From the Real World Economics Review blog US poverty numbers:
- Approximately 45 million Americans were living in poverty in 2009.
- 2009 saw the largest single year increase in the U.S. poverty rate since the U.S. government began calculating poverty figures back in 1959.
- The U.S. poverty rate is now the third worst (above only Turkey and Mexico) among the developed nations tracked by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
- According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, on a year-over-year basis, household participation in the food stamp program has increased 20.28 percent.
- The number of Americans on food stamps surpassed 41 million for the first time ever in June.
- Approximately 50 million Americans could not afford to buy enough food to stay healthy at some point during the last year.
- 1 out of every 6 Americans is now being served by at least one government anti-poverty program.
- More than 50 million Americans are now on Medicaid, the U.S. government health care program designed principally to help the poor.
- 1 out of every 7 mortgages in the United States was either delinquent or in foreclosure during the first quarter of 2010.
- Nearly 10 million Americans now receive unemployment insurance, which is almost four times as many as were receiving it in 2007.
- The number of Americans receiving long-term unemployment benefits has risen over 60 percent in just the past year.
- According to one recent survey, 28 percent of all U.S. households have at least one member that is looking for a full-time job.
- 1 out of every 5 children in the United States is now living in poverty.
That’s the problem of insufficient state spending and a lack of commitment to tax justice.
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And a Democrat was in the White House, please note.
@Tom Howe
But the crisis began under the previous Republican incumbent
Didn’t you notice that?
And the leap in poverty was under a Democrat. And in fact the crisis began under a Democrat – when Bill Clinton repealed Glass Steagall to buy the votes of the poor by allowing them easy access to credit.
Tom
And the easy access to credit was necessary to keep consumtion up – and thus growth – because the real wages of the majority of Americans fell from 1980s onwards and remains well below the levels achieved in the 1970s. This doesn’t just apply to the US, of course, but is most marked there given the gapping division between rich and poor.
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Please be identifiable
This comment has been deleted. It failed the moderation policy noted here. http://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/comments/. The editor’s decision on this matter is final.