Study by First Focus, December, 2008

The United States is now a year into what many predict will be a very serious recession. Economic turbulence of this type is likely to have far-ranging consequences that are not limited to the immediate future. Recent estimates are that, as a result of the economic downturn, an additional 2.6 to 3.3 million children will fall into poverty. Allowing these children to fall into poverty will prove to be a significant long-term drag on the U.S. economy. In fact, an addition of 3 million children to the ranks of the “poor,” would mean an overall economic loss of at least $1.7 trillion over the lifetime of these children. That amounts to a yearly loss of about 0.27% of GDP, or $35 billion dollars per year.

http://rapsa.org/pdf/CostNothing.pdf