Robert J. Samuelson examines the latest census numbers:
The real economic report card is both better and worse than the imagined. The big advances of the rich (which occurred mostly in the 1980s and 1990s and reversed slightly last year) haven't prevented most Americans from achieving grudging gains. But a continuation of present trends would imperil future prosperity. If health spending remains uncontrolled, Americans will see more of their compensation diverted from take-home pay into insurance that mainly benefits (as insurance should) a small proportion of very sick people. Similarly, if the immigration of low-skilled workers continues unabated -- whether they're legal or illegal -- the ranks of the poor will swell, as will the uninsured or the costs of providing government insurance.
This raises a few questions. To what extent is the flow of low-skilled immigrants into the United States self-correcting? Evidence suggests that the number of migrants crossing the border has fallen as the economy has slowed. And how mobile, economically speaking, are the immigrants once they get here? If they become part of the underclass, that presents real challenges to American society and politics. But if, over time, immigrants join the middle class, this latest wave of immigration is just another chapter in the American story.