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)

PocketNews is a new real-time news broadcaster delivering the latest and hottest news right to your pocket ! With global clients who want to be kept up to date, PocketNews is everyone's way of keeping in touch with the World.

These news are brought to you by CantellTV, its technology partner SigEx Telecom and its founder Chris Cantell. CantellTV is the fastest growing provider of digital broadcasting coupled with enhanced communications, allowing people to easily control, view, upload and share digital content through proprietary interface. CantellTV has relationships with a growing network of international clients delivering millions of videos per day with more than 50,000 new videos uploaded and 200 hours of new TV shows broadcasted daily to a wide range of viewers, from 5 to 7 year olds of LiveCartoons; to 16 to 24 year old active social users of MyJumps; to fortune 50 corporate clients utilizing enhanced broadcasting services. CantellTV is committed to delivering infinite choices to your world of entertainment at the tip of your fingers. Chris Cantell retains consulting arrangements with several pre-IPO companies.
Edited by: Katarina Zerzanova