Poverty in America

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August 27th, 2004 | Comments Off

Census link [pdf file]

Median household income, while below the peaks of 1998-2000, was still higher than at any other time prior to 1997. The number in poverty is lower than any time in the period 1992-1997. The overall 2003 poverty rate of 12.5%, though higher than the years 1997-2002, is still lower than in any year since 1981.

The under 18 poverty rate is lower than at any time in the period 1980-1998. The poverty rate for the elderly is near record lows, lower than at any time before 1999. The poverty rate for adults is lower than any time in the period 1991-1997.

The poverty rate went up in only 6 states, Nevada, Texas, Michigan, Illinois, North Carolina and Virginia. This hardly represents a nationwide trend.

Women are closer to parity with men’s wages under the Bush administration than ever before. The female to male earnings ratio is down for 2003, but the ratios for all three years of the Bush Administration are much higher than at any other time in history, with 2002 being the record year. The 2003 ratio of 75.5% is still much higher than the previous high, before Bush, in 1998 of 74.2%.

The black poverty rate in 2003 was 24.4%. But it was higher in every year before 1999.

UPDATE: I wanted to get this post up, so I banged it out. My analysis follows:

The Clinton bubble is what all the Democrats and loony leftists prefer to compare Bush’s economic record to. The bubble was, of course, an aberration, created by the dot coms, and by financial chicanery by such companies as Enron and Xerox. A host of firms had to restate their earnings after the bubble burst and people began to review their practices at the time.

The Census report cited at the top shows some needed historical reference. Absent the bubble, the Bush years look pretty good. Combine that with the employment numbers, at near historic highs, and the rate of formation of LLC’s and you get a somewhat different picture of the Bush economy.

I just wish George Bush was shouting about this every day, at every opportunity.