Exploding poverty

I found some interesting facts in a recent article discussing poverty in the US.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, approximately 37 million people, or 12.3 percent of the population, were in poverty at the end of 2006. For a family of four, that meant an annual housefold income below $20,614. (as a matter of reference, one person working a 40-hour week and getting paid the current minimum wage, $6.55 per hour, would earn a total of $13,624 over the course of a year).

I'm standing by my prediction that in 3-5 years close to 30-40% of the US will be teetering on the poverty line. I don't think I'd be going out on a limb to extrapolate the above census numbers to estimate that we currently have over 15%. With current inflation, that number is growing exponentially.

With a rapidly deteriroating infrastructure, a flood of new retirees with marginal savings and a full blown recession picking up steam, we're well on our way to hitting my numbers.