Surprise! Surprise! Poverty is going up!

The Census Bureau just released information that indicates that poverty has gone up since their last estimate and that DOES NOT INCLUDE THE EFFECT OF THE ECONOMIC DOWNTURN. Nearly 40 million Americans are reportedly struggling with the crises of poverty. When estimates include today's unemployment rate of 9.7%, our poverty rate shoots up to nearly 15%. Think about that. FIFTEEN PERCENT of our family, friends, neighbors, acquaintances are struggling. Even that number is suspect because the poor are often not captured in census data AND the federal poverty level does not reflect one's ability to meet their basic needs. While the federal government defines poverty for a family of four as household income less than $22,050, living wage calculators put that number at nearly double for a family to meet their basic needs.

Read more about the new estimates here.