[tkxxx7]

> a decade of strong economic growth

This seems impossible to solve without considering which people were actually experiencing this growth.

[rayiner]

Hence the statistics I presented below that, showing that the poverty rate went down dramatically over that period.

[tkxxx7]

You did - I should add that I didn't consider their breakdown sufficient enough:

> In 2013, for example, the average poverty threshold for an individual living alone was $11,888; for a two-person family, $15,142; and for a family of four, $23,834.7

I wasn't alive in 1969, but for 2013, that threshold is quite low - it may make sense for poverty, but it is not a net wide enough to catch a significant portion of (relatively) poor people whose addictions have grown to far outweigh their paychecks.