US in Poverty, says report

US Poverty rate reached 46.2 million

The Once strong and mighty US is out for the count as the country has swept into new low in terms of Poverty. According to a new report,  1 in 6 Americans are below the Poverty line.

The overall poverty rate climbed to 15.1 percent, or 46.2 million, up from 14.3 percent in 2009.

The 46.2 million now living in poverty is the largest on record dating back to when the census began tracking poverty in 1959. Based on percentages, it tied the poverty level in 1993 and was the highest since 1983.

New York often mentioned as “The City That Never Sleeps” seems like it will be out of business.

68,000 New Yorkers are in Poverty, according to the new reports.

No Jobs to blame

Monsignor Kevin Sullivan, executive director of New York’s Catholic Charities, said the figures — and the reality on the street — are discouraging.

“Hope for most people is getting a decent job, and boy, is it hard to find jobs,” he said.

“Most poor people are working, but their two jobs are now one job, or their wife or husband has lost a job,” Sullivan said. “And they never know if they’ll make the rent, or of there will be enough money for food at the end of the month. And they live in fear that their hours will be cut back and then they won’t have the rent, the food, the medicine.”

David R. Jones, president and CEO of the Community Service Society, said his agency’s own surveys also find things getting worse, especially among groups such as working mothers and young Afro-American men.

“You can double the numbers for Afro-American and Latinos,” he said. “So many have no high school diploma, no employment skills. … Four in 10 working mothers are behind in the rent. Sixty percent aren’t sure they can pay their other bills.”

Wealthy No More

Sullivan said, “There hasn’t been any recovery, not in jobs, not in food prices.” He said government funds for food pantries were cut by nearly half this year.

“The funds have gone down but the demand hasn’t,” he said. “I’ll go into a food pantry in the suburbs, and people who three years ago were bringing in bags of food, they’re now asking for food.”