Poverty follows families to the suburbs

[Judi Lynn]

Poverty follows families to the suburbs
Suburban poor outnumber their inner-city counterparts for the first time
Updated: 31 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - As Americans flee the cities for the suburbs, many are failing to leave poverty behind.

The suburban poor outnumbered their inner-city counterparts for the first time last year, with more than 12 million suburban residents living in poverty, according to a study of the nation’s 100 largest metropolitan areas released Thursday.

“Economies are regional now,” said Alan Berube, who co-wrote the report for the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank. “Where you see increases in city poverty, in almost every metropolitan area, you also see increases in suburban poverty.”

Nationally, the poverty rate leveled off last year at 12.6 percent after increasing every year since the decade began. It was a period when the country went through a recession and an uneven recovery that is still sputtering in parts of the Northeast and Midwest.
(snip/...)

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16077694/from/RSS/

[fasttense]

1. The poverty rate has increased every year that crazy king george

has been in power. Not to mention that people are going deeper into poverty than ever before.

"Census data also show a trend of deepening poverty among those who are poor. The amount by which the average poor person fell below the poverty line in 2005 — $3,236 — was the highest on record. So was the share of the poor (43 percent) who fell below half of the poverty line."

There has been no leveling off, it has just deepened.

http://www.cbpp.org/8-29-06pov.htm