Numbers

Well, one more thing before I bury myself in work...

Old Fogey is currently in DC attending the Call to Renewal conference, which is sponsored by the progressive Evangelical Sojourners organization (led by Jim Wallis) and is focused on getting our government to address poverty as a moral imperative. I'm going to let her write about her impressions about it, but you can get an an advance view of the conference with this WaPo story on Barack Obama's speech to the conference.

Just got our latest issue of Mother Jones, and their usual factoid section is chock-a-block full of tidbits on poverty in the US. Give it a full, jaw-dropping read, but here are a few of the items that stood out the most for me.

Among households worth less than $13,500, their average net worth in 2001 was $0. By 2004, it was down to –$1,400.

Bush’s tax cuts (extended until 2010) save those earning between $20,000 and $30,000 an average of $10 a year, while those earning $1 million are saved $42,700.

2/3 of the reported “shrinking” gap between white and black men’s wages is attributable to black men dropping out of the labor market altogether.

The true jobless rate of black men in their 20s without a high school diploma is 72%.

13% of U.S. households don’t have a checking account. 1 in 10 don’t have any form of bank account.

In Chicago’s poorest areas, the ratio of check-cashing outlets to banks is 10-to-1.

Check-cashing fees for a worker who brings home $18,000 a year add up to about $450 —that’s 2.5% spent just to access income.