Poverty on the rise in America | Gerald Celente Trends Blog: Nearly 50-million Americans or 16 per cent of the US population live in poverty. That is according to new government figures, which take a broader look who is poor in the US. The recession and longer-term economic troubles have pushed America's poverty rate to levels not seen in more than a decade, wiping out gains in the long-running War on Poverty and adding more financial strain to the lives of millions of Americans. Meanwhile Obama spends 725 billion dollars on the military defence budget this year alone