By MARGARET SULLIVAN Poverty was in the news last week, with the coverage of Pope Francis’ attention to poor people worldwide, particularly those in his home country of Argentina. It raises a question: Given the extreme poverty in the world and in the United States, how much media attention does the subject get in a […]

By THOMAS B. EDSALL There are three ways of defining poverty in America: the official Census Bureau method, which uses a set of income thresholds that vary by family size and composition; an experimental income-based method called the Supplemental Poverty Measure that factors in government programs designed to help people with low incomes; and a […]

Viral Video Shows the Extent of U.S. Wealth Inequality The issue of wealth inequality across the United States is well known, but this video shows you the extent of that imbalance in dramatic and graphic fashion. The video, which started going viral on Friday and whose traffic continues to climb on YouTube — reflects the […]