Poverty in the extreme. . .

The following report is shocking. 

The data reported sounds like something from a third world nation.  The unseen impoverished in cities like Dallas give a whole new meaning to concepts like "poverty," "the urban underclass," and "recession."  In fact, tens of thousands of our fellow citizens, and their number is growing, scratch out a life with virtually no resources.  Some have been living in depression-like circumstances for over 30 years.  What we're talking about here is "deep poverty."

After you read the report, let me know what you think.

Extreme Poverty In The U.S. Has Doubled In The Last 15 Years

March 12, 2012
By Pat Garofalo

According to the latest Census Bureau data, nearly 50 percent of Americans are either low-income or living in poverty in the wake of the Great Recession. And a new study from the National Poverty Center shows just how deep in poverty some of those people are, finding that the number of households living on less than $2 per day (before government benefits) has more than doubled in the last 15 years:

The number of U.S. households living on less than $2 per person per day — which the study terms “extreme poverty” — more than doubled between 1996 and 2011, from 636,000 to 1.46 million, the study finds. The number of children in extremely poor households also doubled, from 1.4 million to 2.8 million.

While extreme poverty doubled overall, it tripled amongst female headed households. Of course, there’s always the tact taken North Carolina Republican State Representative George Cleveland last week, who simply denied that anyone in his state lives in extreme poverty. As we noted at the time, “the 728,842 North Carolinians who are classified as living in deep poverty might take issue with that assessment.”