Bush's Impoverished America

The day after Hurricane Katrina hit, exposing much of the public to the tragic conditions of poverty in America, the Census Bureau conveniently and quietly released its annual report entitled, "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States." It provided a context to the pockets of poverty common to New Orleans and other cities. Despite another of President Bush's infamous lies last month that, "Americans have more money in their pockets," more and more people from the middle class are falling into abject poverty.

The report indicates that in 2004 there was no increase in average annual household incomes for black, white, or Hispanic families- the first time since the Census Bureau began keeping records that household incomes failed to increase for five consecutive years! Check out the sadly and demonstrably uncompassionate results of Bush's economic policy:

*The average annual household family income has declined by $2,572, approximately 4.8 percent.

*Black families had the lowest average income last year, at $30,134 (the average income for white families was $48,977).

*The average pretax family income for all racial groups combined was $44,389 (the lowest it has been since 1997).

*The portion of the total national income going to the bottom 60 percent of families did not increase last year (the portion going to the wealthiest five percent of families rose by 0.4 percent).

*The average inflation-adjusted family income of middle-class Americans declined by 0.7 percent in 2004 (the wealthiest five percent of families enjoyed a 1.7 percent increase).

*Men working full-time had their annual incomes decline 2.3 percent in 2004, down to an average of $40,798 (the largest one-year decline in 14 years).

*Women saw their earnings decrease by 1 percent, with an average income of $31,223 (the largest one-year decline in nine years).

*Women earned only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men last year in all major sectors (e.g. in management women earned 54 cents for every dollar earned by men; 57 cents in finance and industry; and 60 cents in scientific and technical services).

Most telling:

*There were 37 million (12.7 percent) people living in poverty in 2004 (an increase of 1.1 million people since 2003). This was the fourth consecutive year in which poverty has increased. Since Bush took office, 5.4 million more people, including 1.4 million children, have fallen into poverty. There were 7.9 million families living below the poverty level in 2004, an increase of 300,000 families since 2003!

*Those covered by employer-sponsored health insurance declined from 60.4 percent in 2003 to 59.8 percent in 2004. Approximately 800,000 more workers found themselves without health insurance last year (the fourth consecutive year in which employer-sponsored health insurance coverage declined).

*A total of 45.8 million Americans are now without health insurance (the uninsured rate in 2004 was 11.3 percent for whites, 19.7 percent for blacks, and 32.7 percent for Hispanics).

--The report by the Census Bureau reveals, which was sadly symbolized by the plight of many poor residents of New Orleans, that most Americans are working harder, earning less, and without the benefit of health insurance. It's easy to understand why the Bush administrated had the report released a day after the largest natural disaster in a century, when much of the country was distracted.

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