:
- The number of those living in poverty is the highest in Census history.
- We were richer last millennium.
- Women still earn a fraction of what men make.
- There's no safety in numbers. (Meaning the idea of bunkering down with other family members to save money doesn't lead to a ticket out of poverty.)
- Everything's bigger in the South — including the poverty rate.
Click here to read more on each of the facts. In Illinois, 1.82 million people are living at or below the poverty level, which is up from 1.69 million the previous year. Poverty is defined by the Census Bureau as making less than $11,139 a year for an individual or under $22,314 for a family of four.
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This is so sad indeed.....I am one of them...the working poverty poor...what has this nation come to? Tent cities and horrible working conditions for those that have to work. CLEAN IT UP CONGRESS you a-holes.
"We were richer last millenium". I thought it was me but I have always felt and still feel that our country began to behave differently beginning in 2000. I am a middle aged American and noticed back then that hiring trends seemed to favor the younger, less experienced and older workers were beginning even back then to be squeezed out of their jobs. Five years later, even the younger workers were getting laid off. Now, hardly anyone is hiring and even those working can barely get a 40 hr. work week and are collecting foodstamps to supplement their groceries. Its' a pity what this country is becoming. President Obama and the U.S. Senate must stop folding to house republican unrealistic proposals and temper tantrums and stay on course/stand their ground and deliver on their promises from the 2008 election. Start taxing at a higher rate the U.S. corporations who take their manufactoring and hiring overseas; this, I believe is a treasoness act. Was recently in southern California. Why do I see foreigners purchasing thousands in upscale shopping malls yet Americans sleeping on the streets and in the parks?
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