Little mentioned on campaign trail, poverty widening in US, By Bobby Caina Calvan, September 10, 2012, Boston Globe: “For all the talk by the presidential candidates about producing jobs, fixing the economy, and bolstering the country’s middle class, a dispiriting prospect looms ahead of November’s election: The nation’s poverty rate is poised to rise to its highest level since President Lyndon B. Johnson launched his war against it. New Census Bureau estimates are expected to be released this week, and even a small two-tenths tick upward would push the 2011 rate to its highest level since 1965. With nearly one in every six Americans now living in poverty, advocates for the poor say little attention is being paid to the issue and express concern over how this fall’s elections could influence government programs meant to aid the poor…”
Poverty-related issues in the news, from the Institute for Research on Poverty