Almost exactly one month ago, the nation received some discouraging news about Americans in poverty.
The nation’s poverty rate rose to 12.7 percent of the population last year, the fourth consecutive annual increase, the Census Bureau said Tuesday…. Overall, there were 37 million people living in poverty, up 1.1 million people from 2003. (emphasis added)
It was the first time since the government began keeping track that poverty increased between the second and third years of the economic recovery. In the same Census Bureau report, we learned that the incomes of middle-income Americans aren’t improving either — this is the only recovery of the past 45 years in which the income of the typical household did not grow between the second and third years of the recovery.
And then there’s the other end of the scale.
There are 700,000 more millionaire households this year than in 2004, according to a survey released Wednesday.
Households with a net worth of at least $1 million excluding primary residences rose 8 percent to a record high 8.9 million, according to an annual report by TNS Financial Services, a market research and polling firm.
This is the third consecutive annual increase, although this year’s growth rate is far more modest than the 33 percent increase seen in 2004. (emphasis added)
We really are stuck in a Dickens novel. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go check on the number of Republican sponsors on a bill to repeal the estate tax.