poverty rate

the Web Editors 9-12-2012

The U.S. Census Bureau released its 2011 poverty report this morning, reporting that 46.2 million people were living in poverty, amounting to 15 percent of the population. Neither was significantly different than 2010. All major demographic categories – white, African-American, Hispanic, Asian – were also essentially the same as last year.

The number of children and the elderly in poverty remained the same.

Gay and happy family. Image via Wiki Commons http://bit.ly/v9yizi

Gay and happy family. Image via Wiki Commons http://bit.ly/v9yizi

Failure to provide equal rights for LGBT people doesn’t just hurt those who are gay or lesbian, it also hurts the nearly 2 million children who now live in LGBT households.

Contrary to many stereotypes, children living in LGBT households are 50 percent more likely to live in poverty than those living in heterosexual households. Societal prejudice and discriminatory policies both have something to do with it. A recent report sponsored by the Movement Advancement Project, Family Equality Council and the Center for American Progress, explains why.

Mike Honda 9-28-2011
[caption id="attachment_34190" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="U.S. Rep. Mike Honda (second from the right) during his Peace Corps days in El Salvador."][/caption]
Cathleen Falsani 9-14-2011

The Census Bureau on Tuesday released the latest data on poverty in the United States, and the news was troubling.

In the graphics below, you can see how poverty rates have increased over the last decade - overall, as well as among African Americans, children and families.

For the complete Census Bureau report click HERE.

For a graph charting the poverty rate from 1959 to the present, click HERE.

povertyall

Cathleen Falsani 9-14-2011

"OK to all those attacking Tavis and Dr. West and me for hosting the Poverty tour, can you get off your Hating a second to look at todays latest report: POVERTY is at its highest record in American History!!! People are Dying out here! Don't care what you think of Tavis, Cornel or me, but PLEASE PLEASE care about our Brothers and Sisters who have been made to feel invisible and disposable!"

-- Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of the Faith Community of St. Sabina, a Roman Catholic parish on Chicago's South Side, in a posting on his Facebook page Wednesday morning.

Jim Wallis 10-22-2010

You have to wonder -- when political ads focus on a college prank pulled by your opponent -- what else could that money have gone to?

Claire Lorentzen 9-20-2010
It is the highest number America has ever seen: 43.6 million people are living in poverty in the United States, the wealthiest country in the world.