Older, Suburban and Struggling, 'Near Poor' Startle the Census

Source: New York Times


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.

After a lost decade of flat wages and the worst downturn since the Great Depression, the findings can be thought of as putting numbers to the bleak national mood — quantifying the expressions of unease erupting in protests and political swings. They convey levels of economic stress sharply felt but until now hard to measure.

The Census Bureau, which published the poverty data two weeks ago, produced the analysis of those with somewhat higher income at the request of The New York Times. The size of the near-poor population took even the bureau’s number crunchers by surprise. “These numbers are higher than we anticipated,” said Trudi J. Renwick, the bureau’s chief poverty statistician. “There are more people struggling than the official numbers show.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/19/us/census-measures-those-not-quite-in-poverty-but-struggling.html?_r=1

---

Just scraping by, working harder for less money now describes one in three Americans.

This reflects what I've observed (and experienced, sad to say) over the past 5 to 10 years. We're the Americans who prided ourselves on our self-sufficiency. We pulled ourselves up by our bootstraps, saved a bit, were hopeful for the future to actually get better. Now any slight change in our health or our precarious finances could sink us. :(

And where is the political party that is standing in opposition to more of the same? It is out on the streets being pepper sprayed by police forces coordinated at the national level to suppress the unruly citizens of the Republic of Fucked.

I really don't think any political party can claim to be OWS.

People are getting it.

The battle line is finally drawn at things that hurt the majority of Americans, not at Party lines.

the only political 'party' standing up in opposition isn't even a political party, it is an emerging protest movement. Both of the 'real serious grownup' political organizations are on board for more of the same.

Perhaps because I see so many posts like your Reply #1 posted with no sarcasm at all.

Poe's Law is applicable to many situations:

“Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humour, it is impossible to create a parody of fundamentalism that someone won't mistake for the real thing.”

Kind of sad, actually, for 99.9 percent of us.

http://news.yahoo.com/top-0-1-nation-earn-half-capital-gains-172647859.html

Un-Democratic, really.

We are grateful for my husband's job. He's bringing home one-fourth less than he used to, which means there is no discretionary budget anymore.

Considering those without work, we are lucky, but the following is true for us.

>Now any slight change in our health or our precarious finances could sink us. :( <

when the wealthy 1% hold all the assets and the rest are poor

Depressions and Revolutions are made with these infredients

Marx is right
The Worker will rise up

this country has lost its respect for the American Worker

Sure, when all the poorer people tended to vote Democratic, the Democrats wanted those votes.

But the governing class actually respect the worker as an individual human being? Not so sure.

Unfortunately, FDR and THAT Political Party are long dead.
I am glad I am old enough to remember that Party as manifested by JFK and LBJ in the 60s.
THAT is the Party I joined and worked for as a young man.
I am losing "hope" that it can be resurrected.




Solidarity99!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I still hold on to hope that it can be resurrected! I will do what I can; but, the real struggle is up to the young people of OWS.

We're getting by, but the term "disposable income" is a non-sequitur. We keep up with food inflation by changing the way we eat. Gassing up the car is a painful experience, and there's is no fuel efficient vehicle in my future. It's 30 degrees outside and I have a fire going so I don't have to turn the heat on. The bedrooms are cold enough to store meat. It's a great life if you don't weaken.

