Severe poverty rate at highest in three decades

[peejay 327]

Severe poverty rate at highest in three decades

Plight of poorest of poor extends to suburban areas

By TONY PUGH

Mcclatchy-Tribune

WASHINGTON — The percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached a 32-year high as the gulf between the nation's "haves" and "have-nots" continues to widen.

A McClatchy Newspapers analysis of the 2005 census figures, the latest available, found that nearly 16 million Americans are living in deep or severe poverty. A family of four with two children and an annual income of less than $9,903 — half the federal poverty line — was considered severely poor in 2005. So were individuals who made less than $5,080 a year.

The McClatchy analysis found that the number of severely poor Americans grew by 26 percent from 2000 to 2005. That's 56 percent faster than the overall poverty population grew in the same period.

McClatchy's review also suggested that the rise in severely poor residents isn't confined to large urban counties but extends to other areas.

The plight of the severely poor is a distressing sidebar to an unusual economic expansion. Worker productivity has increased dramatically since the brief recession of 2001, but wages and job growth have lagged behind. At the same time, the share of national income going to corporate profits has dwarfed the amount going to wages and salaries.

That helps explain why the median household income for working-age families, adjusted for inflation, has fallen for five straight years.

These and other factors have helped push 43 percent of the nation's 37 million poor people into deep poverty — the highest rate since at least 1975.

The growth, which leveled off in 2005, in part reflects how hard it is for low-skilled workers to earn their way out of poverty in an unstable job market that favors skilled and educated workers. It also suggests that social programs aren't as effective as they once were at catching those who fall into economic despair.

BREAKDOWN

Among the findings:

• Mostly female: About one in three severely poor people are younger than 17, and nearly two out of three are female.

• White: Nearly two of three people in severe poverty are white (10.3 million) and 6.9 million are non-Hispanic whites.

• Border disparity: Severe poverty is most pronounced near the Mexican border and in some areas of the South.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headli...on/4579573.html

[GrenadianCrix 2]

This just makes me angry. Our country (USA) has so much wealth and power, yet it can't provide for it's most vulnerable. It's a bit ironic, I'm serving in a developing country with the US Peace Corps, I get asked all the time why didn't I stay home to help people there. Mostly the answer is ... I can't afford to. Don't get me wrong, I think the Peace Corps is a great program that should not be tampered with, but there are very few programs that allow us to stay in the states, pay our own bills and help in any sort of meaningful way. The government itself should rework in order to address these needs, but until the voting population gives the clear message that it's not ok that some 'have' while some many 'have not'.....things aren't going to change.

I'm sorry if I offend some republicans....or the democrats that just didn't get out to vote...but WHAT WERE WE THINKING?!?!?!?! It's one thing to put up with one term of George W.'s xenophobic and classist policies....but two full terms? What is happening to our American spirit and drive? We need to remember why we are the country we are...we don't put up with oppressive #######!

I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but it does feel good to stand up on a soap box once in a while.

Sue

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

The plight of the severely poor is a distressing sidebar to an unusual economic expansion. Worker productivity has increased dramatically since the brief recession of 2001, but wages and job growth have lagged behind. At the same time, the share of national income going to corporate profits has dwarfed the amount going to wages and salaries.

That helps explain why the median household income for working-age families, adjusted for inflation, has fallen for five straight years.

These and other factors have helped push 43 percent of the nation's 37 million poor people into deep poverty — the highest rate since at least 1975.

I've been tooting that horn for some time but get told by some free market capitalists that I'm just envious of CEO's pay...

I'd be all for having both minimum and maximum wage standards that are contingent on a percentage of the company's profits as well as in relationship to one another. Profit should be something that comes from a collaberated effort by all of a company's employees who are therefore justly rewarded as opposed to just the top tier. It's the only way corporations can participate in the American Dream - economic opportunity for all...not just some.

