Recent Poverty Reports Indicates Economic Picture For African Americans Geting Worse.

Lastweek the US Census Bureau released its annual poverty report. The findings arestartling and in many ways in contrast to what have been proffered by the ObamaAdministration as it pertains to economic improvement and growth in the USeconomy. The new figures show that things are getting worse for Americanfamilies.

Findingsindicate that those classified by the government as poor remained at recordhighs in 2011 while the gap between rich and poor increased. One in fiveAmerican children was poor in 2011 and the poverty rate of young adults age25-34 living with their parents, based on their own income alone, was 43.7percent – a reduction of fallen by about 12 percent after you adjust forinflation since the year 2000. In addition, the median household incomedeclined to $50,054 in 2011 -- a 1.5 percent decline from the previous year,not to mention that the median household income has now fallen for 4 years in arow.
Theseresults are in concert with other studies. The National Employment Law Projectrecently reported that 58 percent of new jobs during the Great Recession werelow-wage, paying between $7.69 and $13.83. Moreover, the Gini coefficient,which is how social scientist and economist measure the level of socialinequality in a country, has grown at the fastest rate on records dating backto 1993. During 2010, 42 percent of all single mothers in the United Stateswere on food stamps.
Thesame is consistent for older Americans.  In 1984, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 or olderwas 10 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone 35or younger. As of 2011, the median net worth of households led by someone 65 orolder is 47 times larger than the median net worth of households led by someone35 or younger. Overall about 46.2 million Americans live below the officialpoverty line in 2011, the highest number in more than half a century. This istroubling given the government’s poverty threshold, set at an annual income of$23,021 for a family of four.
TheCensus data showed that median household income, adjusted for inflation, fellby 1.5 percent from the previous year. The figure was 8.1 percent lower than in2007 and 8.9 percent lower than its peak in 1999. The income of the typical USfamily in 2011 fell for the fourth straight year and sank to levels last seenin 1995.
Somewould ask how this is connected with the current administration. First, thewage-cutting initiated by the Obama administration, which imposed anacross-the-board 50 percent cut in the wages of newly hired workers as part ofits 2009 bailout of General Motors and Chrysler, was a significant reason forthe additional reduction in household income due to declining wages. Even withthe aforementioned, the Obama administration has stated openly that the povertyrate remained unchanged from 2010 to hail the report as a vindication of itspolicies.
Giventhe new round of quantitative easing (QE3), it is clear that the Obamaadministration’s policy focus has been and remains to protect and increase thewealth of the US corporate elite at the expense of the majority of thepopulation. There was no job growth from the first rounds of QE and anotherround just means banks will get more money while Wall Street suffers. TheAdministration states that GOP trickledown economics doesn’t work, yet implementsQE which is trickledown economics.
TheCensus report notes the failure not just of one administration or any politicalparty, but rather how politics is design to serve big corporations. Regardlesswho wins, one can expect the same - mass unemployment, wage-cutting, povertyand social inequality for most Americans, especially minorities.