Wednesday, January 27th, 2021

U.S. Suffers Sharpest Rise in Poverty Rate in More Than 50 Years

Author: Alex Tanzi and Catarina Saraiva
Source: Bloomberg
Publication Date: 26 January 2021
Link: U.S. Suffers Sharpest Rise in Poverty Rate in More Than 50 Years

Stephan: Our economy is a disaster for 90% of the people in America. The rich have increased their wealth by more than a trillion dollars in the last year. Meanwhile, 40% of American families could not write a $400 check in a crisis, and one in eight have food issues. Other than climate change there are two things I want to see this year: first, reversal of the Republican tax cut for the rich. Second, universal birthright single-payer healthcare.

Despite improvements in the overall poverty rate since the middle of the 20th century, Black Americans had been about three times as likely to be poor as White Americans for most of the past 60 years. The gap started to narrow after the financial crisis, during the longest economic expansion in history.

These December poverty estimates are based on survey data collected late in the month after some government relief measures expired. The researchers found that the stimulus checks the federal government issued in the spring helped forestall the poverty rate from rising even faster.

In late December, $900 billion in addition federal relief aid was passed, and President Joe Biden is asking Congress for an additional $1.9 trillion in stimulus.

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