Bush and the Wealth-Challenged , By the Numbers

"Woe to those who make unjust laws,
to those who issue oppressive decrees
to deprive the poor of their rights
and withhold justice from the oppressed of my people."
---- Isaiah 10:1-2

34,600,000 - Number of Americans living below the poverty line (1 in 8)

6,800,000 - Number of Americans in the workforce but still classified as poor

$300,000,000 - Amount cut from the federal program that provides subsidies to poor US families so they can heat their homes

40 - Percentage of wealth in the US held by the richest 1 percent of citizens

18 - Percentage of wealth in Britian held by the richest 1 percent of citizens

9,300,000 - Number of US unemployed in April 2004

2,300,000 - Number of American who lost their jobs, net of job gains, in the 1st 3 years of the Bush administration

22,000,000 - Number of Americans jobs gained, net of job losses, during Clinton's 8 years in office

39 - Percentage of tax cuts that will go to the top 1 percent of wealthy Americans, when cuts are fully phased in.

49 - Percentage of Americans in April 2004 who found out that their taxes had actually gone up since Bush took office.

$30,858 - Amount Bush himself saved on taxes in 2003.

$42,000 - Average savings members of Bush's cabinet received in 2003 as a result of tax cuts in capital gains and dividend taxes.

43,600,000 - Number of Americans without health insurance by the end of 2002 (more than 15 percent of the US population)

2,400,000 - Number of Americans who lost their health insurance during Bush's first year in office

--- Courtesy of Graydon Carter, editor-in-chief for the past 2 years of Vanity Fair magazine, from his book What We Lost, which is being published this week.