money

Average weekly salary for investment banking, all employees (includes top money managers, bankers, secretaries, clerks, etc), first quarter 2007:
Fairfield, CT: $23,846
Manhattan: $16,849
Nationwide: $8,367
All private sector jobs, nationwide: $841

Federal poverty guidelines, per year, 2007:
Family of one: $10,210
Family of two: $13,690
Family of three: $17,170
Family of four: $20,650
Family of five: $24,130

Basic needs budget, estimated, family of four:
National average, suburban areas: $40,000
New York: $55,140
Rural Alabama: $31,455

Number of children in the US, 0-18: 73 million. Of those:
Low income families (100-200% FPL): 39%, or 28.4 million children
Poor families (below 100% FPL): 18%, or 12.8 million children

I thought about writing a whole rant about this, but I think the numbers speak for themselves.



Sources:
Investment banker data: Pay at Investment Banks Eclipses All Private Jobs, by David Cay Johnson, New York Times, September 1, 2007.
Poverty data: National Center for Children in Poverty, various publications