US poverty: chronic ill, little hope for cure - Yahoo! News

US poverty: chronic ill, little hope for cure - Yahoo! News: "US poverty: chronic ill, little hope for cure

By Bernd Debusmann 2 hours, 34 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Four decades after a U.S. president declared war on poverty, more than 37 million people in the world's richest country are officially classified as poor and their number has been on the rise for years.
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Last year, according to government statistics, 1.1 million Americans fell below the poverty line. That equals the entire population of a major city like Dallas or Prague.

Since 2000, the ranks of the poor have increased year by year by almost 5.5 million in total. Even optimists see little prospect that the number will shrink soon despite a renewed debate on poverty prompted by searing television images which laid bare a fact of American life rarely exposed to global view.

The president who made the war declaration was Lyndon Johnson. 'Unfortunately, many Americans live on the outskirts of hope, some because of their poverty, and some because of their color, and all too many because of both. This administration declares unconditional war on poverty in America.'

That was in 1964. Then 19 percent of the U.S. population lived below the official poverty line. That rate declined over the next four years and in 1968, it stood at 12.8 percent.

Since then, it has fluctuated little. Last year, it was at 12.7 percent, proof that poverty is a chronic problem.

The state of poverty in the United States is measured once a year by the
Census Bureau, whose statistics-packed 70-plus page report usually provides fodder for academic studies but rarely sparks wide public debate, touches emotional buttons, or features on television. Not so in 2005."