Knowledge Bank

The poverty gap between the Southern states and the rest of the country diminished from 4 percent in 1980 to 1.4 percent in 1998, moving hundreds of thousands of people above the poverty line and giving them a chance at the American dream. B
But two recessions in 10 years created a "lost decade," pushing too many Southerners back from fleeting middle class prosperity and wearing away the veneer of the gilded age to reveal an uncertain foundation.
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