Extreme Poverty Reaches Record Levels and Still Climbing

Read my lips.  We reside in a capitalist society.  In order to participate in a capitalist society, it is necessary to have access to capital.  Having 20,000,000 participants and really 40,000,000 unable to properly contribute to the economy because they fail to properly access capital is a very bad idea.

Once again we have a form of economic slavery masquerading as personal failure.  Financial fraud hurled millions into a state of collapsed credit and destroyed whatever equity they had built up.  This remains unfixed and it should have been the first thing repaired.

No country has ever got this right, but plenty continue to get it wrong, none as egregious as has happened in the USA over the past decade.  This error can be placed fully into the hands of both lawmakers and senior financial executives.  Thus the unseemly dance in which no one accepts any blame and all slide out of sight with their share of the loot.

Obviously, the US economy has not turned any corner as yet and risks been pressed deeper into poverty as more governments fail internally.

The only bright spot is that the housing market is showing occasional upticks here and there indicating a bottomed market at least.

Extreme Poverty Is Now at Record Levels -- 19 Statistics About the Poor That Will Absolutely Astound You

In 2010, we were told that the economy was recovering, but the truth is that the number of the "very poor" soared to heights never seen previously.

November 8, 2011  |  

http://www.alternet.org/story/153005/extreme_poverty_is_now_at_record_levels_--_19_statistics_about_the_poor_that_will_absolutely_astound_you/

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, a higher percentage of Americans is living in extreme poverty than they have ever measured before.  In 2010, we were told that the economy was recovering, but the truth is that the number of the "very poor" soared to heights never seen previously.  Back in 1993 and back in 2009, the rate of extreme poverty was just over 6 percent, and that represented the worst numbers on record.  But in 2010, the rate of extreme poverty hit a whopping 6.7 percent.  That means that one out of every 15 Americans is now considered to be "very poor".  For many people, this is all very confusing because their guts are telling them that things are getting worse and yet the mainstream media keeps telling them that everything is just fine.  Hopefully this article will help people realize that the plight of the poorest of the poor continues to deteriorate all across the United States.  In addition, hopefully this article will inspire many of you to lend a hand to those that are truly in need.

Tonight, there are more than 20 million Americans that are living in extreme poverty.  This number increases a little bit more every single day.  The following statistics that were mentioned in an article in The Daily Mail should be very sobering for all of us....

About 20.5 million Americans, or 6.7 percent of the U.S. population, make up the poorest poor, defined as those at 50 per cent or less of the official poverty level.

Those living in deep poverty represent nearly half of the 46.2 million people scraping by below the poverty line. In 2010, the poorest poor meant an income of $5,570 or less for an individual and $11,157 for a family of four.

That 6.7 percent share is the highest in the 35 years that the Census Bureau has maintained such records, surpassing previous highs in 2009 and 1993 of just over 6 percent.

Sadly, the wealthy and the poor are being increasingly segregated all over the nation.  In some areas of the U.S. you would never even know that the economy was having trouble, and other areas resemble third world hellholes.  In most U.S. cities today, there are the "good neighborhoods" and there are the "bad neighborhoods".

According to a recent Bloomberg article, the "very poor" are increasingly being pushed into these "bad neighborhoods"....

At least 2.2 million more Americans, a 33 percent jump since 2000, live in neighborhoods where the poverty rate is 40 percent or higher, according to a study released today by the Washington-based Brookings Institution.

Of course they don't have much of a choice.  They can't afford to live where most of the rest of us do.

Today, there are many Americans that openly look down on the poor, but that should never be the case.  We should love the poor and want to see them lifted up to a better place.  The truth is that with a few bad breaks any of us could end up in the ranks of the poor.  Compassion is a virtue that all of us should seek to develop.

Not only that, but the less poor people and the less unemployed people we have, the better it is for our economy.  When as many people as possible in a nation are working and doing something economically productive, that maximizes the level of true wealth that a nation is creating.

But today we are losing out on a massive amount of wealth.  We have tens of millions of people that are sitting at home on their couches.  Instead of creating something of economic value, the rest of us have to support them financially.  That is not what any of us should want.

It is absolutely imperative that we get as many Americans back to work as possible.  The more people that are doing something economically productive, the more wealth there will be for all of us.