And I am an I; not a WE! I am taking a break from sawing thin branches for the woodstove. A friend DID buy me a cord of wood, but the big 1/2 logs in my little stove, need lots of small branches, bark etc. to get to it started.
Went into panic mode last week...............couldn't buy Diamond kitchen matches to light it. ( A company that has been there for 130 years) There are Diamond matches on sale both Ebay & Amazon, ( one used for .99c (??, Used box of matches??) + an ANTIQUE dealer? Someone told me they had gone out of business. I googled......most of the other brands come from India.? Diamond are carried by WALMART, HOME DEPOT, allegedly MY supermarket Hannaford, but local Independant who uses Hannaford products ( & business methods) told me the PLANOGRAM,
computerized demigraphics machine, says WE don't buy no matches no more. There were short ( 3 inch) and 11 inch fancy fireplace matches $4.49 for 50 count. Yeh right......$16. per month for matches, but no 5" stove matches that you need to light a woodstove...............
Ah hah.Ace Hardware! voila!
I made the 22.2 mile round trip to the Ace store, got the matches, and also to Citgo for a 2 1/2 gal can of diesel fuel ( $4.08, today) to pour into my heater tank, as my LIHEAP check hasn't arrived yet, my conservative supplier, won't come out until the $ is in his bank........I have been buying from him for 15 years,we have spent hours arguing ideaology. He is pissed that the State Gov makes him take a few pennies less for LIHEAP customers. I can't wait to see him this time ( aside from the fact that I can get warm) because I will go out and bitch & complain about those "Damned WELFARE MOTHERS" How dare they raise the price of oil that way! According to him they are the reason for our economic failure the Gov, is squandering all OUR Tax money on unwed Mothers with multiple children!
So even tho I am out of money until Dec.3rd ( hope that oil comes before I need another 2 1/2 gal.) and I have spent most of the day on survival instead of painting, it was a good day! ( I must add that a catastrophic electrical failure in late Oct. blew out the heater starter needing replacement, all new light bulbs, haven't replaced the 4' light fixture or the surge protector YET.and God forgive me I spent $110. on Professional fees..not giving up on earning money from my career............
I am OCCUPYING MY home & hearth & 45 year long career which used to bring in money! Goddess bless those people in NY, DC, Oakland, etc.!

Check at the WALMART or a Marden's, if there is one near you, and get one of those fireplace lighters. Not matches--it's like a lighter with a long tube on it, that you use to light the briquets or the fireplace. Sometimes they have those on discount, and if you get a good one, it'll last a while.

These are two dollars and fifty cents at Amazon, I've gotten them in other places for a buck. I have an old gas stove and I use these things all the time when the pilot goes out.



http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/images/B0028Q06F8/ref=dp_image_0/188-1360934-0933912?ie=UTF8&n=284507&s=kitchen

broken system

into this category. It's sad and depressing.

"Poor" was never quite it, as we are over the federal level (though within the poverty level for state services). Basically, we get along fairly well, adapting to reduced means and reduced expectations comfortably enough.

The last line there hits it on the nose though - one illness, a car accident, a broken limb limb or anything of that sort, and the whole thing goes. Without insurance and without savings, it wouldn't take much at all for our little ship to sink...

It's not how little you've got. It's how far you've fallen. Add to that an oligarchy that specializes in feeding off of your plight and it won't take much to see Skip and Heather in the streets burning shit down.

being brainwashed by Faux News and vote Republican because of gays, guns, and god, against their own survival?

The media, including cable TV, is owned by those who control the messages. Where else can the average people go?

It was the only thing insulating the country from massive unrest. Destroy that and you have massive uprisings or a police state -- depending on the approach.

live in an insulated bubble, then you may actually begin to believe your own BS. Washington DC and areas around it have some of the highest per capita incomes per family household in the country. They don't get how badly people are really struggling out here. Most had already been scrambling and working multi-jobs over 10yrs of Bush. I remember Obama campaigning on it in 07 and 08. Then we had a big bank and wall st crash, the protections came for them instantly... the rest are still teetering on the brink. Now, people are occupying and the ass hats are wondering why? Out of touch barely describes them.

best.

I have managed to stay employed but I sense the feeling of instability and losing traction - going backwards even - and I feel like corporations are running the show and our political system works for them. And I am SICK of DU apologists.

cheap dry dog food and I hope he is grateful to get even that. It might not be the best for him nutritionally, but it's all I can afford right now. And of course he is really lucky. A lot of pet owners are surrendering their pets because they can't afford them anymore, or they lost their homes and have no place to keep them. And that's especially sad for seniors who depend on their pets so much for companionship.

When I see a homeless person with a dog holding up a sign on the street, I make sure I give something to the dog too. Dogs are such loyal pets. They will stand with you when fair weather friends have abandoned you.

Heard on a TV commercial that one in four kids is hungry.

Get it? We're ALL hurting, except for the top 1 or 2%.

Get out now, if you can.

Cheers!



Solidarity99!
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:-(

Although my home is a little more rural than suburban, the description fits my family perfectly. It's been a long, slow downhill slide. We've pulled on our bootstraps until they broke off on our hands and still, we keep sliding downhill :(