The census numbers show that the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. The top 20% of Americans (those making more than $100K a year) received 49.4% of income generated in the United States.
Americans below the poverty level earned 3.4 percent.
That is a ratio of 14.5 to 1 and is increasing (up from 13.6 in 2008).
In the United States the poverty level for a single person under 65 was $11,161.00 a year and for a family of four it is set at $21,756.00 a year.
Those are numbers for 2009.
I am over 65 years of age and I get $15,960.00 a year. The poverty level set for a person over 65 years of age is 10,289.00 for some reason.
No matter how you look at it I am not classed as below the poverty level.
Let me tell you that I feel poor. I feel very poor. It is hard for me to make it on $16K a year. I do not own a car. I pay rent of $475.00 a month. I also pay $100.00 a month for Medicare health insurance.
Now how a person under 65 years of age can live on $11K a year I have no idea.
I think we have some big problems here in the United States. Republican greed is the cause of many of the problems. But Democrats are not helping. They do not seem willing to look at new ways to fix the problems. The old ways are not working. We need some new ideas.
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