Revised formula puts number of poor people at 47.4 million — 7 million more than official rate
A revised formula for calculating medical costs and geographic variations show that approximately 47.4 million Americans last year lived in poverty, 7 million more than the government's official figure.
The disparity occurs because of differing formulas the Census Bureau and the National Academy of Science use for calculating the poverty rate. The NAS formula shows the poverty rate to be at 15.8 percent, or nearly 1 in 6 Americans, according to calculations released this week. That's higher than the 13.2 percent, or 39.8 million, figure made available recently under the original government formula. . . . . . . .
Food stamp assistance currently is at an all-time high of about 36 million.
Phi Beta Iota: Poverty is the number one high-level threat to humanity. For what we have spent in Afghanistan and Iraq since President Barack Obama assumed office, we could have eradicated poverty in America. This is the kind of calculation that can only occur when one combines integrity, public intelligence, and a strategic analytic matrix for connecting “who pays” to “who benefits.”
