U.S. poverty rate hits 11-year high as recession bites

www.newsdaily.com...

The U.S. poverty rate hit its highest level in 11 years in 2008 as the worst recession since the Great Depression threw millions of Americans out of work, a government report showed on Thursday.

The Census Bureau said the poverty rate rose to 13.2 percent in 2008, the highest level since 1997, from 12.5 percent in 2007. About 39.8 million Americans were living in poverty, up from 37.3 million in 2007.

Notice three things about this...
1. It is only considering rates up to Jan 1st, 2009. That means the past 9 months of hell haven't even been considered yet (think we'll still have the highest rate in "only" 11 years when 2009 is considered?)
2. At the end of 2008, most people worst affected by this deepr(ec)ession were recieving unemployment checks and had been employed and paid the first part of 2008, meaning many of them probably didn't qualify as being below the poverty line since their annual income was above it. That's important to note.
3. The 2009 figure is going to be really, really bad. We've got millions of people who have been unemployed since the beginning of the year to factor in now. If you also take into consideration the number of underemployed people I would not be surprised if this 13.2% rate has doubled or worse.

I also have to wonder if that $25 a month increase in unemployment by the feds was an effort to pare this number a bit. I mean let's be honest here, 20%+ below the poverty line is toeing the line of third world status. My God, Mexico is widely considered a third world nation and they have 15% below the poverty line as of December, 2008! en.wikipedia.org...

This is a shame!

[edit on 10-9-2009 by burdman30ott6]