Poverty Rates Go Up

• The official poverty rate in 2004 was 12.7 percent, up from 12.5 percent 2003.
• In 2004, 37.0 million people were in poverty, up 1.1 million from 2003.
• From the most recent trough in 2000 both the number and rate have risen for four consecutive years, from 31.6 million and 11.3 percent in 2000, to 37.0 million and 12.7 percent in 2004 respectively.

But don't worry. Bush wants to eliminate the death tax next. And privatize social security. That'll fix everything.

So what if his economic and tax policies, which benefit the rich, have lead more Americans into poverty.

Maybe he can take a drop from his mother's cold heart and build enough Astrodomes to warehouse the poor.

Oh wait. That's what prisons are for.