I think we already knew this. It’s why the chained CPI is such a bad, bad idea:
As millions of Americans raced to the post office this week to mail in their taxes, we were reminded that April is, indeed, the cruelest month. It’s cruel because the sagging economy continues to create economic hardships for working-class Americans — including the Rising American Electorate.
Composed of unmarried women, African Americans, Latinos, other people of color, and youth ages 18-29, the Rising American Electorate, or RAE, continues to feel the pinch of the underperforming American economy. Unmarried women in particular are economically living on the edge.
Of all women who are unemployed, two-thirds are unmarried. Of all women who have no health insurance, two-thirds are unmarried. And of all women below the federal poverty line, 81 percent are unmarried, according to recent data gathered by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Just this past March, a survey conducted by the Democracy Corps and the Women’s Voices Women Vote Action Fund confirmed our fears about the RAE. The survey found that unmarried women and significant portions of the RAE had experienced economic hard times within the past year.
For the first time in decades, I was eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit this year (which was immediately applied to my tax debt, although it’s supposed to be a stimulus.) Good times!
This is the story of so many of my friends. Sometimes I worry about what will become of us.