We will use President Bush's definition of it when allowing children to be insured under SCHP/CHP programs or 250% of the poverty limit for a family of 4. The same measurement could be applied to a single individual as being poor. All measurements be decided upon the where that person lived in the US also. Under that measurement, we would qualify ~120 million people in the US who could be qualified as poor or living in poverty.

Within the US there are those who are "more equal" than others decidedly. For example, African Americans have had an unemployment rate twice that of White Americans since WWII (Bulhan and Fanon). If you happened to be born an African American and into the lowest quartile of income, you have an ~2 of 3 chances of remaining there as opposed to White American's chance of ~ 1 of 3 (Hertz, "Mobility in America"). As an African American, you would also have a greater chance of slipping into a lower income barcket than moving upwards into a higher one when compared to White Americans. The details to these statistics have been self-evident and discussed for for decades now. They also represent a political maelstrom for any politician who wishes to take up the cause and espouse (being redundant purposely) these issues with White America.

Not only is education a major component for all people, it is more of a priority for African Americans as well. Education is a major key to higher income for people in general; but, look at what happened with affirmative action in colleges for African Americans in many states? Without an education, the cycle is not broken for African Americans and their are not boot straps available in which to pull themselves up by in the nation today. Furthermore, the key in the seventies to a good income was a high school diploma as paid for by the state and federal government in level K-12; it has changed and the costs have shifted. The key today is a college degree (unless one chooses vocations) with the cost falling upon the average citizen for those additional years of education and higher costs.

It is time to re-examine priorities in the US and create a level field of opportunity for all people within the US.