One in six Americans in poverty, new study finds

One in six Americans in poverty, new study finds

rawstory.com

A revised formula for calculating medical costs and geographic variations show that approximately 47.4 million Americans last year lived in poverty, 7 million more than the government's official figure.

The disparity occurs because of differing formulas the Census Bureau and the National Academy of Science use for calculating the poverty rate. The NAS formula shows the poverty rate to be at 15.8 percent, or nearly 1 in 6 Americans, according to calculations released this week. That's higher than the 13.2 percent, or 39.8 million, figure made available recently under the original government formula.

(visit the link for the full news article)



[edit on 20-10-2009 by DimensionalDetective]

Mmm-hmmm.

Of COURSE its much higher than the gov's "official" numbers.

Just like the "official" jobless rate, just like the "official" economic "growth charts" (which say we're NEVER in a recession, lol), just like the "official" polls and tallies praising our leaders that always paint some picture that has nothing to do with the real world.

My guess is that these numbers are even higher. But as we see, the Wall Street extortionists are STILL receiving their bail-out bonuses, and TPTB are cooking up more trillion dollar wars, so who cares if the poverty rates sky-rocket up to 85%, as long as the same elitists running things keep draining the country dry and making fist over dollar, then all's GREAT!

rawstory.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

This doesn't surprise me in the least.

What is sad, is that people know not to trust official numbers anymore.

It used to be when I was growing up, that a family going through rough financial times kept it to themselves.

People are talking, and it is almost impossible to hold a conversation with anyone, where it doesn't some how turn around to what kind of situation families and individuals are enduring economy wise.

Before reading government official numbers, they should have a disclaimer saying the information is for entertainment purposes only!

Hey my husband and I just found out that our city in Albany Ga is on the top ten of the poorest cities in the nation.

That is a big change from when this city used to be one of the best for manufacturing business.

Georgia Unemployment Rate: 10.1%

National Unemployment Rate: 9.8%

UI Initial Claims: 66,614

Federal Minimum Wage: $7.25


www.dol.state.ga.us...

This numbers are only shows the ones under the unemployment benefits, all the rest that do no qualify are not even considered, still our state is big on migrant workers and illegal immigrants and they do not fall on unemployment benefits.

[edit on 20-10-2009 by marg6043]

Well don't this just tug at your liberal heartstrings.

What this means is that the liberal culture of entitlement has produced a generation of people who can't be bothered to put in a good day's work and take responsibility for themselves and their families.

Get rid of welfare and you will see this numbers change drastically.

Yes, I definitely think it is much higher than that. I'd say it's probably 1/4 to 1/3, based upon my own observations. A lot of people are unemployed without the possibility of finding a job right now.

And in related news, complete with its interlaced "economic revival" propaganda, conditioning nonsense:

High jobless rates could be the new normal

WASHINGTON - Even with an economic revival, many U.S. jobs lost during the recession may be gone forever and a weak employment market could linger for years. That could add up to a "new normal" of higher joblessness and lower standards of living for many Americans, some economists are suggesting.

The words "it's different this time" are always suspect. But economists and policy makers say the job-creating dynamics of previous recoveries can't be counted on now.

Full Article:

www.msnbc.msn.com...


But Wait! That certainly hasn't stopped:

Wall Street 40% Bonus Rise Feeds Spending on $43 Steak, Co-ops

This year, Wall Street’s banks are set to pay near-record bonuses after the U.S. injected $700 billion into financial- services companies, guaranteed their debt and lowered the Federal Reserve’s benchmark interest rate to almost zero. The number of Wall Street competitors declined after Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. collapsed, Bear Stearns Cos. was bought by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Merrill Lynch & Co. was taken over by Bank of America Corp.

Full Article:

www.bloomberg.com...


