The Poor Get Richer

The Wall Street Journal has an editorial up, with the headline: “The Poor Get Richer.”

It’s been a rough week for John Edwards, and now comes more bad news for his “two Americas” campaign theme. A new study by the Congressional Budget Office says the poor have been getting less poor. On average, CBO found that low-wage households with children had incomes after inflation that were more than one-third higher in 2005 than in 1991.

Jonathan Chait wondered why the CBO decided to look at the last 15 years. Why? Well, 1991 was a recession year. It’s quite logical, Chait argues, that today’s poor are better off than the poor during a time of recession. Also, the increase in their income occured in the 1990s. Low-income households with children saw, in fact, their income drop 10% from 2000 – 2005.

Read more here.