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Class Warfare Index

lawrencebush
October 11, 2011
by Irwin Nesoff 46.2 million Number of people living in poverty $22,050 Federal poverty-level income for a family of four 15.1 Percentage of Americans living in poverty 6.7 % of Americans living in “deep poverty,” less than 50% of the poverty level 0 Number of times poverty was mentioned in the 2008 Presidential Debates. 24 Percentage of total U.S. wealth held by top 1% $46,495 Median US income in 2009 7.1% Decline in median US income since 1999 9.9 Percentage of Caucasian Americans living in poverty 25 Percentage of African Americans living in poverty 33 Percentage of Hispanic Americans without health insurance 11.1 Percentage of Americans living in poverty in 1973, after the “War on Poverty” 15.2 Percentage of Americans living in poverty, in 1983, three years into Reaganomics $44,100 Income needed to provide basic needs for a family of four 15 million Number of U.S. children living in poverty 21 Percentage of children living in U.S. in poverty 36 Percentage of all people living in poverty who are children 64 Percentage of total national wealth controlled by top 5% 87 Percentage of national wealth controlled by top 20% 13 Percentage of national wealth controlled by bottom 80% of population 38 Percentage of Bush tax cuts that went to top 1% 1 Percentage of Bush tax cuts received by bottom 20% of population $520,000 Average Bush-era tax cut for top .01% of households $2.6 trillion Total increase in federal deficit attributed to first ten years of Bush tax cuts $5 trillion Cost of extending Bush tax cuts for next decade $400 Billion Total amount spent on interest to finance first ten years of Bush tax cuts -7.4% Decrease in real family income for bottom 20% of families from 1979 - 2009 +72.2% Increase in real family income enjoyed by top 5% of families from 1979 -2009 +116% Increase in real family income for bottom 20% of families from 1947-1979 +86% Increase in real family income for top 5% of families between 1947-1979 236 Number of Congressional Republicans branding Obama’s efforts to fairly tax wealthiest Americans as “class warfare”