Abe says studies conducted by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD ) point to rising poverty in Japan before the global economic crises in 2008.
VOA: standard.2010.02.25
Adam Smith made the same point about poverty: no one actually needs a linen shirt.
As an example, my oft made point about the poverty statistics in the US. The poverty line is not, as most assume, the number of people currently living in poverty.
At the same time, the disparity between the city's rich and poor continued to grow, and the poverty rate reached its highest point in more than a decade during Mr. Bloomberg's third term, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
