The rich get richer

And the poor get poorer.

WASHINGTON - The percentage of poor Americans who are living in severe poverty has reached a 32-year high, millions of working Americans are falling closer to the poverty line and the gulf between the nation's "haves" and "have-nots" continues to widen.

A McClatchy Newspapers analysis of 2005 census figures, the latest available, found that nearly 16 million Americans are living in deep or severe poverty. A family of four with two children and an annual income of less than $9,903 - half the federal poverty line - was considered severely poor in 2005. So were individuals who made less than $5,080 a year.

But that's obviously the way it is supposed to be, right?

Membership of the world's billionaire club has swelled to almost 1,000, while members' net worth has risen by 35% on last year, according to Forbes.

A record 946 billionaires - worth a total of $3.5 trillion (£1.82 trillion) - now exist, up from 793 last year.

[snip]

"In the last five years... despite all the turmoil in the world, all the conflict in the world, the global economy in real terms expanded over 25%," said Steve Forbes, the magazine's editor-in-chief.

"Never in history has there been such an advance."

Or as Georgie calls them, his base.

Update: Tengrain at Mock, Paper, Scissors has the pictures.

Update: Steve Bates of The Yellow Doggerel Democrat points out an article from the New York Times:

WASHINGTON, March 11 — A new federal rule intended to keep illegal immigrants from receiving Medicaid has instead shut out tens of thousands of United States citizens who have had difficulty complying with requirements to show birth certificates and other documents proving their citizenship, state officials say.

Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Ohio and Virginia have all reported declines in enrollment and traced them to the new federal requirement, which comes just as state officials around the country are striving to expand coverage through Medicaid and other means.

Under a 2006 federal law, the Deficit Reduction Act, most people who say they are United States citizens and want Medicaid must provide “satisfactory documentary evidence of citizenship,” which could include a passport or the combination of a birth certificate and a driver’s license.

Some state officials say the Bush administration went beyond the law in some ways, for example, by requiring people to submit original documents or copies certified by the issuing agency.

“The largest adverse effect of this policy has been on people who are American citizens,” said Kevin W. Concannon, director of the Department of Human Services in Iowa, where the number of Medicaid recipients dropped by 5,700 in the second half of 2006, to 92,880, after rising for five years. “We have not turned up many undocumented immigrants receiving Medicaid in Waterloo, Dubuque or anywhere else in Iowa,” Mr. Concannon said.

Steve then says:

Is this an instance of the strangely named Law of Unintended Consequences at work? No. I say this rule is working precisely as the Bush administration intends. If you think this denial of legitimate benefits to American citizens is only a side-effect of the GOP's use of immigration as a wedge issue, you are not attributing enough deep-seated meanness of spirit to George W. Bush and his handlers.

In forty years, our government's moral position on poverty has declined from "poverty in America must be eradicated" to "the American poor must be eradicated." I'd use some liberal potty-mouthed words to describe the perpetrators of this transition, but I cannot find any words strong enough. Suggestions are welcome, but remember, I know just about all the obscenities and profanities in the English language, and have already considered and dismissed them as insufficient.

It really is black-hearted and unbelievable. The ugliness of the neocons is truly stunning.

Update: Vanity Press sees the same article and reminds us how much we are wasting of our treasury in Iraq.