as the article that Louis posted to pen-l said, the stats on poverty aren't good. But the numbers do mean a lot when looking at year-to-year comparisons. Inequality and poverty are definitely increasing.
August 31, 2005 National: U.S. Poverty Rate Was Up Last Year NYT By DAVID LEONHARDT Incomes stagnated even as the economy grew. It was the first time on record that household incomes failed to increase for five straight years. Full Story: http://query.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?emc=tnt&tntget=2005/08/31/national/31census.html&tntemail0 -- Jim Devine "Analysis is nothing else but breaking up a complex operation into scraps, so that they may be easily handled and thoroughly investigated. Afterwards the scraps have to be put together again, and considered in relation to many other complex notions, and the intricately interwoven facts of life." -- Alfred Marshall
