The Near Poor

New census data to be released next week finds one in three Americans — about 100 million people — is in poverty or just above it, the New York Times reports.

“After a lost decade of flat wages and the worst downturn since the Great Depression, the findings can be thought of as putting numbers to the bleak national mood — quantifying the expressions of unease erupting in protests and political swings. They convey levels of economic stress sharply felt but until now hard to measure.”