1. Poverty in the US

2. What do you know about this issue already? How do we measure poverty in the US? How many people are “poor” in the US? What’s the difference between “low income” and “below the poverty line”? Is there one? Who are the “working poor”? Is poverty getting better or worse in the US? How does the US compare to other countries’ rates of poverty? Would you consider Esperanza poor? Why/why not?

3. Official National Measure The U.S. Census Bureau determines poverty status by comparing pre-tax cash income against a threshold that is set at three times the cost of a minimum food diet in 1963, updated annually for inflation using the Consumer Price Index, and adjusted for family size, composition, and age of householder. "Family" is defined as persons living together who are related either by blood or marriage. Thresholds do not vary geographically. In 2011, the most recent year for which data are available, the poverty threshold for a family of four with two children was $22,811, (a single person w/ no family would be around $10,000). The official national poverty rate was 15.0 percent. There were 46.2 million people in poverty.

6. Child poverty rate in selected developed countries, 2009 Note: The child poverty rate is the share of children living in households with income below half of household-size-adjusted median income. Source: Adamson (2012, Figure 1b)