USATODAY.com - 1.1 million Americans joined ranks of the poor in 2004
Numbers...numbers...the middle class is disappearing by the numbers...

WASHINGTON — The number of Americans living in poverty rose by 1.1 million to 37 million last year, despite a robust economy that created 2.2 million new jobs. It was the fourth consecutive year poverty has risen.

Median household income remained stable at $44,389. But it took more workers to produce that income; median earnings for both men and women did not keep up with inflation.

Inequality between rich and poor remained basically unchanged last year. But for the first time, the wealthiest 20% of Americans accounted for more than half of all household income, up from 49.8% in 2003. And much of their income, such as capital gains, is not measured by the survey.

"It's a pretty classic story of an economy that's leaving middle-income households behind," said Jared Bernstein of the liberal Economic Policy Institute. "The gap between how this economy's doing and the living standards of the median family has never been larger."

The number of people without health insurance rose by 800,000 to 45.8 million. But the number with health insurance also increased by 2 million, to 245.3 million. Employer-based health coverage declined, while more people joined government programs such as Medicaid. As a result, the percentage of uninsured remained basically unchanged at 15.7%.

Better hurry and cut that Medicaid budget. Pretty soon everybody will want to be on it.