L.A. Times - Income rates down, poverty rates up

[L.A.dweller]

Middle, Lower Classes Feel Pinch
Bush could be hurt by new figures showing income rates down and poverty rates up.

By Peter G. Gosselin, Times Staff Writer


WASHINGTON — The annual income of middle-class Americans fell by about $500 each last year and the number of people in poverty rose by 1.7 million, the Census Bureau reported Friday, showing the lingering effects of the country's long economic downturn and suggesting the political trouble that may lie ahead for President Bush.

The census data marked the second straight year of such discouraging trends after nearly a decade of continuous improvement. The rise in those classified as living in poverty suggested that the damage of the 2001 recession was finally beginning to reach low-income groups, which had been surprisingly resistant to its ill effects.

Separately, the government said Friday that the U.S. economy grew at a 3.3% annual rate from April through June, slightly faster than the 3.1% rate it had previously estimated and its fastest pace since last fall. Higher growth usually increases income and reduces poverty, but with employers still slashing payrolls, it is unlikely that has happened yet.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-income27sep27,1,3341529.story?coll=la-home-headlines


on edit --- This was the Headline on the the San Fernando Daily News today, exposing the hardships that this administration is placing on unfortunate people

[unblock]

1. the economy grew. ah, but how?

the gdp rising masks the distribution of the growth. gdp just measures how much product goes round the economy, not how well distributed it is (nor how productive it is).

so if a few rich folks are making gazillions from mergers and outsourcing to india, and a few corporations are making gazillions from defense contracts and energy gouging, well, all that counts as gdp growth, but does little for the economy as a whole and next to nothing for the average joe.

you see why bush's big supporters shower him with money and love him to pieces. they make out like gangsters and to hell with the rest of us.

[AP]

4. 5 trillion in defecit spending has to do something (and it isn't creating

jobs).

[7th_Sephiroth]

2. time to invest in

A pitchfork and a torch.

[Buns_of_Fire]

3. Lose another 500,000 jobs...

...and it'll be "screw the pitchfork and the torch -- where's that tar and feathers?"