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Originally Posted by roachboy
i suggested a couple in the post above, ace
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We currently have state planning of certain portions of our economy, I don't understand what is meant by microcredit and base communities. We do not have a pure capitalistic economy, it is a hybrid, so I am not clear on what alternative you propose. are you simply suggesting more centralized control, if so, of what economic sectors?
Here is some data, it could be used to support either positions, but does not indicate a crisis. However, there are some trends that should be considered.
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The U.S. poverty rate dropped last year, the first significant decline since President Bush took office, and the inflation-adjusted income of the typical American household rose for the second year in a row, though it remains shy of the 1999 peak.
The U.S. Census Bureau also said Tuesday that the income inequality gap widened slightly in 2006, though the increase wasn't statistically significant, and the fraction of Americans without health insurance continued to rise.
In its annual snapshot of American living standards, the Census Bureau said:
• About 36.5 million Americans, or 12.3%, were living in poverty last year. That's down from 12.6% in 2005. But the fraction of Americans living below the poverty line isn't statistically different from the 2002 level despite several years of economic growth.
• The median household income -- the point at which half make more and half make less -- was $48,200, a slight increase from the previous year, but short of the $49,163 peak in 1999, before the last recession.
• The best-off fifth of American households claimed 50.5% of pre-tax income in 2006 while the bottom three-fifths shared 26.5% of pre-tax income, continuing a long trend toward a more unequal distribution of income. Twenty years earlier, the top fifth got 46.2% of the income and the bottom three-fifths got 29.5%.
• The median earnings of full-time year-round male workers fell for the third year despite the strong economy and low unemployment rate to $42,261 in 2006, a 1.1% drop. Median earnings for women fell to $32,515, a 1.2% drop.
• The percentage of Americans without health insurance rose to 15.8% from 15.3% the year before, and the number of uninsured climbed to 47 million from 44.8 million, a development sure to fuel political pressure for government action to expand the number of Americans with health insurance. The percentage of those under age 18 without health insurance rose to 11.7% , numbering 8.7 million people, a finding that will fuel the debate between Democrats and President Bush over expanding the federal-state health insurance program for children in families that make too much to qualify for Medicaid.
Although most Americans -- 59.7% -- still get health insurance through an employer, the fraction with employment-based insurance continued to fall.
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1188..._us_whats_news