AMERICA'S 35 MILLION POOR by Pat Jordan
The annual report of the President's Council of Economic Advisors, which was recently issued in “ashington, gives many facts and figures about America's poor, The report considered that people were poor if their income was less than $3,000 a year for a family or under $1,500 for a person living alone. (See footnote). On this reckoning there were 9.3 million poor familios, containing over 30 million people, and 5 million other poor persons in the United States, This amounts to 35 million poor out of a total population of 185 million.
The proportion of poor poople has groatly declinedsince pre-war days —- moro than half the population would have been characterised as poor when Rousevel&’ became President. Iowever, most of this change took place between 1939 and 1953 - largely as a rosult of war (the 2nd “orld War and the Korean Var), The rate at which the proportion of poor has declined has slowed down since then. The report estimated that if the rate of improvement recorded in recent years continues unchanged there will still be 13% of American families below poverty line by 1980. lloreover, it is by no means certain that even this modest rate of improvement will continue.
A large proportion of the poor are Nogroes and other victims of racial discrimination and any improvoment in their lot is dependent on the civil rights struggle. Others,like those affected by local indust= rial decay, o.g., Kentucky miners, neod Federal action to improve their position. The old form a big group and unless there is a vigorous social security programme enacted they will remain poor, Over twothirds of the femilies headed by a woman are poor, usually because the female bread-winner is obliged to take a grossly underpaid job. Lastly, there come tho long-term unemployed and there is no sign that U.S. capitalism is anywhere near bringing dow thoir number,
This is the background to Johnson's 'declaration of war on poverty! His recently presented budget docs, indeed, contain an allocation for $500 million to 'attack poverty!, other departmental increases would bring this to a total of $1.2 billion, However, it is not intonded to spend more than half this in the 12 months starting noxt July, and even then it works out at less than $35 per head of the poor — so much for Johnson's attack on poverty} Footnotes The Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Conference on iiconomic
Progress both regard higher figures - $4,000 for a family
and 2,000 for single people = as barely adequate, According
to this reckoning more than a quartor of the American roople
are poor,