Down but not quite out, these Americans form a diverse group sometimes called “near poor” and sometimes simply overlooked — and a new count suggests they are far more numerous than previously understood.
When the Census Bureau this month released a new measure of poverty, meant to better count disposable income, it began altering the portrait of national need. Perhaps the most startling differences between the old measure and the new involves data the government has not yet published, showing 51 million people with incomes less than 50 percent above the poverty line. That number of Americans is 76 percent higher than the official account, published in September. All told, that places 100 million people — one in three Americans — either in poverty or in the fretful zone just above it.
Read the whole post at Truthout
Near Poor" Struggling Just Above Poverty Startle the Census
by Jason DeParle, Robert Gebeloff and Sabrina Tavernise, The New York Times News Service
A new class in addition to poor — "near-poverty"
Is this the lower middle class under the new normal?
1 comment:
Tom -- Yes, indeed, this seems like the lower middle class and perhaps a big chunk of the "middle" of the middle class is in imminent danger of joining them.
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