Posted on 09/16/2010 8:21:10 AM PDT by SkyPilot
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.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Where there is *real* poverty - people are skinny. Just sayin’...
There's nothing wrong with eating squirrels. I was just telling my wife last night that it was about time to thin out the squirrel population around our house. She asked me what I was going to do with them. I replied "Squirrel dumplings". Delicious when properly prepared.
Then it’s a real pity that we support the professional “poor” and cannot help those who need it now.
I have no problem giving a hand up.
I’m tired of giving a hand out.
hope & change baby!
how's that working out for ya?
And I just wanted to add that we have skinnied down on everything. No cable, no frills. We shop at Salvation Army and eat hot dogs. Grow as much food as we can and pick much more.
Yet we are rich. Why? Because we have each other and don’t turn to the government to make up our yearly raises. The poor who want to get out of it (like you would be) are not the people posters are speaking of.
I agree. My husband and I were talking the other day about our options if we ever lost our house. Bottom line is that we don’t have any options. Not one member of our family has room for us. If our income ever came to nothing, I honestly don’t know where we would live, and I know we’re not the only ones in that boat. (A boat would be nice, but we don’t have one of those, either!)
Yes in just two generations the “Great Society” has obliterated the black family structure with 70%+ illegitimacy rate.
Take a bow, Baraq. Your philosophical forebears did far more damage than the KKK ever dreamed possible.
Hang in there. I grew up poor, and we were really poor.
I was poor all my young adult life. Air popped popcorn was a staple, as was mac and cheese made with water.
I know what this is like.
My comments, and I believe most other comments here, directed at the term 'poor' are directed at our permanent underclass of "recipients," and not on those who are down because of the economy. Moreover, the classification of these people as "poor" when compared to other nations still stands. Our poor are rich in comparison, no matter who it is.
We are the first generation, in the history of all of mankind, to have fat poor people.
Fat poor people are a distinct out-product of twentieth century liberalism. Forty percent of all people who are classified as "poor" are morbidly obese.
If you told the ancient Roman, medieval European, or 18th Century European that a fat person was "poor", they would have laughed in your face.
The poor "advocates" always argue that this is so not because these people are overfed, but because of 'ignorance' about 'nutrition.'
This is mostly bogus.
They eat what they want, and mostly, that is a lot of whatever they are eating. Period.
And, 4,763 government programs that try and teach the poor to eat apples and carrots won't do a damn thing about that either.
Census is a count of the population...
How much money I make, determines how many representatives my state has?
If they don’t have to get their drinking water from the same mudhole that the livestock drinks from, they ain’t poor. Go to Africa and see what poor looks like.
We would be living in a tent. It sucks that we have to think about that stuff, doesn’t it?
THEN: Right To Bear Arms
NOW: Right To Bare Arms
THEN: The American Dream, with Work, Accountability, Responsibility
NOW: The American Dream, Govt Pays my Gas, Mortgage, Health Care
THEN: I Have A Dream
NOW: I Have A Scheme
THEN: Morning in America
NOW: Mourning in America
Understanding Poverty in America (What the Census doesnt count when reporting on the poor.)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2336385/posts
The average person identified as poor by the government has a living standard far higher than the public imagines. According to the governments own surveys, the typical poor American has cable or satellite TV, two color TVs, and a DVD player or VCR. He has air conditioning, a car, a microwave, a refrigerator, a stove, and a clothes washer and dryer. He is able to obtain medical care when needed. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family is not hungry, and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his familys essential needs. While this individuals life is not affluent, it is far from the images of dire poverty conveyed by liberal activists and politicians.
Conventional accounts of poverty not only exaggerate hardship, they also underestimate government spending on the poor. In 2008, federal and state governments spent $714 billion (or 5 percent of the total economy) on means-tested welfare aid, providing cash, food, housing, medical care, and targeted social services to poor and low-income Americans. (This sum does not include Social Security or Medicare.) If converted into cash, this aid would be nearly four times the amount needed to eliminate poverty in the U.S. by raising the incomes of all poor households above the federal poverty levels.
>>I was poor all my young adult life. Air popped popcorn was a staple, as was mac and cheese made with water.<<
Oatmeal!
I lived on it for a time when I was left alone after my parents died.
It’s really cheap if you buy it in bulk. If it’s a good week, add some cheap grape jelly or the extra sugar packets you get when you dig change and buy a coffee.
Unfortunatly, we have a massive problem with those who won't.
This stuff was caught as recently as this July:
HA!
I am doing OK economically right now (praise God), but I am sure the next crisis in my life is right around the corner! But, old habits die hard.
I just bought two huge cans of oatmeal at the market the other day (store brand too, they are cheaper!).
I tried these new "blueberry raisins" with it - very good, and not too much $$$.
Our ‘’poor’’ have a higher std of living then most Europeans. Take note note now that it is RATS/socialists/progressives/commies who keep saying we should be more like the Europeans.
Ray Stevens -- "Come to the USA"
The poor are getting poorer as jobs vanish oversea and illegal immigrants steal jobs, request medical benefits, apply for food stamps and makes things lots tougher for Americans.
MORE justification for wealth redistribution to even things out, share the pie, etc.
1 in 7 is not surprising, especially if we talk about NET income AFTER TAXES, and go from there.
Until ALL Americans are equally poor, Socialism hasn't completed its mission......
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