Social Safety Net Catch Millions of People

Poverty levels have only increased 0.6% from 2007 to 2010. Despite the recession, 6 out of 7 people who would have fallen below the poverty line were saved by the Social Safety net, living in above-poverty-line standards despite their lower income. UChicago economics professor C. Mulligan believes that perhaps if the 2009 stimulus package was a little more SSnet oriented, all seven might have been caught. However, despite its positive points, Mulligan believes that it only takes a few people out of the 140 million in our work force reaching for the safety net to create millions of unemployed.

-C.C. Wang

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/millions-caught-by-the-social-safety-net/?ref=economy