What Recovery? 9.4 Million More Americans Below Poverty Line Than Pre-Crisis

According to Janet Yellen, we are still on pace to raise rates in 2015. While the rate hike was supposed to happen this month, it got derailed by the August market selloff, volatility in China, lackluster work force numbers, and a variety of other factors.
Despite the Fed continuing to kick this down the road, they continue to claim that we are in the middle of an ongoing recovery. There’s just one problem with that: things are getting worse than pre-crisis levels for millions of the poorest Americans.



It’s true that the wealthiest 10% of Americans have finally seen their household incomes rise above the levels last seen in 2007. It’s also true that median incomes have “recovered” from the worst of the 2008 disaster. Median earners were -8.1% worse off in 2011, and now they are only -6.5% worse off according to most recent data for 2014 released by the U.S. Census Bureau last week.
However, when we look at the lowest 10% of income earners, the situation is much more precarious. In 2011, the bottom 10% of households were -9.0% worse off in terms of income than they were pre-crisis. Since then, it hasn’t gotten any better: they now are making -11.6% less income than they were in 2007.
Possibly even more concerning is the fact that the amount of Americans living below the poverty line has soared since 2007. There are now 9.4 million more people that can claim to be a part of this unfortunate group, and the total contingent living below the poverty line now makes up 14.8% of all Americans. This is also an increase from the 12.5% figure from before the Great Recession.
What’s the difference between 2007 and today? One stark contrast is the fact that the Fed’s balance sheet has exploded by adding $3.5 trillion of phony money to its balance sheet (that’s about the size of Germany’s economy) with its Quantitative Easing (QE) program. As part of the same experiment, it kept rates artificially low at near 0% for a record amount of time to encourage both lending and economic growth.
However, it is seven years later, and we are starting to see the fruits of this experiment especially in terms of wealth inequality. Studies and economists are starting to sound off, noting that QE and ZIRP have been a failure for America’s poorest. We explained the basics in a previous chart, but here’s some other articles worth reading from Forbes, WSJ, andSCMP that help show the effect of these policies.
By the way, the St. Louis Fed has essentially admitted QE was a mistake, while the Philadelphia Fed also admitted that these policies likely helped cause income inequality. Even fragilista economist Joseph Stiglitz has said this summer thatZIRP has helped increase income inequality.
Source: Visual Capitalist

For the first time ever, more than a million public school students in the United States are homeless. That number has risen by 57 percent since the 2006-2007 school year.

The following are 21 statistics about the explosive growth of poverty in America that everyone should know...


1 - According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately one out of every six Americans is now living in poverty. The number of Americans living in poverty is now at a level not seen since the 1960s.

2 - When you add in the number of low income Americans it is even more sobering. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 146 million Americans are either "poor" or "low income".

3 - Today, approximately 20 percent of all children in the United States are living in poverty. Incredibly, a higher percentage of children is living in poverty in America today than was the case back in 1975.

4 - It may be hard to believe, but approximately 57 percent of all children in the United States are currently living in homes that are either considered to be either "low income" or impoverished.

5 - Poverty is the worst in our inner cities. At this point, 29.2 percent of all African-American households with children are dealing with food insecurity.

6 - According to a recently released report, 60 percent of all children in the city of Detroit are living in poverty.

7 - The number of children living on $2.00 a day or less in the United States has grown to 2.8 million. That number has increased by 130 percent since 1996.

8 - For the first time ever, more than a million public school students in the United States are homeless. That number has risen by 57 percent since the 2006-2007 school year.

9 - Family homelessness in the Washington D.C. region (one of the wealthiest regions in the entire country) has risen 23 percent since the last recession began.

10 - One university study estimates that child poverty costs the U.S. economy 500 billion dollars each year.

11 - At this point, approximately one out of every three children in the U.S. lives in a home without a father.

12 - Families that have a head of household under the age of 30 have a poverty rate of 37 percent.

13 - Today, there are approximately 20.2 million Americans that spend more than half of their incomes on housing. That represents a 46 percent increase from 2001.

14 - About 40 percent of all unemployed workers in America have been out of work for at least half a year.

15 - At this point, one out of every four American workers has a job that pays $10 an hour or less.

16 - There has been an explosion in the number of "working poor" Americans in recent years. Today, about one out of every four workers in the United States brings home wages that are at or below the poverty level.

17 - Right now, more than 100 million Americans are enrolled in at least one welfare program run by the federal government. And that does not even include Social Security or Medicare.

