Impoverished thinking
The poverty rate in the U.S. reached 14.3 percent in 2009—the highest level in 15 years. Another 4 million people dropped below the poverty line that year, bringing the total number of people in poverty to 43.6 million—the highest number since the late 1950s. The greatest increase in poverty is among children, with one in five affected. In 2008, more than a million American children went hungry, an increase of 56 percent over the previous year—and the figure is expected to climb even higher.
One has the greatest chance of being poor in America if one is Hispanic or African American in a one-parent, female-headed household and living in a rural region or an inner city. Poverty is, of course, closely related to employment. When unemployment rates go up, as they have in recent years, it is no wonder that more people fall into poverty.
Calling attention to poverty is not popular in American politics today. No leader even suggests mounting something like a war on poverty, as was attempted in the 1960s—and which made a significant dent in poverty levels. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, notes that "no recent president has made reducing poverty one of his top three issues. Even the Democrats hide it."
