The gap between the rich and the poor in the US is growing, with over 40,000,000 Americans, including 16,000,000 children, struggling to obtain basic necessities.<br /><br />Five decades ago, the issue of poverty was a serious challenge for the US, and the then President Lyndon Johnson launched what he called a "war on poverty".<br /><br />By 1973 the US poverty rate was down to 11 percent. But today it has climbed up to 15 percent.<br /><br />Over the past decade, the incomes of the richest Americans have grown by 86 percent, while the incomes of everyone else have grown at just a little over six percent.<br /><br />Al Jazeera's Patty Culhane reports from Washington DC.
