A Different Type of Poverty

This Is What Poverty Looks Like In The U.S.
SAN FRANCISCO - SEPTEMBER 16: A homeless man holds a cup as he begs panhandles for spare change on September 16, 2010 in San Francisco, California. The U.S. poverty rate increased to a 14.3 percent in 2009, the highest level since 1994. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO - SEPTEMBER 16: A homeless man holds a cup as he begs panhandles for spare change on September 16, 2010 in San Francisco, California. The U.S. poverty rate increased to a 14.3 percent in 2009, the highest level since 1994. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Five decades since President Lyndon B. Johnson began his so-called War on Poverty, poor Americans continue to struggle. In "The American Way of Poverty: How the Other Half Still Lives," Sasha Abramsky, a freelance journalist and lecturer in the university writing program at the University of California-Davis, tells the story of America's poor today. Abramsky recently spoke with U.S. News about defining poverty, identifying its causes and addressing the problem. Excerpts:

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