More Math Games

The US has seen a significant increase in poverty rates. Now, 12.7% of all Americans live below the poverty lines. 1.1 million more Americans joined the ranks of the impoverished, 37 million people. This is the forth consecutive year of an increase in the poverty rates in America. The number of Americans without health insurance rose to 48 million uninsured Americans.

Also, similarly, this has been a significant series of years of increase for another important aspect of Americans: the extremely wealthy. In 2004, the number of US millionaires increased by 14%:

Four years after a stock-market downturn flattened many investment portfolios, a new study finds that one of every 125 Americans is a millionaire -- reflecting a growth rate not seen since the late 1990s, at the peak of the stock-market bubble.

The 2004 World Wealth Report, compiled by brokerage firm Merrill Lynch & Co. and consultancy Capgemini Group, paints a picture of financial resurgence among the world's wealthy. The number of millionaires in the U.S. was up 14%, and the U.S. and Canada together added more new millionaires last year than Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, combined.

Most striking: the study found that in the U.S. and Canada, the number of ultra-rich -- those with investment assets of more than $30 million -- has reached 30,000, about the same number of people as live in Juneau, Alaska's capital.

Wealthy individuals in most of the world enjoyed a strong 2003, ending two years in the doldrums. In the U.S., rising stock markets and wealth-friendly tax cuts combined to create strong returns for the wealthy. Globally, wealthy investors, after shying from stocks in 2001 and 2002, re-entered the market aggressively in 2003, expanding their exposure to 35% of their holdings from 20% (see related article).

What a great success! This Administration has pushed 1 out of every 125 Americans into the stratosphere of millionairedom; [but the surprising levels of exceptionaly growth has occured amongst the Ultra-Rich!] and has strenthened and bulked up their vitally important stock portfolios! At last, the benefit of this war can be seen in clear, simple terms.

At the same time, he's succeeded in pushing 1 out of every 8 Americans into poverty. Interesting value choices and systems we've got here.

Who is succeeding in America, and who is suffering? Who benefits; who loses out?