Half of America is Poor

As I'm reading about poverty, I keep seeing a figure of about 45 million people counted in the American poor. That's the number of people under the poverty line, as determined by the federal government. The way they come up with that figure has been entirely discredited, and recently a supplemental poverty measure was introduced, moving the figure closer to 50 million, which is a much smaller slice of American society than seems to be suffering and needing help. Still, there are complaints that there are actually fewer poor people than that, because of the value of the benefits they receive from our inadequate social safety net. So how many Americans really are living in poverty? I think the answer is about half. The entire American median income, around $50,000, is nearly consumed by the necessary American expenditures. Therefore, half of America lives in poverty or in near-poverty conditions of scarcity. Of course, if you are a person of color, it is much worse. American net worth went from $12 trillion to $77 trillion over twenty-five years. But the median African-American income went down during that same period! Unconscionable! When you see "45 million" or hear "15%" in poverty, that seems like a small slice. However, the scope of the problem is much, much larger. Many of the people are suffering, but they smile and smile, they do their jobs, and they mostly, sincerely want you to have a great day.