There may be millions more poor people in the US than you think

By Erin McClam, Staff Writer, NBC News - Fri May 3, 2013 4:16 AM EDT

 

It is responsible for an estimated half-trillion dollars in federal spending every year, is hated by nearly everyone who studies it and is based on an American lifestyle older than the space program.

Yet the figure known as the “poverty line” is almost certainly here to stay. That’s partly because a more accurate measure of who is poor could add millions of Americans to the rolls — something few lawmakers want to have happen on their watch.