In the U.S. 49.7 Million Are Now Poor, and 80% of the Total Population Is Near Poverty

[L. Coyote]

In the U.S. 49.7 Million Are Now Poor, and 80% of the Total Population Is Near Poverty

If you live in the United States, there is a good chance that you are now living in poverty or near poverty. Nearly 50 million Americans, (49.7 Million), are living below the poverty line, with 80% of the entire U.S. population living near poverty or below it.

That near poverty statistic is perhaps more startling than the 50 million Americans below the poverty line, because it translates to a full 80% of the population struggling with joblessness, near-poverty or reliance on government assistance to help make ends meet.

In September, the Associated Press pointed to survey data that told of an increasingly widening gap between rich and poor, as well as the loss of good-paying manufacturing jobs that used to provide opportunities for the “Working Class” to explain an increasing trend towards poverty in the U.S.

But the numbers of those below the poverty line does not merely reflect the number of jobless Americans. Instead, according to a revised census measure released Wednesday, the number – 3 million higher than what the official government numbers imagine – are also due to out-of-pocket medical costs and work-related expenses.

..........

[yeoman6987]

1. 80 percent near poverty?

That's about 246 million. I don't think so.

[bunnies]

3. The vast majority live paycheck to paycheck.

You "don't think so"? Lucky you!

[L. Coyote]

5. Not to mention, in debt!

[yeoman6987]

8. Oh with the average 59K a year...that is not poverty

And most live paycheck to paycheck because they overspend and have cc debt.

[jeff47]

10. Yes, they should pull themselves up by their bootstraps!

[Stinky The Clown]

11. Funny thing. When you average $1000 with $1,000,000 you get a pretty high average.

Nice try, though.

[yeoman6987]

15. That's how statistics works. Good grief.

[forest444]

32. Yes - and what's at issue is the median, not the average.

The median, of course, being the point at which 50% of the country is above, 50% below.

That's currently $803 a week for a full-time employee (or around $42,000 a year). A disgrace in a country as rich as ours.

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/wkyeng.t01.htm

[Manifestor_of_Light]

41. The mean and the median are DIFFERENT.

The mean is the average.

The median is the point at which one-half of the data points are higher and the other half of the data points are lower.

Median is generally more accurate than averages, because a guy like Bill Gates is going to skew the average income as far higher than the median income.

Folks, I have never been a math major and never took statistics but I know there is a big difference there.

[forest444]

42. My point exactly - and the difference between the two can sometimes quite stark.

Take net worth:

The average household net worth in 2014 was $348,000; but the median was but $56,000. Big difference there.

[Stinky The Clown]

35. Man, that was like an old airplane joke. It flew right over your head.

Have a swell time here on the DU.

[zeemike]

22. Averages are funny things.

If you have 10 people and one of them gets 1000 dollars and the rest gets 10 what is their average income?

[brentspeak]

26. Look, everyone: a "Fox and Friends" fan right here on DU

Hey, Chuckles: Most Americans in debt are in debt not due to "overspending", but because they are struggling to pay medical bills, housing, food.

[yeoman6987]

27. Cute. You think 80 percent is in poverty?

You are in the extreme minority if you believe that nonsense. And yes people spend too much. That has been proved. Unfortunately you have zero debate skills and just belittle which says a lot.

[brentspeak]

29. I'm specifically responding to your asinine claim that people are in poverty

"because they overspend", as well as your unsupported presupposition that most Americans' credit card debt is due to said "overspending".

Show us your "debate skills" and actually respond to the content of my post instead of deflecting away from it.

[yeoman6987]

31. So you don't think people spend more then they make?

Well clearly you don't follow the trends which prove my reply. You may not like that fact but reality is difficult sometimes.

[appalachiablue]

36. Previously nonexistent, exorbitant college loan debt and medical debt, the truth.

Pharmaceutical costs and rents are increasing dramatically also.

[Yo_Mama]

23. That's a totally bogus headline.

http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/00000.html

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/16/us-usa-economy-poverty-idUSKCN0RG1XT20150916

For 2014, the household incomes can be found by downloading the "All races" table under F-3 at the following link:
https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/income/data/historical/families/

In current dollars, the mean (average) income of the middle quintile (40-60%) was 66K. For the 60-80% quintile, it was over 100K. I don't care how you slice or dice it, that 80% figure is utter nonsense.

We've got very real economic stress in this society - there is no damned need to make up stats to show that.

[BlueJazz]

4. Maybe they meant 50 million Households. ???

I don't know

[smirkymonkey]

2. K&R. Those numbers are shameful for a first world country

Unless something turns around soon, this nation is going down the tubes.

[bigwillq]

6. K and R (nt)

[whatthehey]

7. That date is a dead giveaway it's this bullshit study yet again

http://www.msnbc.com/morning-joe/american-dream-80-will-experience-some

Notice the massive glaring omissions in the doomergasm headline.

1) That 80% includes people who experience ANY of being near poverty, on welfare OR JOBLESSNESS

2) It counts people who experience this AT ANY POINT IN THEIR LIVES.

