Forget about “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” The big question is, “Are you poor?”
More than 25% Americans say they are poor, and another 6% are not willing to admit, or are still trying to decide, whether they are poor, according to a survey by online cash-advance lender CashNetAmerica.
Click here to read more about the study.
That’s quite a bit more than the 15.1% of Americans who live at or below the federal poverty threshhold of $22,113 a year for a family of four, according the Census bureau.
Of course, anyone trying to raise a family on say, $22,114, while not meeting the technical definition of “impoverished” is going to feel that way.
What the survey shows is that a rising number of Americans do not consider themselves to be middle class. It backs up the observation that the economy is in fact creating a larger underclass with nearly one-third of Americans left poor or not quite sure if they are poor.
The nation is moving backwards. The ”War on Poverty” has become the “War on the Middle Class.”