Glad the growing number of homeless and poverty stricken WHO STILL HAVE A JOB can keep you thugs living in the lap of luxury! After all, that's what us tax-slaves are for, eh?

reply to post by superrat


Sorry to burst you bubble and the "liberal" bashing but our city lost of jobs started on 2001 and if I remember we had a "conservative" president for the last 8 years with 6 of Republican held house.

So no everybody in this boards are uneducated on the matters of politics and economics.



Oh, I forgot we also fighting trillion dollars wars, hum, yes those were the last administration wars, the liberal president we have now is fighting trilling dollars deficits, yes. . . from the trillion dollar wars and the liberal Clinton globalization agenda.

Lets give the Cesar's what they deserve, we have not real system of government working for anybody in this nation that be liberal, conservative or else like me.

Maybe, but it's still the american version of poverty.
Not that I want to join the bandwagon or anything, just saying.

Why I am not surprised by this number? It is probably a hell of a lot worse than the figures the government tactfully concocts for mainstream consumption. They can't afford panic and distaste by the serfs, business must go on as usual. *ahem* At least corporate America and the banking system is sound. Profits keep rolling in, better than before the bailout. Again, as I have said before, this how the little guy gets socked in mouth.

Make no mistake, a heist has befallen the middle class and this is the fine out of consolidating wealth into the hands of a very few. Welcome to modern day slavery. Where your toil and the very sweat from your brow goes to fatten the potbellies of the elite as they eat their caviar and chomp on their Cuban cigars.

What happened last year, was strong-arm tactics by the financial elite, to save their own skins at the expense of others. They threatened to scuttle the entire economy and congress bought it. Criminals call it extortion and that is exactly what the so-called, "Masters of Industry," did to the American people.

The party never stops for our masters, and whenever they make a mess, the peons are there to clean up. They partied before the disaster from last year, and they party today, as the very people who offered their tax dollars to prop up their rotten system, lose their homes, jobs, and last but not least, their human dignity. What is going on at present, is the crime of the century, and yet, the American people slumber with their fancy cars, tabloid journalism, consume themselves with who slept with who in Hollywood, HDTVs, and professional sports. So, sleep well, however, you might not like what you find when its time to wake.



[edit on 20-10-2009 by Jakes51]

With 12 million of Mexico's impoverished masses dumped into our economy is it any wonder.

Remove them and your poverty statistics will go down right along with your unemployment statistics and welfare spending, are you listening California?

But hey we can't say things like that can we, because it's insensitive and shows racial bias, plus illegals can't claim welfare or unemployment can they (stiffled laugh).

Meanwhile, let's blame the incompetent government and the evil corporations and have a good ole riot, a few burned out Starbucks will teach them, ha!!

Christ it gets more like 1960's Berkley in here every day, you guys do know that people (well, kids) were saying the EXACT same thing 40 years ago, right?

reply to post by Retseh


Uh yeah, because no one is losing their homes, and because there are so many awesome job opportunities all around us, eh?



LOL @ folks STILL doing the left vs. right nonsense, while the very infrastructure is being ripped out from under them. There is no poverty with americans, everything is hunky-dory, this is just "left-wing" (or right wing) propaganda, everything is going awesome. Rah-rah-rah!

I want to relay an experience I had Sunday night in a grocery store.
It was late and I had just run in for a few items. There were two people in front of me in the line.
The first woman had about ahalf basket full of things and when it came time for her to pay she handed the cashier a check.
He put it through the machine twice and then said " Madamm, I am sorry but this account is closed"
She gathered herself and left.
Next was a gentleman in maybe his thirties, He had a loaf of bread and two packs of hotdogs. ( I had stood there awhile waiting for the check incident)
He scanned his card through the machine for payment and the cashier said
It was rejected.
He was so embarrassed, he put his wallet back in his pocket and almost literally ran out of the store.
I think we are in worse shape than any of us realize....
The next war isn't going to be in a faroff land,
I think it's going to be right here......
Rich / Poor

Americans live in poverty because of big Government and things will just get worse.