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

This just makes me angry. Our country (USA) has so much wealth and power, yet it can't provide for it's most vulnerable. It's a bit ironic, I'm serving in a developing country with the US Peace Corps, I get asked all the time why didn't I stay home to help people there. Mostly the answer is ... I can't afford to. Don't get me wrong, I think the Peace Corps is a great program that should not be tampered with, but there are very few programs that allow us to stay in the states, pay our own bills and help in any sort of meaningful way. The government itself should rework in order to address these needs, but until the voting population gives the clear message that it's not ok that some 'have' while some many 'have not'.....things aren't going to change.

I'm sorry if I offend some republicans....or the democrats that just didn't get out to vote...but WHAT WERE WE THINKING?!?!?!?! It's one thing to put up with one term of George W.'s xenophobic and classist policies....but two full terms? What is happening to our American spirit and drive? We need to remember why we are the country we are...we don't put up with oppressive #######!

I'm probably preaching to the choir here, but it does feel good to stand up on a soap box once in a while.

Sue

Hi, Sue! You can offend all the Republicans you want here - I'll back you up!

In a nutshell, I believe it comes from this hyper-individualism mentality - "I'm looking out for me" view that permiates among many from the Right (not all). Some are quite bold and will say they believe in some sort of social Darwinism, until you corner them and ask them what happens to the sick, the elderly, or just the less fortunate. Then of course they'll accuse you of wanting to give out handouts to the undeserved. What I find most ironic is that many of them claim to aspire to Christian values. Social Darwinism is the antithesis to the message of Jesus - regardless of one's religious views.

[GrenadianCrix 2]

Not to mention that social Darwinism is a faulty theory that IS NOT supported by Darwins findings. Social Darwinism is what drove thousands of 'socially unfit' to be sterilized in California (which by the way gave Hitler his fuel and research to justify social cleansing). California, a couple years back, actually started paying reparations to the family and survivors of the mass sterilizations that happened in jails, poor houses, insanitoriums and other mental health facilities, funny that they waited long enough for all these people to die of natural causes ... and it's hard to pay off the children of people who have been sterilized!

But anyway, the issue is that some people try to justify status quo by objecting to hand-outs or by saying that in America you have to work for what you want. I am not necessary disagreeing with either of those, I think Ayn Rand is a genious, However, there needs to be a social framework in which people can earn their way. The families that earn half the poverty income are still earning, that is no hand-out. Many of these people will work harder than those high paid opponents of social welfare could ever imagine. Let them work for minimum wage and see how far they can get....anyone read 'nickel and dimed'? I forget the authors name.

So all can do is get a little preachy and try to make a difference as much as possible. I vote, I help progressive candidates run for office, I teach under-served populations (special education), and whatever else I can to do my part. Now it's up to everyone else to pick up the tug-o-war rope and start tugging. Let's make the other side fall in the mud!

Sue

p.s. gosh i'm feeling extra preachy today...must be cause of it being sunday and all.

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

Not to mention that social Darwinism is a faulty theory that IS NOT supported by Darwins findings. Social Darwinism is what drove thousands of 'socially unfit' to be sterilized in California (which by the way gave Hitler his fuel and research to justify social cleansing). California, a couple years back, actually started paying reparations to the family and survivors of the mass sterilizations that happened in jails, poor houses, insanitoriums and other mental health facilities, funny that they waited long enough for all these people to die of natural causes ... and it's hard to pay off the children of people who have been sterilized!

But anyway, the issue is that some people try to justify status quo by objecting to hand-outs or by saying that in America you have to work for what you want. I am not necessary disagreeing with either of those, I think Ayn Rand is a genious, However, there needs to be a social framework in which people can earn their way. The families that earn half the poverty income are still earning, that is no hand-out. Many of these people will work harder than those high paid opponents of social welfare could ever imagine. Let them work for minimum wage and see how far they can get....anyone read 'nickel and dimed'? I forget the authors name.

So all can do is get a little preachy and try to make a difference as much as possible. I vote, I help progressive candidates run for office, I teach under-served populations (special education), and whatever else I can to do my part. Now it's up to everyone else to pick up the tug-o-war rope and start tugging. Let's make the other side fall in the mud!

Sue

p.s. gosh i'm feeling extra preachy today...must be cause of it being sunday and all.

Amen!

(Ayn Rand was a nut, IMO. - I can't bear to read her books.)