The Census Bureau released its annual report: Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States, and there are two headline takeaways: poverty went up, and median income went down between 2007 and 2008.  Not a surprise.  But the longer term picture is a little startling.  Here is a look at the Real Median Income across all groups from 1967 to 2008:

While drops during recessions are quite common, the image of median income dropping for a ten-year period grabs your eye.  Median income is below the level it was at ten years prior--and that's the only time that has happened since at least 1967.  As for the poverty rate, it rose to 13.2 percent in 2008.  39.8 million Americans were in poverty in 2008.  As the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities points out, that is the largest number of Americans in poverty since the end of the Eisenhower presidency.  

Read the full Census report here.