From British daily The Independent:
Poverty gap in US has widened under Bush
By Andrew Gumbel in Los Angeles
Published: 27 February 2007
The number of Americans living in severe poverty has expanded dramatically under the Bush administration, with nearly 16 million people now living on an individual income of less than $5,000 (£2,500) a year or a family income of less than $10,000, according to an analysis of 2005 official census data.
The analysis, by the McClatchy group of newspapers, showed that the number of people living in extreme poverty had grown by 26 per cent since 2000.
Poverty as a whole has worsened, too, but the number of severe poor is growing 56 per cent faster than the overall segment of the population characterised as poor – about 37 million people in all according to the census data.
That represents more than 10 per cent of the US population, which recently surpassed the 300 million mark.
The widening of the income gap between haves and have-nots is nothing new in America – it has been going on steadily since the late 1970s.
What is new, though, is the rapid increase in numbers at the bottom of the socio-economic pile.
The numbers of severely poor have increased faster than any other segment of the population.
“That was the exact opposite of what we anticipated when we began,” one of the McClatchy study’s co-authors, Steven Woolf of Virginia Commonwealth University, said.
“We’re not seeing as much moderate poverty as a proportion of the population. What we’re seeing is a dramatic growth of severe poverty.”
The causes of the problem are no mystery to sociologists and political scientists.
The share of national income going to corporate profits has far outstripped the share going to wages and salaries.
Manufacturing jobs with benefits and union protection have vanished and been supplanted by low-wage, low-security service-sector work.
The richest fifth of US households enjoys more than 50 per cent of the national income, while the poorest fifth gets by on an estimated 3.5 per cent.
US and world economic problems: here.
Dear Kitty. Some blog 
Don’t they know Bush doesn’t care – Governors Worry over Money for Child Health Program
Posted by: “Corey” cpmondello@yahoo.com cpmondello
Mon Feb 26, 2007 1:37 pm (PST)
When will people learn, Bush doesn’t give a big poop about who he harms when he ok’s cuts for everyone, except his friends, who get tax breaks.
*************
Governors Worry over Money for Child Health Program
http://www.civilrights.org/press_room/press-releases/governors-worry-over-money.html
As the National Governors Association began its winter meeting, 13 governors expressed alarm on Saturday that they were about to run out of federal money for a popular program that provides health insurance to children.
They appealed to Congress and the Bush administration for swift action to protect hundreds of thousands of children who could lose benefits. The full association is poised to endorse that appeal.
In a letter to the Democratic and Republican leaders of Congress, the 13 governors said that “health insurance for some of our states’ most vulnerable citizens is in jeopardy.”
“Without quick Congressional action,” the letter said, “our states, all facing federal shortfalls, will be forced to make harsh decisions affecting the lives of thousands of families.”
Such decisions could include freezing enrollment, restricting eligibility, increasing premiums charged to low-income families or reducing benefits like dental and vision care…
The program in question, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, covers more than six million children in families that have too much income to qualify for Medicaid but not enough to buy private insurance.
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