A Bold Plan to Combat Poverty

U.S. Census data released today shows the burden of the Great Recession has fallen mostly on those at the bottom. The data reveals that the U.S. in 2009 had the largest number of Americans living in poverty in the 51 years that poverty has been measured, 43.6 million people, and the highest poverty rate, 14.3% since 1998.

Institue for Policy Studies Fellow Karen Dolan, urges policymakers and those concerned about growing poverty to read the recommendations in IPS's report "Battered by the Storm," which warned about these massive increases in poverty and put forth common-sense solutions to alleviate it.

Dolan says, "This new data reveals our nation's inability to respond to the profound needs of a growing number of Americans falling precipitously through a badly tattered safety net. We must act quickly to stop the devastation that will affect generations to come."

To read more, go to the website for the Institue for Policy Studies at http://www.ips-dc.org/