America: The land of poverty

[blindpig]

America: The land of poverty

The census bureau figures that came out Tuesday, showing the largest number of Americans living in poverty since records began in 1959, are a damning indictment of American capitalism and the entire political system.

In 2010 there were 46.2 million people—almost one out of every six residents—living below the official poverty line, including 16.4 million children. Of these nearly half, or 20 million, were described as living in deep poverty, subsisting on less than half the income the US government says is needed for basic food, shelter, clothing and utilities.

As it is the government’s poverty threshold—about $22,000 for a family of four and $11,000 for a single person under 65—is insufficient to maintain a decent standard of living. A more accurate measure would be twice the official poverty line, or about $44,000 for a family of four. More than 100 million Americans—one in three—are below this threshold.

The main factor behind the growth of poverty is the jobs crisis, which has only gotten worse since 2010, the year after the recession supposedly ended. Tens of millions of workers are jobless or forced to work part-time, low-wage jobs that are insufficient to keep them out of poverty.

more....

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/sep2011/pers-s15.shtml

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Johnson20]

2. Well the increasing amount of

poverty and the widening gap between the extremely rich and the poor should be of concern to everyone. Just my opinion.

[blindpig]

3. Should be....

One would think that even the oppressors wouldn't push the envelope too far if only to preserve their position.

However, as history shows ruling classes never do this and so they must be shoved aside.