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Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Poverty in the USA

According to the Credit Suisse 2018 Global Wealth Databook, 34 million American adults are among the WORLD'S POOREST 10%. 

Since 2008 consumer debt has risen almost 50 percent. The percentage of families with more debt than savings is higher now than at any time since 1962. 

$1 in expenses twenty years ago is now $1.25. $1 in earnings twenty years ago is now still $1

Estimates of adults living from paycheck to paycheck range from half to 60 percent to 78 percent

A typical U.S. household needs about $60,000 annually to meet all expenses. That's only manageable if two adults are working full-time for $15 per hour. Beyond that, little cushion exists. No American adult in the bottom 40% has more than $31,124 in total wealth, including house and car and savings  

While 1 in 7 Americans is part of the world's poorest 10%, nearly 3 in 7 Americans are part of the world's richest 10%. The economy is booming for THEM.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics workforce includes contingent and alternative employment arrangements that make up about 10% of the workforce. It includes part-time workers (even one hour a week!), who make up about 16% of the workforce. And, inexplicably, it fails to count as unemployed those who have given up looking for work -- 4% more Americans than in the year 2000.

Many of today's 'gig' jobs don't pay a living wage, and most have no retirement or health benefits, no job security, no government regulations backing them, and usually a longer work day, with many people putting in 10- to 12-hour days for $13 per hour or less. According to a New York Times report, "41.7 million laborers — nearly a third of the American work force — earn less than $12 an hour, and almost none of their employers offer health insurance." 

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