Future Hindsight

Poverty is widespread Hardship in America is common. In all of rich democracies, we have the highest rates of poverty among the elderly and also among children. In fact, the majority of Americans will be poor for a significant period of time over the course of their lives: 62% percent will have their income at the bottom 20 percent for a year or more in their adult life, and 42% percent have income for a year or more at the bottom 10 percent of the distribution. About 21% of children live in families with incomes below the federal poverty level. Misconceptions about poverty Americans perceive poverty to be the result of bad decisions and judgments, a moral failure of an individual. Most poverty is, in fact, insecurity because the poor do not have stable, well-paying jobs. Most of the poor do have jobs, but they slip in and out of the official poverty rate on a regular basis. They are living on the margins and are one crisis away from devastation. The immense stress due to being poor causes a cognitive impairm