The U.S. Census Bureau released various reports about income, poverty and health insurance coverage and they all showed American economy is finally getting over the recession. The middle class has experienced an increase in their revenues and poverty rates have been reduced.
These facts prove Trump’s opinion about the American economy is another statement based on his beliefs and not facts because he did not take into consideration that the numbers could actually improve. The reports titled “Income and Poverty in the United States: 2015” and “Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2015” analyzed data from 2014 to 2015 and compared the recent increases in several variables to the last time America showed such significant improvement.
Regarding median household income in the U.S., families went from $53,718 in 2014 to $56,516 in 2015, an increase of 5.2 percent. This is the first time since 2007 -the year before the most recent recession- that the median household experienced an annual growth.
This increase was analyzed from different angles, and the report on income in the U.S. shows certain races and certain regions had a higher growth than others. Households in all areas experienced an increase in real median income between 2014 and 2015, but some of them had higher percentages than the others.
Median households with the highest income were located in the Northeast region with $62,182, and the West with $61,442. The Midwest had an income increased of $57,082 and the South $51,174, the lowest increase when it comes to regions.
The report also considered races and each race had different increments. Data based on race refers to people reporting a single race only, and Hispanics are taken into account of any race.
Hispanic households median income increased by 6.1 percent between 2014 and 2015, the second race with the highest income. The first one is Asians. Following Hispanics are Non-Hispanic white with increases of 4.4 percent and Black households with 4.1 percent.
Chairperson of Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers, Jason Furman, said the reports data exceeds the strong expectation he had. He said in an interview that the income report was the strongest ever from the Census Bureau.
Furman continued and stated the significant aspects in the new report where the growth rates because he has read the last 21 and confessed never to have seen numbers similarly to what the September report shows. He said everything you look in the report is what you would want to see or better.
But some Republicans think differently despite the facts showed in the report: that the overall numbers remain weaker than they should be.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady, (R-Tex) said in a statement that the recently published reports are another disappointing confirmation that too many American are still struggling to provide for their families and reach their full potential.
Representative Brady said despite the federal government efforts to invest billions in programs to help low-income Americans, more than 43 million people continue to live in poverty.
Poverty in the United States has decreased, and more Americans now have a health insurance coverage
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the official poverty rate in 2015 was 13.5 percent, dropping 1.2 percent. This means that now, America has 3.5 million fewer people living in poverty than in 2014. The decrease puts 43.1 million Americans living in that condition and still, it means a significant step for the American economy because this is the largest percentage point drop in poverty since 1999.
In 2015, married couple families (5.4 percent), families with a female householder (28.2 percent), and families with a male householder (14.9) lived in poverty. Bu only married families and families with a female householder experienced a curve both in the poverty rate, and the number in poverty decreased. Families with a male householder did not experience any positive decreased.
And regarding health insurance coverage, in 2014 10.4 percent of American did not have this type of coverage, and for the entire 2015 calendar year, 9.1 percent of American did not have health insurance. The number of people without health insurance dropped from 33 million to 29 million.
Trump’s campaign was based on America’s bad numbers, but now they have improved, how is he going to get votes?
During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump has argued that America is in decline, and he is the one that is going to save the country. But the recent reports showed that the United States does not need to be saved after all. Trump constantly says working people’s lives are getting worse, but the numbers said the contrary. His campaign has not released a statement on the new Census reports.
But Stephen Moore says people need to take precaution for not to be disappointed because, in his view, the 2015 increase could fade in 2016. The economy is growing slowly, and the numbers still do not make up for more than a decade of income stagnation, The Washington Post reports.
Hillary Clinton admits that the American economy has improved under President Obama administration, but she believes working families still need more help to reach a desirable economic status. Her campaign said Tuesday that the Census numbers illustrate what she explained.
Source: PR Newswire