Contrary to what you will read in today’s newspapers the big story of the day is not that a Republican won the New York 9th district for the first time in decades or that 61% of independents disapprove of the President’s handling of the economy or even that Jackie Kennedy thought that Martin Luther King a “phony “and a “drunk”.
The big story of the day is the Census Bureau announcement that another 2.6 million Americans slipped below the poverty level last year.
-46.2 million Americans now live in poverty.
-15.1% of all Americans live in poverty.
-27% of all Black Americans live in poverty.
-26% of all Hispanic Americans live in poverty.
-12% of all Asian Americans live in poverty.
-9.9% of all White Americans live in poverty.
-22% of all American children live in poverty.
-The Brookings institute estimates that at the current rate the recession will have added nearly 10 million people to ranks of the poor by the middle of the decade.
-The 2010 median income for a male full- time worker is actually less than it was in 1973.
And the most shocking statistic of all is that the poverty line for a family of four is a ridiculous $22,314! Imagine what the above statistics would look like if you doubled the poverty line to a still paltry $44,628. What family of four can LIVE on $44,628 in today’s economy?
This is a problem that transcends politics. The country’s economic decline began in 1978 when China opened its doors; and it has continued to spiral downward through the years of Reagan, Clinton, Bush and Obama. Partisan politics and petty finger pointing have only served to exacerbate the problem.
$46.2 million Americans live in poverty…and our government is too politically paralyzed to do anything about it.
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