I'm sure there will be a lot of political hay made from the Census Bureau's announcement that poverty is on the rise. The problem with the numbers stems from their definition of poverty:

The Census Bureau's definition of poverty varies by the size of the household. For instance, the threshold for a family of four was $18,810, while for two people it was $12,015.

Your level of income does not necessarily translate into wealth. For instance a person could have a really bad year and make $12,000 and follow it up the next year with $150,000. By the governments definition he's gone from rags to riches, but in reality, he's middle class.

Moreover, a person could have hundreds of thousands of dollars in the bank and be cruising around the world on a yacht. But since they aren't earning at least $12,000, he must be living in poverty.

By this standard, the four years I went to college I was living in poverty.

UPDATE: Neal has more:

The average American defined as "poor" by the federal government enjoys a higher standard of living than the average European; not the average poor European ... the average European. It's a scam, folks. A scam to enable more government. If a person has a roof over their head, food in their cupboard, a television set, a washer and dryer, a microwave, air conditioning and a car. Sorry folks, but that ain't poverty.