Bush's America: Record Numbers Plunged into Poverty

According to a report released by McClatchy Newspapers Saturday, In U.S., Record Numbers are Plunged into Poverty The analysis of the report shows that:
almost 16 million Americans live in "deep or severe poverty" (defined as a family of four with 2 children earning less than $9,903--half the federal poverty line. For individuals the "deep poverty"threshold was an income under $5,080 a year.
The number of severly poor Americans grew by 26% from 2000 to 2005, 55% faster than the overall poverty population grew in the same period.
This surve in poverty has taken place alongside an unusal economic expansion in which worker productivity increased dramatically since the recession of 2001, but wages and job growth have lagged behind. The share of national income going to corporate profit, on the other hand, has drwarfed the amount going to wages and salaries. "These and other factors have helped push 43% of the nation's 37 million poor people into deep poverty--the highest rate since 1975." The report notes that social programs in the U.S. are minimal compared to those of Western Europe and Canada. The U.S. has a population of 301 million people, with 37 million poor people, and 45 million U.S. citizens have no health insurance.

Maybe the U.S. media will take some time off the dead body of Ana Nicole Smith and Britney Spear's bald head and cover this story--the social and economic decay of the American working class under George W. Bush!