A Litany of Shame: Census Bureau reports one in six Americans lives below the poverty line, while median household income declines

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: TUESDAY, SEPT. 13, 2011
Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010
Summary of Key Findings

The U.S. Census Bureau announced today that in 2010, median household income declined, the poverty rate increased and the percentage without health insurance coverage was not statistically different from the previous year.

Real median household income in the United States in 2010 was $49,445, a 2.3 percent decline from the 2009 median.

The nation's official poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1 percent, up from 14.3 percent in 2009 ─ the third consecutive annual increase in the poverty rate. There were 46.2 million people in poverty in 2010, up from 43.6 million in 2009 ─ the fourth consecutive annual increase and the largest number in the 52 years for which poverty estimates have been published.

The number of people without health insurance coverage rose from 49.0 million in 2009 to 49.9 million in 2010, while the percentage without coverage −16.3 percent - was not statistically different from the rate in 2009.

This information covers the first full calendar year after the December 2007-June 2009 recession. See section on the historical impact of recessions.

These findings are contained in the report Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010. The following results for the nation were compiled from information collected in the 2011 Current Population Survey (CPS) Annual Social and Economic Supplement (ASEC):

Income

* Since 2007, the year before the most recent recession, real median household income has declined 6.4 percent and is 7.1 percent below the median household income peak that occurred prior to the 2001 recession in 1999. The percentages are not statistically different from each another.
More: http://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/income_wealth/cb11-157.html

Image: Maggie Smith / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Meanwhile, the rich are still getting richer:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/06/us-income-gap-rich-poor-stats-_n_779985.html

But heaven forbid that their taxes should be raised, says COngressman Boehner.