Poverty Higher Than he 1960's When War on Poverty Began

Al Jazeera English, via Matt Diaz:

There is more evidence of the growing wealth gap in the US: A new report says that the number of people living in poverty could be at its highest level in nearly half a century. So how can the US government help its least fortunate?

In 2010, one in six Americans were considered poor. That is more than 47 million people living on less than $10,500 per year.

"We are creating poverty in this country .... If you are unemployed, employers are not going to want to hire you because you are unemployed. If your credit rating is bad, nobody is going to want to hire you. It's like we have a system for pushing people who begin to slide down further and further."

- Barbara Ehrenreich, the author of the book Nickel and Dimed

The official government numbers on poverty in 2011 will be released just weeks ahead of the November presidential elections.

But an associated press survey of economists and think tanks says that the number of poor Americans could reach 15.7 per cent, making it the highest level since the 1960's.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at September 3, 2012 2:57 AM
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