Is The American Dream Fading

More Americans have fallen into poverty in the last few years during some of the worst economic times since the Great Depression.

"The words 'the poor' becomes a code for black or people of colour and so you say like Newt Gingrich [is] saying: 'I'd rather have white people get a paychecque than food stamps'." - Barbara Ehrenreich, a columnist

According to the latest figures by the United States Census Bureau, a large and growing number of Americans are poor. These figures suggest that one in three Americans are living in poverty, or what is sometimes called "near poverty".

And these numbers follow years of stagnating wages for the middle class.

On taking office in 2009, Barack Obama, the US president, described the state of the US economy as "a disaster for America's working families".

As the US begins a presidential election year, the economy - and how to fix it - is on the minds of most voters. But taxation and spending policies are the subject of a bitter partisan divide in Washington.

And a few months ago, the Occupy Wall Street movement began in New York and spread around the world. The protesters' slogan "We are the 99 per cent" refers to the growing income and wealth inequality in the US between the wealthiest one per cent and the rest of the population.

"Poverty in this country [the US] right now is colour-coded and the danger with that is it sends the wrong message about what's happening with regard to poverty in this country. The numbers of the poor are growing exponentially; the new poor in this country now are the former middle class. The reality is there are more white Americans in poverty than there are black Americans in poverty in terms of sheer numbers. There are more white Americans in poverty than there are brown Americans in poverty or red Americans or yellow Americans." - Tavis Smiley, a chat show host

More than 13 million Americans are unemployed, although there have been some improvements recently. And many others, who are in work, have been forced to take pay cuts or a reduction in working hours.