Trump’s Stimulus Plans Saved Nearly 8.5 Million Americans From Poverty | International

Poverty globally fell in 2020 in the United States following massive stimulus packages and unemployment benefits. The Donald Trump administration’s response to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression has kept large sections of the population from sliding into poverty even though the index edged up to 11.4% last year. Government assistance for the pandemic has lowered that rate to 9.1%, according to data released Tuesday by the US Census Bureau. according to the White House, supports the ambitious aid plan that the current president, Joe Biden, intends to carry out.

Compared to the year before the pandemic, the average household income in 2020 fell by 2.9%, due to the negative consequences on the labor market and the cessation of economic activity due to the confinement. This was the first “statistically significant” reduction in median household income since 2011, according to the Census Bureau’s own assessment.

This drop led to the temporary increase in the poverty rate in 2020: some 3.3 million more than the previous year, reaching a total of 37.2 million people. However, thanks to aid and subsidies distributed by the government since March 2020, when the pandemic began, the so-called additional poverty measure was reduced to 9.1% last year, against 11.8% in 2019. Nearly 8.5 million people were withdrawn. poverty, an unprecedented achievement in a single year largely due to the federal government’s stimulus measures.

Among the stimulus package approved as a pandemic shock plan is the injection of checks for $ 1,200 for the low-income population. According to the Bureau, those checks lifted 11.7 million people out of poverty in 2020 and kept 5.5 million more Americans from falling into it. Poverty is defined as an annual income of less than $ 26,200 for a family of four. In 2020, the median household income was $ 67,521, about 2,000 less than in 2019.

As the economy recovers, the White House is confident that more Americans can find well-paying jobs to keep them afloat. But deep inequalities persist and there are worrying signs that the recovery could stall, starting with the slowdown in job creation in August or the ravages of the delta variant of the coronavirus, with 150,000 cases per day. Black and Hispanic women remain lagging behind in recovery, as do lower-skilled workers. The highest level of poverty occurred among the African American population, at 19.5%, followed by Hispanics, with 17%, and the white population, at 8.2%. So while Asian community households had a median income of $ 94,900, followed by non-Hispanic whites (74,900), African Americans and Hispanics were below the national median income, at $ 45,900, respectively. $ 55,300.

The positive effect of government aid as a cushion for the low-income population, according to the White House, supports President Biden’s ambitious welfare plan, which with an investment of $ 3.5 billion aims to expand the fight against poverty by expanding social coverage, with measures such as universal preschool education, higher deductions per child, paid holidays or the extension of Medicare programs, public social security coverage for people of over 65 and Medicaid, for people without resources. The good data from the federal lifeline in 2020 is for the White House the best example of how additional resources can make a substantial difference between poverty reduction and even greater inequality. The White House undertaking is not without its pitfalls, however, the first of which is the resistance of some moderate Democrats to support such a colossal investment, fearing the deficit or refusing to raise taxes on the highest incomes.

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