The Nation We’ve Become

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Dr. Amy K. Glasmeier

For years now, as a nation we have been debating whether the poor are truly poor given their access to material goods such as housing, washing machines, televisions, and cars. In reality, the nature of life for the truly poor is about “not enough”, as in not enough income to eat properly, little access to basic goods such as adequate clothing or shelter and heat. We have finally reached a time when we can all agree that the poor are truly, truly poor. And their numbers are growing rapidly.

Recent Census estimates reveal that the population percentage considered severely poor has reached a 32-year high. Between 2000 and 2005, the percent living at half of poverty-level income increased by 26%. The descent into destitution spares no community or group in society. America’s urban, suburban and rural communities are all witnesses to the growth of what adds up to the “abject poor.”

The abjectly poor in America are individuals living on $5,250 a year. For a family of three, two adults and a child, the level of income is $6,922; for a family of four, $10,222. This level of poverty in comparative terms is only slightly above the poverty line originally set in the 1960s and affords a person little more than food and shelter.

The $5,250 for an abjectly poor individual means a bare bones budget of$437/month. Of that total, no more than $50 is available per week for food, or $7.14 day––about two big Macs and a drink, or 1200-1600 calories a day and 120 grams of fat. The residual income supports a housing expenditure in the same range of $200/month, which in most places in the country yields a bed in a group home, leaving about $37 for incidentals.

Even more sobering is the fact that the number of severely poor is growing rapidly. In 1975 the severely poor were 30% of the population in poverty. Today a dismaying 43% of persons in poverty are severely poor by national standards. But more embarrassing than the share of the poverty population truly poor is the increase in the number of persons descending into severe poverty. While the rate of new entrants moving into poverty is somewhat stable, those who are becoming truly poor are increasing at a rate 56% higher than the growth rate of new entrants into poverty.

No demographic is immune to its reach. The severely poor are more likely to be of working age than young or old, though a large share of the truly poor are children under seventeen. The largest number of abjectly poor are white (two times as many as blacks), but blacks and Hispanics are disproportionately likely to be most affected. Women, the prime target of welfare reform, on a proportionate basis are one third more likely to face deep poverty than men.

No region is untouched by this growth in the number of truly poor. The 15.89 million abjectly poor Americans live predominantly in the South (6.5 million) followed by the West and the Midwest (3.5 and 3.1 million, respectively). States with the highest share of abjectly poor have historically had high poverty levels (e.g., the Delta, Appalachia and the U.S.-Mexico Border). The largest totals are, not surprisingly, in the biggest states, although Georgia and North Carolina are also a part of this august group. States with the fastest rate of growth are some unlikely places––Minnesota, New Hampshire, Idaho, Maine, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin. Previously these states escaped the ranks of the worst in terms of social ills due to progressive policies, investments in education, and tolerant societies. Now even they must question their own policies toward the poor.

Is this evidence of welfare reform gone drastically off course? Are we seeing the consequences of low taxes for high-income individuals and the resulting growth in income inequality? Are we harvesting the seeds planted twenty years ago in the minds of the nation’s citizens that government is the cause rather than the cure for economic insecurity? According to this view, government is the reason that people are poor. Its programs allow them to choose not to work, when in fact programs should be fostering self-sufficiency for all. Like everything associated with poverty, I guess it depends on your point-of-view.

http://www.povertyinamerica.psu.edu/2007/0...80%99ve-become/

[Jasman0717 9]

I can't imagine what it is like living on $5200 a year, at least in this country.

[rebeccajo 14]

It's not just us...........

From BBC News/Business

Wealth gap 'widest in 40 years'

The gap between rich and poor in the UK is as wide as it has been for 40 years, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation warns. The JRF found that households in already wealthy areas had become "disproportionately" richer compared with society as a whole.

But the social policy think tank said the number of "poor" households had risen over the past 15 years.

