According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2014 there were 46.7 million people - 14 percent of the U.S. population - living in poverty. Within this 14 percent, approximately one and a half million households - including three million children - live in what can be considered extreme poverty, existing on just two dollars per person, per day and without substantial government assistance. These individuals resort selling plasma, selling their food stamps and sometimes, even selling sex, to secure the necessary cash to make ends meet. What does it mean to live virtually cashless in one of the world's most capitalistic nations?
This is the next installment in the City Club's Resilient Families series: A conversation with Kathryn J. Edin, Ph.D., Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University and author of $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America, on the plight of Americans living in extreme poverty.