The U.S.: A Country Rich in Poor People

It has been almost two months since the so-called “outraged” found themselves camped out in New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago and many other cities in protest of the social and economic inequality in their country. The worst thing about the protests is that the majority of the protesters’ fellow citizens do not agree that there is class division.

In a survey conducted by The Washington Post and the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 52 percent of those surveyed considered it a mistake to think that the United States is a country of unequally distributed wealth, divided between the haves and the have-nots.

This contrasts greatly with the claims of demonstrators, calling themselves “the 99%,” who took to the streets indefinitely without clear demands or leadership to protest the remaining 1 percent. They say the remaining 1 percent consists of the bankers, businessmen and corrupt politicians whose wealth has doubled in the last few years.

The movement has received support of renowned experts, such as Nobel Prize winners Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz, and initially had the sympathy and admiration of those aware that the incomes of millionaires are now the highest they have been since 1929, during the Great Depression.

Hence it is a surprise that only 45 percent of the population believes that there is income inequality. Official figures and reports on other nations leave no doubt that, here, the gap between the haves and the have-nots has not grown daily.

This country, which is referred to as “the richest country in the world” on an international scale, is very low with regard to the distribution of wealth and income, almost at the bottom of the list. In fact, according to the Gini coefficient, an income inequality indicator named after the Italian economist who created it, the U.S. is ranked near Argentina, Iran and Madagascar and very far from countries such as Germany and Canada.

According to census figures to be released this week, there are 49 million poor people in the United States – nearly 3 million more than in September. That is to say, 16 percent of the population is poor, and that poverty can be seen particularly among Asians and Hispanics. These groups have passed African Americans in poverty rates for the first time with 28.2 percent and 25.4, respectively. This is because immigrant groups participate far less in social programs, education and housing subsidies.

These new figures are the highest that have been registered since such poverty statistics were first recorded 50 years ago and show notable decline in the middle class. They also show that the elderly are the most affected. It is estimated that one out of six people older than 65 are poor due principally to medical costs encountered in a country without socialized medicine.

Of course there are organizations that argue that the poor in the United States live much better today than the very rich did a century ago, and that the typical poor family in this country has at least a car and a home including a refrigerator, washer, dryer, television, electric oven and microwave, with much more space than the average European family.

According to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative organization based in Washington D.C., the poor in the U.S. have financial difficulties, but in contrast with what some activists have claimed, they do not lack food. They do lack money for cable television, air conditioning and other commodities derived from a high standard of living.

However, according to the census, the number of the poorest of the poor has also grown to a record 20.5 million. That is to say, one out of every 15 people or 6.7 percent of the population — the highest figure of the last 35 years — is excessively poor. Ironically, the data indicates that these numbers have increased, especially in the glittering capital.

One must understand that the poorest of the poor are those who have incomes of $5,500 a year, or families of four that live on $11,000 annually, while there are lawyers and doctors who make up to $1,000 per hour.

The “outraged” are running out of patience with authorities and with the public that asks for concrete demands. The winter is not on their side either, but with figures such as these, there is certainly no shortage of supporters.