The White House could not have been more delighted. A generally vigorous economy, low inflation and a decrease in unemployment helped lift 1.8 million Americans out of poverty last year--or at least out of the category that the Census Bureau defines as poverty, which is annual cash income of less than $10,609 for a family of four. The bureau reported last week that the proportion of needy Americans decreased by nearly a full percentage point, to 14.4%, the first reduction after five years of steady increases. Said Gordon W. Green Jr., assistant chief of the Census Bureau's population division: "The reduction...
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