Article Analysis - Research Paper Example

The predictions of the economic theory presented in the article will also be carried as well as a discussion of the relevance of the economic theory to the ideas presented in the article. Travernise (2011) reports that about 2.6 million people slipped into poverty in the USA in 2010 as reported by the Census Bureau bringing the number of Americans living below poverty to 46,2 million people. This has been the highest figure in 52 years according to the records obtained from the bureau. According to the economists, the median income level of the household fell to records last seen in 1996 and this scenario shows that such statistics were last recorded during the great depression when the statistics had taken such a long period to rise.

The report states that about 15.1 percent of the Americans were living below the poverty datum line which was pegged at $22, 314 for a family of four in 2010 and this level has been the highest since 1993. This came on the heels of President Barrack Obama’s bid to push for the jobs bill meant to foster employment creation to alleviate the levels of poverty especially among various people from the different parts of the country. There has also been a widening gap between the haves and the have nots and this trend is likely to continue unabated if sound economic reforms have not been put in place.

The minorities in particular were hardest hit as the report shows that blacks in particular experienced the highest poverty rate of 17 % up from 15 % in 2009, the rate for the Hispanics rose from 25 % to 26 % while the poverty rate for the whites rose from 9.4 % to 9,9 % in 2009. The trend shows that the whites were least affected and it seems that the gap between the rich and the poor is continuing to rise. The economists suggested that joblessness or unemployment was the main culprit leading to such unbelievably high rates of