Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Some Poor Statistics

1. According to the latest numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of people receiving means-tested welfare benefits is greater than the number of full-time workers in the United States.

2. According to the most recent numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, 49.2 percent of all Americans are receiving benefits from at least one government program.

3.  The number of public school students in the US that are homeless is at an all-time record high.  1.2 million students that attend public schools in America are homeless.  That number has risen by 72 percent since the start of the last recession.

4. One recent study discovered that nearly half of all public students in the United States come from low income homes.  57 percent of all children in the United States are currently living in homes that are considered to be either “low income” or impoverished.

5. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately one out of every six Americans is now living in poverty.  The number of Americans living in poverty is now at a level not seen since the 1960s.

6. The gap between the rich and the poor in the United States is at an all-time record high.

7. The “working poor” is one of the fastest growing segments of the U.S. population.  At this point, approximately one out of every four part-time workers in America is living below the poverty line.

8.  one out of every four American workers has a job that pays $10 an hour or less.

9. Median household income in the United States has fallen for five years in a row.

10.  According to a Gallup poll that was recently released, 20.0% of all Americans did not have enough money to buy food that they or their families needed at some point over the past year.

11. The number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the entire population of Spain or the combined populations of Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

12. One out of every four children in the United States is enrolled in the food stamp program. It is being projected that approximately 50 percent of all U.S. children will be on food stamps before they reach the age of 18.

13. The average food stamp benefit breaks down to approximately $4 per person per day.

14.  17 million children in the United States are facing food insecurity.  In other words, that means that “one in four children in the country is living without consistent access to enough nutritious food to live a healthy life.”

15. The number of children living on $2.00 a day or less in the United States has grown to 2.8 million.  That number has increased by 130 percent since 1996.

16. In Miami, 45 percent of all children are living in poverty. In Cleveland, more than 50 percent of all children are living in poverty. 60 percent of all children in Detroit are living in poverty.

17. 37 million Americans are now being served by food pantries and soup kitchens.

18. 4 out of every 5 adults in the United States struggle with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives.

These poverty numbers keep getting worse year after year no matter what our politicians do. The U.S. government has spent 3.7 trillion dollars on welfare programs over the past five years. So is there anyone out there that would still like to argue that there is an “economic recovery”?

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