What is the NATIONAL average for poverty lovel status?

I believed, at one time, that is was appx. $16,000.00/year...However if that is the case, why is it that the minimum wage of $6.50 that is NATIONALLY recognized, is well under poverty level, adding up to, before taxes $13,520? Is our own government letting the people who can only get jobs for minumum wage(which 42% of all jobs in America are min. wage) slide into the poverty level for some sort of reason? Do they care that the standards they set, set us at under thier own set poverty level? Why the contradiction? What about income after taxes, is the poverty level set to before taxes or after? Does anyone care about this? Can we do anything about it? Will our government listen, anyway?