Life's been getting better for everyone, including the poor, writes economics professor David Henderson in TCS.
....citing data from the aforementioned Cox and Alm and from Kirk Johnson showing that the average poor family in 2001 did as well as or better than the average family in 1971 in ownership of motor vehicles, air conditioners, color TVs, refrigerators, VCRs, personal computers, and cell phones. Of course, the last three didn't exist in 1971, but that's part of the point. When poor families can afford what even middle-income families couldn't imagine having 30 years earlier, aren't things working out pretty well?