May 9, 2015
WE WON THE WAR ON POVERTY:
Safety Net More Effective Against Poverty Than Previously Thought (ARLOC SHERMAN AND DANILO TRISI, 5/06/15, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities)
Previous analysis of Census data showed that safety net programs cut the poverty rate nearly in half.[1] Data released recently by the Urban Institute, which correct for underreporting of key government benefits in the Census survey, reveal an even stronger impact: the safety net reduced the poverty rate from 29.1 percent to 13.8 percent in 2012 and lifted 48 million people above the poverty line, including 12 million children. (See Figure 1.) Correcting for underreporting reveals that the safety net also did more to reduce deep poverty than previously shown, although 11.2 million Americans remained below half the poverty line.
And ith the official poverty level at $23,000 for a family of four, even the poor are wealthy.
Posted by Orrin Judd at May 9, 2015 7:27 PM
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