What does it mean when 1.5 million American
families live on less than $2 a day per person?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:March 14th, 2012
Here's something that should make you count your blessings:
Nearly 1.5 million American families live on $2 a day - or less - per person. $2 a day.
The numbers include some 2.8 million children.
We should be ashamed of ourselves.
The national poverty center reports that households living in "extreme poverty" surged by 130% in the last 15 years.
It's estimated that more than half of these families are run by a single woman. More than a third are headed by a married couple.
Almost half were headed by whites, one-quarter by blacks, and less than a quarter by hispanics.
The center used the $2 a day measure since that's one of the world bank's main indicators of poverty in developing countries. Pretty sad commentary on the state of affairs in our own developed country.
Researchers didn't include food stamps in this measure. Once you factor in food stamps as income, the number of households in extreme poverty drops by almost half to 800,000.
Overall, a record 46.2 million Americans are living below the poverty line.
The federal government spends hundreds of billions of dollars on programs to feed, shelter and house the poor.
It's estimated 1 in 6 Americans rely on public programs - with food stamps and Medicaid being the largest.
Mitt Romney recently came under fire for saying he's not concerned about the "very poor," saying: "There's a safety net there."
Not exactly the voice of a compassionate conservative.
Heres my question to you: What does it mean when 1.5 million American families live on less than $2 a day per person?
families live on less than $2 a day per person?
FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:March 14th, 2012
Here's something that should make you count your blessings:
Nearly 1.5 million American families live on $2 a day - or less - per person. $2 a day.
The numbers include some 2.8 million children.
We should be ashamed of ourselves.
The national poverty center reports that households living in "extreme poverty" surged by 130% in the last 15 years.
It's estimated that more than half of these families are run by a single woman. More than a third are headed by a married couple.
Almost half were headed by whites, one-quarter by blacks, and less than a quarter by hispanics.
The center used the $2 a day measure since that's one of the world bank's main indicators of poverty in developing countries. Pretty sad commentary on the state of affairs in our own developed country.
Researchers didn't include food stamps in this measure. Once you factor in food stamps as income, the number of households in extreme poverty drops by almost half to 800,000.
Overall, a record 46.2 million Americans are living below the poverty line.
The federal government spends hundreds of billions of dollars on programs to feed, shelter and house the poor.
It's estimated 1 in 6 Americans rely on public programs - with food stamps and Medicaid being the largest.
Mitt Romney recently came under fire for saying he's not concerned about the "very poor," saying: "There's a safety net there."
Not exactly the voice of a compassionate conservative.
Heres my question to you: What does it mean when 1.5 million American families live on less than $2 a day per person?
