According to a report published
by the U.S. Census Bureau, 15.7 percent of people in the United States
officially lived in poverty in 2009. Although the formula used to define poverty was
altered to include medical and other expenses, the threshold is still absurdly
low, since it assumes that a family of four can live on just $22,000 a year.
Because of the skyrocketing
cost of health care, the poverty rate for seniors is slightly higher than the average at 16.1 percent. Oppressed nationalities suffered the most: 22 percent of Latinos,
25 percent of African-Americans, and 26 percent of Native Americans lived below
the official poverty line between 2005 and 2009.
In an effort to exploit workers
to the greatest possible degree, capitalists will consistently attempt to lower
wages and force their employees to subsist on as little as possible. In the
absence of a mass movement, this process will only accelerate during periods of
economic crisis. This tendency cannot be permanently reversed unless the
capitalist system itself is overthrown.
