Census: 1 in 7 Americans live in poverty

news.yahoo.com...

WASHINGTON – The number of people living in poverty has climbed to 14.3 percent of Americans, with the ranks of working-age poor reaching the highest level since at least 1965.

The Census Bureau says that about 43.6 million people, or 1 in 7, were in poverty last year. That's up from 39.8 million, or 13.2 percent, in 2008.

The number of people lacking health insurance rose from 46.3 million to 50.7 million, due mostly to the loss of employer-provided health insurance during the recession. Congress passed a health overhaul earlier this year to extend coverage to more people.

The statistics released Thursday cover President Barack Obama's first year in office, when unemployment climbed to 10 percent in the months after the financial meltdown.

The median — or midpoint — household income was $49,777.

I decided to put this in global meltdown because it is the meltdown of the USA.
I know loads of people were dirt poor back in the mid 60's ( from what i've heard, a little before my time) It's scary to see we are right back there again...but we all knew this was coming.. right?

I'm no Obama fan at all........an I think alot of what he's done in office so far hasn't been good for the country or it's citizens. However, 2 things if I may......]
1.) It's not all his fault....it goes back years.....the economy didn't die overnight, and won't recover overnight, though I think he needs to worry more about the people than the elite.
2.) The definition of poverty here in America is way differwnt than in alot of places in the world.....have 2 t.v.s, ac, 2 cars, and a bedroom for everyone isnt poverty in alot of places. I'm not saying true poverty doesn't exist in America, it does. However figures lie and liars figure.........not all people in "poverty" here are living badly.

While I don't see a lot of "poverty" in the strictest since of the word, in the United States... I do know many people who aren't that far at all from it. People with many comforts but who are literally one or two paychecks, or a single injury or illness away from doom.

Several years ago many of us were in this boat because we used credit cards to pay for everything and were being buried under the bills. But, these days it's not like that in my social circles. My friends and I still go out on occasion but long gone are the days of whipping out the Visa card and picking up the whole tables tab. These days we are all much more moderated in our spending.

So, poverty? I don't think so.
The feeling that poverty might be scratching at the door? Most definitely.

Is this what we call progress? Can't we see that the large corporations and elite class are doing better than ever? Ccan't we put two and two together? If the elite class are becoming richer and more powerful, yet our own lives are becoming prosperous, wouldn't it be obvious what is happening here? A government is supposed to benefit the people, not create conditions that are contrary to the interests of the people.

The people aren't putting their foot down because we are in effect prevented from assembling against the very influences who are driving us into the ground. Revolutions have been started -and won- over much, much less.


--airspoon

The child rate increasing is very disturbing, they don't even get a chance in some respects. $21K for a family of 4 before taxes is pretty tight no question there. Looks like all that hope fluff from obama isn't carrying much weight, he is certainly not a leader in this regard. It would be interesting to see how many people who fall within this statistic maintain things like Internet, club memberships, and electronic gadgets. I bet its quite high.

brill

I would still say America is a good place to live by world standards, but we're getting closer and closer every year to the point of that not being so.