Argument

USA Poverty >>

The poverty rate was higher in 2007 (12.5 percent; the most recent year available) than it was in 2000 (11.3 percent). Over the same period, the number of Americans living in poverty increased from about 31.6 million to 37.3 million. -- According to Center for Economic and Policy Research report, Sept. 2008 >>

USA Inflation >>

Annual inflation was 3.3 percent in 2000 (August 1999 to August 2000) and rose to 5.4 percent by 2008 (August 2007 to August 2008). -- According to Center for Economic and Policy Research report, Sept. 2008 >>

USA Personal savings >>

Personal savings have also declined over the last eight years, from about 2.3 percent of disposable personal income in 2000 to 0.6 percent in 2007 (most recent year available). The cost of college tuition was substantially higher for the 2007-2008 academic year -- According to Center for Economic and Policy Research report, Sept. 2008 >>

Consumer debt, which does not include mortgages, reached $2.56 trillion in April, up from $2.28 trillion at the end of 2005. -- According to the US Federal Reserve >>

In the USA, there is a zero personal savings rate. For the first time since the Great Depression >>

Employment, even dual employment, is no longer any kind of barrier against poverty. -- Matt Taibbi, in his article It's a Class War, Stupid >>

USA Health Care >>

The number of Americans without any health insurance rose from about 38.7 million in 2000 to 45.7 million in 2007 (most recent year available). -- According to Center for Economic and Policy Research report, Sept. 2008 >>

The share of the population that did not have health insurance at any point during the course of the year increased from 14.0 percent in 2000 to 15.3 percent in 2007 (most recent year available). -- According to Center for Economic and Policy Research report, Sept. 2008 >>

In the USA, many people don't have health care and dentistry, which has long ceased to be considered an automatic component of American middle-class life. >>

"The middle class is disappearing, in real ways we're becoming more like a third-world country." -- Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. >>

In the USA, many people have less than they need to eat and live in heated shelter >>

An all-time record of 28 million Americans now survive only because of food stamps
... up from an already record-breaking 26.5 million last year (= 2007). The numbers of people relying on food stamps have grown over the last year by 10 percent or more in at least 40 states. In some states, Rhode Island for example, the numbers have increased by almost 20 percent. >>

Poverty is caused by increased property taxes >>

USA Income and Wage >>

The inflation-adjusted median family income was slightly higher in 2007 ($61,355; the most recent year available) than it had been in 2000 ($61,083). The growth rate in median family income, however, has been much slower over the last two presidential terms than it was over the two terms prior to that. Between 2000 and 2007, the inflation-adjusted median family income increased 0.4 percent. Over the comparable seven-year period in the preceding presidential cycle (1992-1999), real median family income grew 14.7 percent. -- According to Center for Economic and Policy Research report, Sept. 2008 >>

In the USA, median income has declined by almost $2,500 over the past seven years >>

In the USA, 27 percent of workers age 45 and over, and 32 percent of those 55-64 said they had pushed back their planned retirement date because of the economic downturn. -- In a survey conducted for AARP >>

Poverty is caused by exploding gas and heating oil costs >>

Between the summer of 2000 and the summer of 2008 (gasoline prices tend to peak in the summer), on an inflation-adjusted basis, the price of a gallon of gasoline increased from $2.03 to $4.09. >>