Bush and now Obama have buried us in debt and Obama wants to waste and spend trillions more.

This is why the stock market is going up and there's no job creation. The middle and lower class can't operate in the global economy because of the heavy burden of government.

The companies on Wall Street operate in the global economy and this is why they are making money.

The American people want government to do everything for them and they don't realize the costs is their liberty and freedom.

All of these things are not free and this is why Obama talks about the price of citizenship. There is no price of citizenship. This is why Obama is pushing service and volunteer work. Eventually people will have to volunteer and enlist in service for things like health care.

The price of citizenship was paid for by the Founders of this country and it's expression is found in the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.

So when Obama talks about the price of citizenship, it means you will have to volunteer and involve yourself in service to the government to pay for your citizenship.

Government is the problem and the bigger it gets the less freedom the middle and lower class will have.

reply to post by Jakes51


I agree with everything you've said with one exception.

The American people are not asleep, rather they are in a DEEP COMA!

We've been warned since the 60's and I personally believe it's too late. Those that awaken from the coma will find a wasteland.

Yep, sad state of affairs indeed.

I just don't know how people in this country think that jobs are going to come back if this country doesn't start producing things again.

Why are we buying everything from China? Why are we buying all this crap from overseas when we can just make it here? If you build it, people will have jobs and money, the economy will really come back and the GDP will improve.

But instead go down to Wall mart and give your money to the Chinese.

Originally posted by marg6043
reply to post by superrat

 

Sorry to burst you bubble and the "liberal" bashing but our city lost of jobs started on 2001 and if I remember we had a "conservative" president for the last 8 years with 6 of Republican held house.

So no everybody in this boards are uneducated on the matters of politics and economics.

Actually Marge, we did NOT have a conservative president in office back in 2001.

Oh, I forgot we also fighting trillion dollars wars, hum, yes those were the last administration wars, the liberal president we have now is fighting trilling dollars deficits, yes. . . from the trillion dollar wars and the liberal Clinton globalization agenda.

Yes, this is the big issue. And I have even heard some on here (this site) state that we need more war in order to get this economy turned around.

Yes, wars do help generate money but the ones that truly benefit are the ones that got the record bonuses as described in this post. The banks. They control the wars in this world.

Anyway, it's not about liberal or conservative. It's about people screwing other people simply because they have the power to do so. They know that a lot of people were getting pissed off about their monetary policies and began to question them so they crushed the world's economy.

It was a warning shot. A "see what we can do if you don't control your people" kind of thing.

They get our leaders to approve a bailout to reward them so that they can give record bonuses.

That's where the problem is. With the big money on this planet.

This all comes down to how the exact position of "Poverty" is defined for the purposes of these kind of reports.

The figures quoted by a government or an independant body rely completely on the measuring stick.

If they used the same stick the figures would be closer, but I doubt if that is ever the case.

I can't quite imagine there being one in SIX Americans in poverty.

Tailored results using a rubber measuring stick.

reply to post by dariousg


I tell you the way things are going many will get their wishes of another, somebody is instigating Iran into doing something that can be turned around into a full scale war.

Got to give it to the warmongers and profiteers they will get what they want, the rest of the nation will support whatever they do with open arms.

This does not surprise me at all. What did people expect would happen when you send all the manufacturing jobs to other countries and implement free trade that benefits everyone but us. When there are no trade restriction to offset the huge wage inequalities between countries, the good paying jobs are going to vanish.

Sadly, we have gone from a middle class country, to a poor country with a small number of wealthy individuals. We have gone from a single earner family country to one where both adults work and barely get by.

I fear our wages will fall even further as the global wage inequalities equalize. There may be a day when the average American will have the same impoverished life as the poor living in Central America.

Of course, none of this matters to the mega corporations who will just shift their sales to the higher earning countries and the labor to the lowest earning countries. They hold no allegiance to any country.