Stickin' It To The Poor Part I

CNN has a brief and very informative article explaining the differences between the rich and the poor.  I rarely trust statistics, but I trust CNN for the most part.  You can read stats on the rich, and disparity between the two classes.  I found the stats on the poor the most interesting, and am including them below:

The Poor:

– The poorest 20 percent of Americans get 3.4 percent of the country's income.

– The portion of wealth for the poor has consistently declined: In 1999, the number was 3.6 percent. In 1989, it was 3.8 percent. In 1979, 4.1 percent.

– You are in the poorest 20 percent if you make less than $20,453 in your household.

– Some 43.6 million Americans live in poverty. That is the record high for the 51 years the U.S. has recorded poverty data.

– The number of Americans in poverty jumped 9.5 percent in 2009 alone (the most recent year for which we have data).

– Overall, 14.3 percent of Americans live in poverty.

– You are in poverty, if you have a family of four and total income is under $22,314. For an individual, the poverty line is $11,136.

Poor us.  Or is that Poor US?