Outdated poverty guidelines have been used to measure poverty and assess social welfare programs in the United States for the past 54 years.
The existing poverty measure, established in 1955, calculates poverty at three times an artificial average cost of groceries based on the cost of a 1955 emergency food diet. It does not consider rising medical, transportation, childcare and housing expenses or geographical variations in living costs
The standard U.S. formula for calculating poverty counts 3.6 million seniors as living in poverty. According to the National Academy of Science poverty formula, 18.6 percent of Americans 65 years old and older, nearly seven million people, live in poverty.
The federal poverty line for a family of four is currently $21,203. The percent of people living below this rate is 12.5 percent. That number would jump to at least 15.3 percent, or 45.7 million people, if the NAS formula were used.
Underestimating the poverty rate benefits the capitalist ruling class, allowing them to deny support services to millions of workers living in poverty.
