Beyond the Poverty Line

On Jul 13, 2008, New York City's poverty rate was 18%. Twenty-four hours later it had ballooned to 23% How did more than 400,000 New Yorkers become impoverished overnight? The answer is that Mayor Michael Bloomberg adopted anew and more complex - and, he argued, more accurate - measure of poverty than the one the federal government uses. His action reignited a debate in Washington, D.C, and beyond about how America determines who is poor - a debate that many hope will be settled by the U.S. Congress this year. Most people who care about measuring poverty - academics, policymakers, nonprofit leaders, and the like - agree that the way the federal government currently determines who is poor and who is not doesn't work. The so-called "poverty line" was determined in the mid-1960s by calculating the amount of money it costs to buy a basic basket of food and then multiplying that amount by three. Each year the fine is updated to account for inflation. (