Out of work after leaving school? Get laid off and take a while to get another job? Need a few months of benefits after an unexpected setback? You're counted. Doesn't matter if you are a millionaire CEO now, or in a field where you can take some time off and get back into the career path, you're one of the "80%"

So no it's fucking not "80% IS near poverty"; it's 80%, at some point, was sort of poor, or on some benefit, or just between jobs. Ever. Even once.

[calikid]

13. "Doomergasm", I Love it!

[taught_me_patience]

9. the 80% bullshit stat trotted out again

It really undermines your own argument when you use blatantly false stats.

[BigDemVoter]

12. What really confounds me are the poorest states in the country

According to Business Insider, here are the winners:

1. Mississippi (Republican Hell)
2. New Mexico
3. Louisiana (Bobby Jindahl, anybody?)
4. Georgia (Last decent politician they produced? Jimmy Carter)
5. Washington D.C. (not really a state)
6. Kentucky (Mitch McConnell to the rescue!)
7. Alabama (Hmmm. I wonder if those 10 Commandment slabs are working out alleviating poverty?)
8. Arizona (Jan Brewer CERTAINLY is concerned about the poor!)
9. South Carolina (Scarlett O'Hara --oops I meant Lindsay Graham-- is too worried about putting buttermilk on his skin to prevent freckles)
10. West Virginia. . . . I guess mountains with their tops blown off, contaminated rivers that run in day-glow colors aren't enough?

[calikid]

14. "Scarlett opps Linsay" The 2nd "DUZY" in this short thread.

[PowerToThePeople]

16. two year old article

The numbers are probably worse now.

[DrBulldog]

17. In other words, we're a lot closer to Brazil than Denmark.

A lot closer.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

18. Meanwhile, you have idiots making 50k who believe they're part of the 1%.

[Ed Suspicious]

20. Yes. And you have people saying our poor have it pretty well because . . . refrigeration or some

such bullshit.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

40. Back in the 50s the major propaganda came from the National Association of Manufacturers....

They used to break down human needs by pointing out that America's lucky workers could afford a new coat every few years. This was back in the days when a great Christmas gift was a new pair of shoes.

[appalachiablue]

37. ideologically not economically part of the 1% which is really sad-

[zentrum]

19. Ain't Capitalism

……Great?

[yeoman6987]

25. If this article wasn't blatenly a lie

I'd agree.

[SheilaT]

21. 80% of everyone is not near poverty.

As has already been pointed out, that figure includes anyone who has EVER experienced that. I've been there. But it was only for a relatively brief part of my life.

And I do agree that far too many people overspend. If 59k is the median income in this country, I've never been that well off, and somehow, mostly by living below my means my entire life, I'm doing quite well at this point. Still below the median income, however.

[cstanleytech]

34. 59k? I wish our household brought in that much.

We are one major illness from being out on the street.

[whatthehey]

43. Well by definition 49.99999999......................% are below the median income

If you are one of them, well it's 50-50. But what you have to remember is that the same percentage are by definition above it.

Richer than you does not mean rich.

[MannyGoldstein]

28. Relax, it's all good.

[Lychee2]

30. 80% "for at least parts of their lives...."

"According to The Associated Press, four out of 5 U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives...."

This is from the same site as the original, here:

http://politicalblindspot.com/shocking-study-4-out-of-5-in-usa-face-near-poverty-and-unemployment/

P.S. I can believe that statistic.

[TexasBushwhacker]

45. Yes, that statistic makes sense, but I don't think it

translates to 80% living "almost in poverty". I mean I would qualify as one of those 80% because I've lost my job a couple of times and received unemployment. Anyone who has been disabled, even temporarily, would be put in their 80% figure, as would anyone who has ever received food stamps. That's ludicrous. I realize a lot of people are struggling, myself included. I have lived near the poverty line before, but I don't now.

[cstanleytech]

33. The rich had better wise up and wise up very verrrrrry soon.

If they dont we could always try the solution French used for the problem but I suspect the rich might not enjoy the end result.

[taught_me_patience]

38. The fact that this post has over 30 recs is ridiculous

This is a complete and total misrepresentation of stats. People reccing this are willfully ignorant morons... the equivalent of climate change deniers. This post is completely and totally false.

[MindfulOne]

39. I dropped cable, was told tonight that 4 debates is enough, just watch cable!

Or just use the internet, yeah!

My point about limited access to media and the need for a lot of debates, some of them on broadcast television, was lost on the person who said not to worry and just watch online.

Just shoot me. Fuck it.

[damnedifIknow]

44. 29.6 percent lower as opposed to 10 percent growth

The Washington Post’s Dylan Matthews reported that, according to a new paper, the 2000 normalization of trade relations between China and the United States left domestic manufacturing employment 29.6 percent lower that it would have been without the free trade policy:

That reassurance, Pierce and Schott argue, mattered a great deal. All told, they argue that employment in the manufacturing sector in the United States was 29.6 percent lower than it otherwise would have been absent PNTR. That means that employment in that sector would have grown — by close to 10 percent, Pierce and Schott estimate — as opposed to shrinking considerably, as it actually did. It presumably would have grown even more in the absent of other, non-PNTR liberalizations, such as China’s admission to the World Trade Organization"

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2013/01/07/1407861/study-finds-free-trade-with-china-lowered-american-manufacturing-by-296-percent/