Illustrate out the term poverty? What is meant by relative poverty? Research and discuss statistics on the demographics of poverty in the United States. Have the poverty rates increased or decreased over the last decade? Why do you think that it has been difficult to lower the poverty rates in the United States where they specialize in law, finance, marketing and computer technology. Global economic expansion has also caused the stock market to grow by a factor of ten, between 1980 and 2000, creating profits for people who have had money to invest.