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1 in 6 Americans live in poverty according to Census Bureau

Points to take away from the latest Census Bureau report:
- poverty level highest since 1993
- another 2.6 million people slipped into poverty in 2010
- a total of 46.2 million people are in poverty in the US (15.1% of the country)
- highest number in the 52 years that the Census Bureau has been tracking poverty
- for a family of 4 the poverty line was at $22,113 in 2010 (that's about $5k per person per year!)
- in 2010 the middle class median household income declined by 2.3% (to $49,400) as compared to 2009
- middle class income is now 7% less then it was in 1999 (when it was $53,252)
- we are well below where incomes were in the late 1990s
- median annual income for a full-time male worker in 2010 ($47,715) was less then it was in 1973 ($49,065) when adjusted for inflation
- young household members were affected the most
- for ages 15-24 the median income dropped 9%
- 45.3% of people ages 25-34 are living in poverty
- increasing numbers of Americans are doubling up in households with their friends and relatives; this is especially true for ages 25-34
- those without college degrees have been hit particularly hard
[This information is current as of September 2011]


Conclusions:
- rapidly growing and expanding lower class
- just as rapidly shrinking middle class
- the rich get richer (aka Congress)
- we are not out of the woods yet
- you can forget about economic recovery as its not happening any time soon
- young less educated adult males are not able to support their children or form families because they are jobless
- crime has been on the rise across the nation
- let's face it - no one has any idea how to fix the economy or this country's deficit - and even if they did there are plenty of people at the top that would not let this happen


Anybody else have any illusions about an economic recovery???


[read the full report at The New York Times]

Perhaps Global Warming is not just a myth!

Huge chunk of the Petermann Glacier broke off of Greenland in 2010 and have mostly melted away while stunning scientists by the shear size of the event. The chunk of ice that melted was 4 times the size of Manhattan. Apparently nothing of this scale has ever happened in Greenland as far back as the recorded history. Scientists are worried that another chunk 2 times the size of Manhattan is going to be next. Scientists estimate that Greenland's ice sheet is melting at a staggering rate of 400 billion tons per year. And in the 10 year span between 2000 and 2010 nearly 600 square miles of ice have melted.

So when should we start worrying? Who knows, but sooner might be better then later or before it is too late. With this much fresh water getting dumped into the oceans who knows when we might hit the critical desalinization point or what it will do to the ocean currents and consequently our weather. Check out the movie The Day After Tomorrow to find out what happens next.

[Yahoo News]