Poverty Rate

The poverty rate is now at its highest since 1994 as a result of the recession.  This has serious implication for social service programs such as employment assistance, food pantries, health care coverage, as well as a continuing foreclosure crisis.

I believe the stimulus program helped more than realized since "The 14.3 percent poverty rate, which covers all ages, was lower than estimates of many demographers who were bracing for a record gain based on last year's skyrocketing unemployment. Many had predicted a range of 14.7 percent to 15 percent."

It's easy for people to complain about "the government" but analsysts believe otherwise:

"Given all the unemployment we saw, it's the government safety net that's keeping people above the poverty line," said Douglas Besharov, a University of Maryland public policy professor and former scholar at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

But the official poverty threshold has been criticized for many years as being artifically low, with many families struggling to get by, yet not being counted as living in poverty.

Beginning next year, the government plans to publish new, supplemental poverty figures that are expected to show even higher numbers of people in poverty than previously known. The figures will incorporate rising costs of medical care, transportation and child care, a change analysts believe will add to the ranks of both seniors and working-age people in poverty.

My question is, what are we all doing about this?  Does your Representative and Senators care about people living in poverty?  Let them know your feelings about this.