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Thursday, January 31st, 2013

Nearly Half Of Americans Are One Financial Shock Away From Poverty

Author:     PAT GAROFALO
Source:     Think Progress
Publication Date:     Jan 30, 2013 at 2:40 pm
 Link: Nearly Half Of Americans Are One Financial Shock Away From Poverty
Stephan:   The extreme economic distress being felt by many Americans has not been the focus of much public attention recently. But, as this report make clear, the truth is 44% of us are teetering on the edge. The Republican focus on cutting spending, and the policies they have sabotaged in the service of that philosophy are the source of much of this misery. Instead of pursuing austerity we should be pursuing a massive program of infrastructure construction, which would create millions of jobs. That in turn would stimulate the economy and resolve much of this. It would also bring an increasingly backward nation back from its decay.

A new report from the Corporation for Enterprise Development shows that many Americans are just one financial hit away from poverty, as the nation slowly drags itself out of the Great Recession. According to the report, nearly half of Americans lack enough savings to keep themselves out of poverty for more than three months in the event of a financial shock such as a lost job or medical emergency:

Almost half (43.9%) of U.S. households are living on the edge of financial collapse with almost no savings to fall back on in the event of a job loss, health crisis or other income-depleting emergency, according to a report released today by the Corporation for Enterprise Development (CFED).

The 2013 Assets & Opportunity Scorecard defines these families as ‘liquid asset poor,

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