On May 17, 2008, at 7:11 PM, Eric wrote:
> In 1965 -- perhaps the apex of the postwar
> truce, before the peace started obviously fraying -- 16% American
> families were poor. In 2000 -- perhaps the apex of neoliberalism,
> before the dotcom bust and 9/11 and as worldwide resistance to it was
> becoming obvious -- it was 13%. Obviously there was no great
> poverty-reduction happening with Keynesianism.
The U/S. poverty line is an absolute measure, meaning that it was fixed in the 1960s (using 1950s household budget numbers) and has been adjusted for inflation ever since. So, conceptually, a poverty income in 2000 was equal in purchasing power to that of 1965. The fact that the poverty rate hardly moved over that period, when per capita GDP was up 108% and median family income was up 58%, means that the poor of 2000 were much poorer relative to the average than they were in 1965.
Oh, and the poverty rate was 22.4% in 1959 and 11.1% in 1973. That seems like some pretty potent reduction to me.
Doug