As the media obsess over Donald Trump’s latest ploy to make the media obsess over him, here are some issues getting less attention: 22 percent of U.S [3]. kids live in poverty, including 39 percent of African-American children. One in 7 Americans [4] can’t afford to feed themselves without relying on food banks, which are struggling to meet their needs.
A Pew poll released last week officially called the death of the middle class [5], determining that middle-class Americans make up less than half of the population. That’s a drop of more than 10 percent since 1971, CNN notes. [5] And there’s compelling evidence [6] that income inequality is literally killing people at far younger ages than in other developed countries.
The website Wallethub [7] has analyzed the 150 most populated cities in the U.S. to determine the highest concentrations of people in need, using metrics like food insecurity, homelessness and child poverty levels. Unsurprisingly, many of the cities with the most economic disadvantage are in the South, with its historically high rates of poverty and lawmakers deeply invested in destroying the safety net.