18 - An all-time record 47.79 million Americans are now on food stamps. Back when Barack Obama first took office, that number was only sitting at about 32 million.

19 - The number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the entire population of Spain.

20 - According to one calculation, the number of Americans on food stamps now exceeds the combined populations of "Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming."

21 - Back in the 1970s, about one out of every 50 Americans was on food stamps. Today, close to one out of every six Americans is on food stamps. Even more shocking is the fact that more than one out of every four children in the United States is enrolled in the food stamp program.

Winter...

Winter by the book, is now here. But we all here agree it came much earlier this year – maybe early November. Every year for four years now, the winter starts earlier, is colder, and lasts longer.




Son Nathan just finished his school term with straight As (4.3 GPA) for his fifth year in a row and counting! He spends all his time studying physics, chemistry, and higher mathematics, when other boys at 16 are chasing girls and playing video games. And he does it under pretty abysmal living conditions. He shares a room with two brothers who aren't very tidy – and he is. So, he finds little nooks here and there in our home, spreads out his papers and text books, and gets busy with formulas and equations. Just for giggles, he takes any spare money to be had and buys second-hand MIT and CalTech physics books and proves out theorems and formulas. Which he does! In minutes! It's quite a sight to see. He's our real life Good Will Hunting, solving the problems of life with higher mathematics. We have tons of his papers that he churns out every day and then throws away; amazing solutions to math problems most folks never even know exist, save maybe those who live in that way...the higher mind. A mind that sees, connects, and understands the inner fabric of our connected existence. I believe one day, he will prove out the theorem of love/math, and open a door that needs to be opened and right now, on earth. Just saying...



Thanks to the endless kindness of a dear friend(s), we've somehow managed to get here; another year clicked on by. When so many are struggling in their own lives to make sense of this new and improved Greater Depression (like the old one, but with the illusion of prosperity no one believes in for a second, except on TV), many have come to this family with love and help. Sometimes that's what made for food that week. Son Matthew and I had hit upon the scheme of going on fasts whenever we ran out of food, so Nick and Nathan could have enough to eat. It worked! Last month, I fasted for 3 weeks out of four, and so did Matt. We then had enough to feed the others with good organic home cooking.



Yes, it's very true. You can go on long fasts and survive. If you do it right. And that's what counts. Drinks lots of juices, that's the main thing.



Food prices in Southern California are outrageous and mostly the food is dead, dead, dead. No life or nutrition in it. You have to scrounge around this or that place, hither and yon, to get decent living food that hasn't been irradiated or processed. Living food equals healthy body. Dead food, dead body – or at least very sick and heading towards cancerous conditions.



And what with Fukushima still gassing the planet with death particles...



A kind neighbor finally gave us a refrigerator last weekend that was going to some corporate charity. We haven't had a working fridge for two years now and it's nice to have food not spoil inside of two days again. Thanks Dave!



The closer you get to the sun, the more the world hates you for the love in your heart. It's the big battle of earth. Money is the main weapon of choice against anyone choosing to follow the path of love, no matter where it leads them and how hard life makes it for you to be on that path. This is definitely something I know about. I struggle with it daily.



It is worth it.



It is worth it do meet people daily and feel only a warmth in your heart toward them, even as they glare and beam hatred back at you. In that instant, you realize how far you've come and wish they could just let go of that hate and be free. People hang onto their hatred like its some kind of personal defiance and birthright. “This is who I am!” they roar as their hatred blooms to full. Closing all doors, shutting out the light and life, they ball up inside attacking anything that resembles a warm fire to melt their ice covered heart. Then the games start, their minds kicking in – animated with their hatred of life, goodness, truth, and love – and they seek out ways to destroy the light. And whoa to the man or woman that has that loving light in their eyes and energy field.



Oh well. Love and Learn.



It's freezing in the house right now, but my thoughts are with all the folks who come here to read today – as they are everyday. Are you doing okay out there? Is the furnace of love burning brightly in your heart? Are you learning from your mistakes and trying to do better, in spite of the opposition to you? Are you loving and being loved?



I hope so. Because in the end, it's all that matters and all that you can take with you.



When I am out and about, seeing tree spirits, and spirits of the air, water, and all life around us, I notice one thing over and over again. These elements don't pay very much attention to the humanity that mills about their existence, except for those with radiant hearts. It's true. Their eyes follow the bright heart wherever that heart moves, like an audience watching a tennis ball as it moves about in motion. They ignore everything else around them and focus solely on the brightest heart they see. Because for them, its a sun on earth, moving through their worlds – the worlds of air, water, plants, fire, you name it.



