Poverty rates are down for the first time in seven years by Corina Ciubotaru

For the first time since George W. Bush became elected president of the United States in 2000, poverty rates are down. This is somewhat surprising, considering the financial slump the country has been in since the housing crisis started and the fall in the number of people who benefit from health insurance. Even though it's one of the richest countries in the world, America's presidential candidates have made eradicating poverty one of their most important campaign points, in an attempt to reach the hearts of the ones most affected by the problem: single mothers and African-Americans. The poverty rate has reached 12.3% in 2006 and this takes into account people that live out of less than $20,444 a year, for a family of 4. These families are able to enjoy a pretty good lifestyle though, as they have VCRs, two colored televisions, a car, a washing machine, a dryer etc., and if we're talking about families of immigrants, their poor life in the United States is much better than in their home country. Americans not holding insurance now represent 15.8%, but they are not all poor, as everyone might expect. Most of them make over $75,000 a year, and the number of uninsured people keeps rising apparently, after a level of 15.3 in 2005. The state with the highest median household income and the lowest poverty rate was Maryland, and the state with the smallest household income and the highest poverty rate was Mississippi. The median household income was $48,200.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070828/ap_on_bi_ge/poverty;_ylt=AslwDGWleq8f3sSvRWm6nBWs0NUE

by Corina Ciubotaru for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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