  Themax Member Username: Themax Post Number: 825 Registered: 09-2005 |
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/ story/0,12271,1593904,00.html "...According to the US census bureau, poverty has been on the rise for the past four years, despite a robust economy. The number of people living in poverty increased last year to 12.7% of the population, some 37m people, the highest percentage in the developed world. Since Mr Bush took office an additional 5.4m have slipped below the poverty line. In 1970, the rate was 11.1%. Almost 8% of white people are classified as below the poverty line and almost 25% of African Americans. .. In Detroit, 34% of the population live in poverty, including almost half the children under 17... ...Rarely, if ever, has poverty continued to rise so long after the end of a recession. The median household income in the US has stagnated for the past five years at around $44,400, the longest period on record. Globalisation is forcing US companies to keep prices low to compete and many manufacturers are closing factories and shifting production overseas: 2.7m industrial jobs have been lost since 2001. Many of those workers are moving into lower-paid service jobs. | ||
Johnlodge Member Username: Johnlodge Post Number: 1572 Registered: 10-2003 |
Correct Themax. We are being fleeced for the benefit of the top 2% and sold to China. | ||
Charlottepaul Member Username: Charlottepaul Post Number: 1466 Registered: 10-2006 |
Yeah, I was surprised last year when I was doing a research project on economics and I picked Uganda and found that they had a better distribution of income (gini coefficient) than the U.S. For that matter, I was surprised that Russia and China do as well. The lower the number, the better distribution of income: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L ist_of_countries_by_income_equ ality | ||
Jasoncw Member Username: Jasoncw Post Number: 433 Registered: 07-2005 |
And remember the 40% of adults over 35 who are functionally illiterate, and the 40% of families with no car, the horrible graduation rate of the schools, etc. etc. I think something like half of Detroiters are below the poverty line or something. I don't remember. | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 3617 Registered: 02-2005 |
According to the census data cited at Wikipedia, 26 percent of Detroit lives in poverty. This is not at the high end, either. Miami is over 28 percent. I'd like to see some attribution for that 34 percent number. | ||
Susanarosa Member Username: Susanarosa Post Number: 1609 Registered: 11-2003 |
http://www.census.gov/Press-Re lease/www/releases/archives/in come_wealth/007419.html quote: | ||
Terryh Member Username: Terryh Post Number: 457 Registered: 11-2006 |
Americans dont enjoy the prosperity and protection that the working and lower middle class of past American generations and citizens of most free societies because there has been a steady decrease in participation in our political system.Dont like youre union representation? Vote them out of office. Attend union meetings regularly. Democrat and Republican party not much different? Elect worker and lower middle class friendly third party Senators. Of course we live in one of many countries that reward educated-innovative individuals with handsome compensation packages and a higher degree of status than the 70-80% who sell their labor, but should we be forced to live in debt, working a full time and one part-time job to eke out a living? | ||
Detroitplanner Member Username: Detroitplanner Post Number: 1362 Registered: 04-2006 |
How much of the poverty increase can be attributed to other factors such as the natural increase of population? I more useful stat would be the percentage in poverty in 2000 vs today. Unfortunately what we are seeing here is the result of shedding our industrial-based economy without having much else to rely on. In addition, census numbers only come out every 10 years. Therefore who is interpolating the data? Was the data based upon the prior trend? (Clinton) | ||
Mackinaw Member Username: Mackinaw Post Number: 3619 Registered: 02-2005 |
I think the stats I quoted were from 2000, Dplanner, and these most recent ones are from 2005 estimates. | ||
Susanarosa Member Username: Susanarosa Post Number: 1610 Registered: 11-2003 |
It's not like the folks at the census bureau sit around and do nothing for 10 years between official censuses (censi?). quote: quote: |
