US Economy
'The American Dream' by Margaret Bourke-White
Library Databases
CQ Researcher -- Full-text reports of current issues in the United States. Search "poverty" or check out "Urban Poverty."
JSTOR -- A collection of scholarly, full-text articles on every subject.
SocINDEX -- A full-text sociology database. I typed "affordable health care" and got some good hits, including about the impact on small businesses. For a history of health care policy in America, see this article.
Sociological Abstracts -- Another sociology database that indexes different journals.
EconLit -- A great database for economic issues. Remember to put "United States" in your search.
Data
The US Census -- It's not just "how many people"! Put in "median income" or look at the Income and Poverty section.
The Urban Institute -- a nonpartisan think tank that conducts social policy research. They focus on income and benefits issues.
Bureau of Labor Statistics -- Information about jobs - including who has benefits. Click here for the reports. Check out this awesome new report on taxes.
Pew Research Center -- An American think tank that provides information on issues, attitudes and trends. They've got such great data! Search "poverty" for reports like this or "welfare" for charts like this.
US Department of Health and Human Services -- The official definition of poverty used to determine eligibility for assistance programs. This department also administers the programs we call "welfare." Check out the 2014 report to Congress on welfare.
US Department of Agriculture -- Look here for data about US food production. Here is a chart of farm productivity from 1948 to 2013.