No end to poverty without reducing wealth inequity

(October 10) – “Millions in U.S. Climb out of Poverty,” read a recent New York Times headline in praise of President Obama for U.S. Census data showing the poverty rate in the United States fell by 1.2 percent in 2015, bringing roughly 3.5 million people above the poverty line. The poverty rate is now at 13.5%, according to the data, which is still higher than it was in 2008 at 13.2 percent in the midst of an economic recession when President Obama took office. While poverty decreased, what the New York Times conveniently omitted is that income inequality continued its trend of increasing in the United States.