U.S. Census Releases The New Poverty Rates In U.S.

The United States Census Bureau has released the new poverty rates for the United States. The good news is that poverty overall went down. The bad news is that the drop was tiny, and far too many people still live in poverty in the richest country in the world.

The current rate of poverty among the general population is 13.5%. That means about 43.1 million people still live in poverty in this country, and that's a shameful number.  The Republicans will tell you that those are the lazy people. That is a lie. Most are working hard at a full-time job. They simply aren't paid enough to live above the poverty level.

There are several groups in which poverty is egregious (above the general poverty level) --women (14.8%), children (19.7%), Blacks (24.1%), Hispanics (21.4%), women head of household with children (28.2%), male head of household with children (14.9%), disabled people (28.5%), no high school diploma (26.3%), and those who live in the South (15.3%).

That last group is telling. Republicans have a stranglehold on the South, and yet it is the only part of the country that exceed the national poverty rate. If they are as good at securing economic prosperity as they claim, why is the solidly red South the part of the country with the highest poverty rate.

The reason, of course, is because their idea of prosperity is to make the rich much richer. They could not care less about the other Americans. They see the rest of America as wage slaves for industry or cannon fodder for the military, and don't see why either group should be paid well.

It's just one more reason why the Republicans need to be voted out of power in November.