sentences:  An estimated 11.8% of Americans lived in poverty in 2018, versus 16% in 2012 and 26% in 1967.A rise in income disparities weakens skills development among people with a poor educational background in terms of the quantity and quality of education attained.Income inequality may be the driving factor in growing household debt, as high earners bid up the price of real estate and middle income earners go deeper into debt trying to maintain a middle class lifestyle.