34.6 Million In US In Poverty In 2002

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Nearly 1.7 million people in the United States slid into poverty in 2002 and incomes slipped for the second year in a row, the U.S. government said on Friday in a report sure to provide new ammunition for Democrats trying to unseat President Bush.

 

The Census Bureau's annual report showed the number of people living below the poverty line rose to 34.6 million last year, from 32.9 million in 2001, when the national economy first went into recession.

 

A family of four with two children was considered to be living in poverty in 2002 if its total income was $18,244 or less.

 

A sluggish recovery has failed to create new jobs for the 3.3 million private sector employees who have been thrown out of work since Bush took office in January 2001.

 

The report said the real median income fell 1.1 percent last year to $42,409. The percentage of the population living in poverty grew for the second year in a row to 12.1 percent, from 11.7 percent in 2001.

 

Bush, who faces re-election in 2004, blames the Sept. 11 attacks and a wave of corporate scandals for the economy's failure to pull more quickly and strongly out of the recession of early 2001.

 

He says tax cuts he has pushed through will fix the nation's economic malaise and says they are already starting to show results.

 

But Democrats blame the tax cuts themselves in large part for the soft economy, as well as bulging federal deficits that have abruptly taken the place of fat surpluses projected just a few years ago.