Stalin
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- Apr 4, 2008
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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.
The young generation is being hardest hit. Median income for ages 15-24 fell 9 percent last year. For those 25-34, nearly 6 million doubled up in households with parents and friends to save money, up 25 percent from before the recession. Of these, the poverty rate was at 8.4 percent; but the rate would have risen to 45.3 percent if their parents' incomes were not taken into account, according to an analysis of the census report by Bloomberg Businessweek.
The explosion of poverty over the last three years—along with home foreclosures, homelessness, hunger and the growing number of uninsured—takes place alongside the accumulation of fantastic levels of wealth by the financial aristocracy that controls the economy and political system.
This is the culmination of a three-decade long process, in which the ruling class, under both Democrats and Republicans, carried out a conscious policy of transferring an ever greater portion of society’s wealth into the hands of the corporate and financial elite. In the name of the free market, they slashed taxes on the corporations and the rich, deregulated industry and the banks and backed a corporate offensive against the jobs and living standards of the working class.
more at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/sep2011/pers-s15.shtml
Comrade Stalin
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.
The young generation is being hardest hit. Median income for ages 15-24 fell 9 percent last year. For those 25-34, nearly 6 million doubled up in households with parents and friends to save money, up 25 percent from before the recession. Of these, the poverty rate was at 8.4 percent; but the rate would have risen to 45.3 percent if their parents' incomes were not taken into account, according to an analysis of the census report by Bloomberg Businessweek.
The explosion of poverty over the last three years—along with home foreclosures, homelessness, hunger and the growing number of uninsured—takes place alongside the accumulation of fantastic levels of wealth by the financial aristocracy that controls the economy and political system.
This is the culmination of a three-decade long process, in which the ruling class, under both Democrats and Republicans, carried out a conscious policy of transferring an ever greater portion of society’s wealth into the hands of the corporate and financial elite. In the name of the free market, they slashed taxes on the corporations and the rich, deregulated industry and the banks and backed a corporate offensive against the jobs and living standards of the working class.
more at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/sep2011/pers-s15.shtml
Comrade Stalin
