Even with a robust economy that was adding jobs last year, the number of Americans who fell into poverty rose to 37 million -- up 1.1 million from 2003 -- according to Census Bureau figures released Tuesday.

It marks the fourth straight increase in the government's annual poverty measure.

The Census Bureau also said household income remained flat, and that the number of people without health insurance edged up by about 800,000 to 45.8 million people.

Nope. No reason to look at the minimum wage, no reason to revisit health care or CHIP. Education surely couldn't help either.

Just to dig it in a little further we're including this, too, from the BusinessWeek article:
The last decline in overall poverty was in 2000, during the Clinton administration.

PD's conclusion? Blow jobs good for ending poverty. War? Not so much.