Since the 1980s, wealthier people have moved to the suburbs while the poor remain in inner cities, the JRF added.

Looking at wealth patterns over the past four decades, the JRF found that the gap between rich and poor actually narrowed in the 1970s.

But during the 1980s and 1990s inequality had increased, as a "polarisation" in British society had occurred.

As for the decade beginning in 2000, the report said the picture was "less clear", with some initiatives such as tax and pension credit helping the poor while wealthier people were gaining from a property market boom.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6901147.stm

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Dr. Amy K. Glasmeier

Of that total, no more than $50 is available per week for food, or $7.14 day––about two big Macs and a drink, or 1200-1600 calories a day and 120 grams of fat.

If someone has $7.14 a day to spend on food and they spend it on fast food, I know why they're poor. That's a horrible example is a poorly written article.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

The U.S. Government's official definition of poverty was formulated as a level of income, figuring that families would spend 1/3 of their income of food, 1/3 on shelter, and 1/3 on clothing. This ridiculous measure was not exactly adequate in 1963, and certainly not now.

[bgreed 0]

OK now lets look at the numbers. At the authors yearly income numbers That means there's alot of people working fo way less than minimum wage. Since a minimum wage job at the current $8 hr would be $16k a year. And there are jobs otherwise the illegals wouldn't have any.

As to the the wealth gap thats pretty easy if you look at the way tax laws are written. The poor are a political hot potato so they don't get taxed much(don't have any money anyway) The rich, well they're good friend of the guys that write the laws so you know they're not getting taxed. So that leaves the middle class which are the people who work their asses off starting new businesses and hiring people (did you know that small mom and pop type businesses employ way more people than all the big fortune 500 guys?) The problem is the government has been taxing and regulating this hard working golden goose to death for years making it more and more difficult for them to succed or even start. So more people are vying for fewer well paying jobs hence the larger wealth gap and the inability for people to migrate from poor to middle class. So it is the government interfering with the economy trying to fund stupid social programs so they can get reelected.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

When enough people are excluded from economic mobility or opportunities towards improvement, society as we know it will crumble...

Who Lives in Poverty?

Poverty line = $15,670/yr for a family of three or $18,850/yr for a family of four in 2004.

* 34.6 million people (12.1%) lived below the povery line in 2002. 12.1 million of them are children.

* People living below 50% of poverty ($9425/year for a family of 4) are the fastest growing group in poverty.

* 10.4% of the elderly (3.6 million) lived in poverty in 2002.

* 13.3 million people in poverty in 2002 lived in the suburbs.

........

Why Do WE Need Living Wages?

Living wages would allow a person to pay for housing, food, transportation and other expenses without sacrificing one.

* About 42% of homeless people are employed.

* 46% of jobs with the most growth between 1994 and 2005 pay less than $16,000 a year. These jobs will not lift families out of poverty.

* A person must work 59 hours/week at minimum wage to reach the poverty level for family of three.

* Many jobs don't pay enough to lift families out of poverty.

* The U.S. has lost 2.7 million jobs since 2000.

* Families with incomes under $16,000 pay an average of 11.4% of their income in total taxes while those with income over $301,000 pay just 3.5% of their income in total taxes.

* Since March 2001, PA has lost nearly 120,000 manufacturing jobs; more than half of these since November 2001.

* Households with incomes of $1 million or more received an average $113,000 from federal tax cuts. 49% of Pennsylvanians received under $100.

......

Who Needs Affordable Housing?

"Affordable housing" is defined as housing that costs less than 30% of a household's total income.

* § 28 million Americans spend more than 30 percent of their limited incomes on housing.

* 4.8 million low to moderate income working families spent more than ½ of their income on housing in 2001.

* To afford a two-bedroom home at Pittsburgh Fair Market Rent ($615/ month), a worker has to earn $12.81/ hour, more than double the federal minimum wage of $5.15.

http://www.justharvest.org/Poverty.shtml