Current US Poverty Statistics. Income i. ï· The federal poverty line is $11,892 for individuals and $23,836 for a family of four. ï· The official poverty rate is 14.5%, meaning 45.3 million people in the US live in poverty, up by over 8 million since. 2008. An additional 97.3 million (33%) of people living in the United States are low-income, defined as incomes. below twice the federal poverty line, or $47,700 for a family of four.
Mesopotamia, the area between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in present-day Iraq, is often considered the cradle of civilization. It was here that civilization, characterized by cities, monumental architecture, and writing, began to develop about 7,000 years ago.
Ancient Man and His First Civilizations. The Ziggurat. Since very ancient times, man has tried to get as close as possible to his gods. The people of Southern Mesopotamia and Elam; and later the Americas, did this by building monumental structures that reached upward to heaven to house their gods and to be Temples for their gods worship. {The Pyramids of Egypt are Tombs not Temples}.