The Census Bureau released its latest report on income and poverty today, and there were no big surprises. Median income is basically flat or down for all ethnic groups, though things would look a bit better if health care benefits were included. Full-time women are now earning about 79 percent of full-time men, a slow but steady increase. But here’s the chart I want to highlight. You’ve seen it before, but it’s worth seeing again:
Here’s the nutshell version: Since 1970, thanks to Social Security, we’ve made steady progress in reducing elderly poverty. Among all other age groups, we’ve made no progress at all. In fact, poverty has increased. These numbers might look a little different if you use a different measure of poverty, but not by much. If you’re under 65, it’s safe to say that we fought a war against poverty, and poverty won.
