Ah, Bush administration economic policies at work. For the second straight year, the number of Americans in poverty rose. While the administration focuses on making sure that rich Americans pay less tax, getting American citizens to pay for needlessly destroying Iraqi infrastructure and then pay for rebuilding it, the number of poor Americans rises.

In a related story, the National Priorities Project has a list of what the new round of funding (the additional $87 billion that the administration is stumpoing for) could buy if it was spent domestically.

$15.0 billion for school construction resulting in 356,475 new jobs,
AND
105,319 new affordable housing units, creating 257,820 new jobs,
AND
$15.0 billion for local and state roads and bridges, creating 423,131 new jobs,
AND
418,060 new firefighters,
AND
health care coverage for 5,723,077 people.

Like the Letterman joke goes "Bush is asking for $87 billion to rebuild the Iraqi infrastructure, to improve their police and school systems. Then, if it works over there, we'll do it here."

Both links via the Daily Kos