By Garth Kant. The stock market is roaring but that doesn’t mean the nation’s economy is healthy. Warning signs include a startling growth of poverty in the suburbs and among the elderly who, increasingly, can’t afford to retire. Many other dark clouds are also gathering on the economy’s horizon, not just the nation’s astronomical $17 trillion dollars of debt.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has made a remarkable comeback from its recession low of 6,594.44 on March 5, 2009, to close for the week at 14,512.03. The Dow surpassed its previous all-time high on March 11 when it closed at 14,254.38.

But the gains on Wall Street aren’t being realized on Main Street, according to a study by the Brookings Institute. It found the number of people in the suburbs living in poverty skyrocketed by almost 64 percent between 2000 and 2011. That’s double the rate of growth of poverty in urban areas, and 16.4 million more suburbanites in poverty.

“I think we have an outdated perception of where poverty is and who it is affecting,” said Elizabeth Kneebone, a co-author of the report, adding, “We tend to think of it as a very urban and a very rural phenomenon, but it is increasingly suburban.” Poverty is also growing rapidly among older Americans.

Writing in Forbes, Edward “Ted” Siedle says millions of elderly Americans are falling into poverty and the country is facing the greatest retirement crisis in the history of the world. More and more older Americans face the dilemma of being too poor to retire and too frail to work. Siedle lists a number of causes for the predicament.

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More kids get free lunch in D.C.’s wealthy suburb

By Rachel Baye. The Washington area’s wealthy suburbs have seen a sharp rise in the portion of children receiving free, government-funded lunches over the last several years, an indication of rising poverty levels.

In Fairfax County, the second-wealthiest county in the country, nearly 27 percent — 47,874 — of the public school system’s 179,253 students receive free or subsidized school lunches this year, up from 21 percent — 33,479 — of 162,986 just five years ago, data show. Across the Potomac, Montgomery County, the 10th-wealthiest county in the country, has a similar story, with one-third of its 149,051 students receiving free or reduced-price school lunches, up from 26 percent of 137,745 five years ago.

“[The trend] puts strain on these districts and on these schools that may not have the infrastructure or services in place to meet the needs of a growing low-income population,” said Elizabeth Kneebone, a fellow in the Brookings Institution’s Metropolitan Policy Program.

Students who receive Free and Reduced Price Meals — or FARMS — are more likely to be behind academically, according to a recent study by Montgomery County’s Office of Legislative Oversight, requiring districts to provide more remediation in math and reading.

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