The government started keeping low income statistics in 1959. More individuals fell below the poverty line last year than ever in the time since. A Census Bureau report said that 43 million Americans lived in poverty in 2009. Individuals living in poverty made up 14.3 % of the total United States population, a rise from 13.2 percent the year before. The poverty report is the latest in a long line of recent bad economic news Republicans are crowing about as the November election approaches. Under scrutiny, however, Bush-era policies in the last decade can be tied to conditions that set the stage for the current poverty increase. Low income activists aren’t satisfied that the Census Bureau statistics paints a true picture of what qualifies as financially poor in the U.S.. The other side has an opposite point of view. They say the low income line is an insufficient way to determine who is poor and who isn’t. Heeding the critics, Census Bureau statisticians will roll out a series of new measurements in a try to more fully define the poverty level from 2011 forward.
Analysts had anticipated an even greater spike
The number of poor individuals had been increasing within the United States was no surprise. In fact, the Washington Independent reports that demographers expected it to be about 15 percent. According to a Census Bureau official interviewed by CNN, a decline in elderly citizens falling below the poverty threshold from 9.7 to 8.9 % kept the low income rate from ticking higher. The amount of money necessary to maintain a minimum of material comfort is considered the poverty threshold. Looked at that way, the current poverty threshold seems to be considerable upbeat. To be living in poverty, a family of four makes a maximum annual income of about $22,000, as outlined by the Census Bureau.
Poverty measurements outdated
Poverty threshold methodology was created nearly 50 years ago. The baseline was how much money a family needs to be adequately fed. As reported by MSNBC, considerations in addition to income must be added to the equation, experts say, to figure out how many within the United States of America are under the low income line. Poverty thresholds as they exist are out of touch with reality, Shawn Fremstad of the Center for Economic and Policy Research told MSNBC. For survival in current economic conditions, a family needs more than is presently stated. To more accurately calculate a low income line, the government will incorporate additional factors into the equation, for instance, low-income tax credits and job-related expenses. Comparing the financially poor with the rest of the population based on median income could give a more accurate reading, according to Fremstad. Median income within the United States of America was $49,777 last year.
Who’s to blame for increasing low income?
Political pundits are saying the low income rate is another liability for the Obama administration and Democrats for the November midterm elections . However economic growth during the George W. Bush presidency was accompanied by an increasing poverty rate. As reported by the Washington Independent, Rebecca Blank of the Commerce Department said last year in congressional testimony that within the 2001 recession, the poverty rate rose as expected and never came down. The poverty rate rose .08 percent throughout the 2000s expansion. More people were financially poor within the United States after seven years of financial growth. Bush-era economics gave low income a running start when they caused the economy to collapse.
Further reading
CNN
cnn.com/2010/OPINION/09/20/meyer.sullivan.census.poverty/index.html
MSNBC
msnbc.msn.com/id/39211644/ns/us_news-life/
Fox News
politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/09/15/rnc-supports-odonnell-delaware-nrsc-changes-tune
Washington Independent
washingtonindependent.com/97318/poverty-in-the-recession
