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United States of Poverty
from David Ruccio
By the 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.
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Real-World Economics Review Blog 
Something you need to know about US poverty statistics. They’re calculated before the help and aid which is given to alleviate poverty.
So what you’ve actually got here is the list of how much poverty there is, then the list of all the things done to try and alleviate that poverty.
You know, the half a trillion $ spent on Medicaid, the EITC, housing vouchers, food stamps and the rest. You’re highlighting how much they try to do, not, as you think, how little they do.
I’d actually be fascinated to see the same numbers for the UK. How much poverty is there before the NHS, tax credits, housing benefit and so on?
Please don’t combine Medicaid expenses in here. The EITC and FOOD STAMPS directly help poor people survive. Medicaid just pays inflated medical expenses. It doesn’t reduce poverty. (That’s why when your insurance company pays your inflated hospital and/or doctor bill, the IRS doesn’t charge you as if you received the income in kind.)
I think David’s statistics demonstrate how BAD things are compared to just a couple of years ago — as evidenced by how many people need to have recourse to our (admittedly rather stingy) social safety net.
I think this statistics doesn’t representing the perfect picture of American’s poverty, but still we can understand how much recession effected our daily lives.
I do think these statistics represent a “perfect” picture of my American poverty.
I’ve been living in poverty since 2011
I’ve been on food stamps since February 2014
I’ve being served by several anti-poverty programs (not even sure how many, I’d have to ask my social worker)
I’ve been on Medicaid since 2012
I lost my condo in 2007
I’ve been on Unemployment three times in the last five years
Genista Simon, class of 2008 (Over $40,000 in unpaid student loans)
Diagnosed with late stage breast cancer in 2011 (Over $50,000 in unpaid medical bills)
Fired from my job in February 2014 for missing too much work (due to illness & hospitalization)
Terminated from my health insurance (it was through my former employer)
Go USA!
Thank you David Ruccio for this. It gives a vivid picture of the neo-liberalism philosophy in action.