Think about it.



What does that say?



I guess its why they love children so very much. The hearts are clear and unencumbered with hate. But not all children. I've run into many “network” family children with dead black eyes, the souls coming into that body as dark as sin. Tree spirits and higher angelic forms actually shrink away from the black-eyed souls. Like a withering freeze come into their reality.



Lot of that around, especially where I live.

Good News for the well-to-do whose biggest problem in winter is where to vacation

Very soon, with the way you've manipulated the system to victimize us poor, useless eaters, we will all start dying off pretty soon. Sure. You can count on it. Done deal. See, we don't have health insurance, so when bad things happen to us, we're screwed. We've no way of paying for outrageous medical services like you can. And what with Fukushima spewing tons of radionucleides into the atmostphere and poisonous chemtrails, we don't stand a chance. Well done. Kudos to you, dudes and dudettes.

You are vetted, order-obeying cogs in the network machine. We aren't. Because of our "free jack" status, we don't have jobs guranteed, insurance on the hoof, a  secure income, or anything. We struggle each and every week to eat and survive. We earn minmum wage - when we can get it -  do our best to stay out of your pissed off way.

We are trying to not be so very visible to your lives. We know it's upsetting to see proles like us when you drive up in your new car and visit the shops to get stuff. We do try to blend into the background. Really, we do.

But, the way you have made it so very hard to even heat a home or cook a decent meal, we know that with all the food price hikes you and your kind have engineered to finish our kind off, we don't have much time left. Already, we have to choose between eating or driving, eating or heat, eating or electricity. Christmas presents? Out of the question for us. New computers and clothes? Hahahahahahahahaha.

I haven't bought clothes for myself since 2004.

So, keep doing what you do best - get yours and F everybody else, and I'll still hand money (whatever change or bill is in my pocket) to the homeless family begging in front of the discount food store while you zip by, sneering in your brand new Lexus. We'll try not to burden your life with our hardships, or presence, very much longer. We know it annoys you ad that's the last thing we want. To have your kind pissing and shouting on TV and radio about us useless eaters, us homeless, us...

the poor of the world.

The scandal of the Alabama poor cut off from water

I understand and can relate to their plight. For four winters in a row, we, being abysmally poor, have been unable to afford the heat/electric bill that comes with heating this s-hole apartment we call our home. Lately, at night, it's been in the low 30s F., and so we turn burners on the stove to keep warm, which really doesn't work. You bundle up and stay close. Here in Los Angeles, the cost of centrally heating the place runs about $400 a month, about $350 more than we have. So, it's either eat or freeze. And the rates keep climbing every year. If it weren't food eating right and juicing, we'd constantly be sick. Last week, the stove went out, broke. And it usually takes the apartment manager 1 to 3 weeks to get it together to deal with such things. We have ice on the windows and snow out the door in the hills. We only drive where we absolutely have to, because gas prices around $4 a gallon here make doing anything else like surfing ot visiting people, out of the question.

The people in those counties who are being raped financially by rich county supervisors have my deepest sympathy. And for years now. BUt, you can survive. Wear layers of clothes and many blankets on the bed.

Wish we had a fireplace...

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Banks stand to lose millions of dollars in debt repayments if the biggest municipal bankruptcy in American history is allowed to proceed.




But the real victims of the financial collapse in the US state of Alabama's most populous county are its poorest residents - forced to bathe in bottled water and use portable toilets after being cut off from the mains supply.



And there is widespread anger in Jefferson County that swingeing sewerage rate hikes could have been avoided but for the greed, corruption and incompetence of local politicians, government officials and Wall Street financiers.



Tammy Lucas is the human face of a financial and political scandal that has brought one of the most deprived communities in America's south to the point of what some local people believe is collapse.



She says: "If the sewer bill gets higher, my light might get cut off and if I try to catch up the light, my water might get cut off. So we're in between. We can't make it like this."



Mrs Lucas's monthly sewerage rate bills - the amount levied by the county to flush away waste and provide water for baths and showers - has quadrupled in the past 15 years. She says it is currently running at $150 (£97) a month, which leaves little left out of her $600 social security cheque for food and electricity.



"We need to keep the water running because we're women," she says. "We need to take baths. I try to pay the sewer bill and the water bill together and then what little I got left I try to put on my lights. I got to have lights."

more at


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16037798