No commentary, just numbers

According to the Census Bureau, the number of Americans living in poverty in 2009, grew to the largest levels in 15 years. 43.6 million Americans, or 14.3% of the population fell below the poverty line: $10,830 for individuals, $22,050 for a family of four.   

50.7 million Americans go without health insurance.

The top earning 20 percent of Americans – those making more than $100K annually, received 49.4% of all income generated in the U.S. The 14.3% of the population living in poverty received 3.4% of income. This disparity between those at the top and those in poverty is the widest recorded since the Census started tracking household income in 1967.

According to Ronald Brownstein of the National Journal, the 10 year period between 2000 and 2009 was a “lost decade.” In inflation-adjusted dollars, the incomes of white families declined 5%, Hispanic families dropped 8%, and African-American families dropped 11%- a stunning reversal after decades of steady progress. During that time, 12 million people feel into poverty.

An ABC News/Yahoo News poll found last week that more than 40% of Americans no longer think that “if you work harder you’ll get ahead.”

The Economic Policy Institute, a non-partisan, non-profit Washington think tank, reported that there are “4.8 unemployed workers for every job opening in July.” This number doesn’t factor into account those people who want and can work, but have given up on looking.

Larry Mishel, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, noted that around “1970, things changed, and for the next four decades, as productivity skyrocketed 70%, hourly wages hardly budged, rising a mere four percent…..We know that CEOs in large companies make 270 times that of a typical worker,” Mishel said. “It used to be around 20 times, 30 times, back in the ’60s and ’70s.

In a paper titled, “The Evolution of Top Incomes, A Historical and International Perspective,” economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez, note the top 1% of income earners take home over 20% of all income.

And lastly, according to an AFL-CIO analysis of 292 companies in the Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 index, the Chief Executive officer of a company was paid, on average, $9.25 million in total compensation in 2009.

Interesting numbers for sure.