White House wants to better measure domestic poverty

Starting next year, the federal government will take a few baby steps toward changing the way it measures poverty, something that is decades overdue.

The government has used its official poverty guidelines to divide the haves and have-nots for 45 years

Source:
http://articles.courant.com/2010-05-03/news/hc-poverty-measure-obama.artmay03_1_measure-poverty-low-income-poverty-level