Session 4

 Things today in the U.S. are not what they were 10 years ago, and I feel as though there is still not enough being done because there more and more people are dropping into poverty. I heard on NPR the other day, that between 2001-2009, the average middle class income declined by 5%. That percentage decline is unprecedented since the Great Depression--which reinforces that this "recession" is the worst since then. Of course, that statistic is about the middle class, but because the current US definition of poverty is absolute (fixed dollar amount) rather than relative (compared to general standard of living, which presumably has declined along with the economy), likely there are many people who have dropped from "middle class" into "poverty."