<p>During the 1990s the politicians and media pundits argued that we experienced the most dramatic financial upturn in the history of the United States. Yet, today in the year 2001 forty-five million people lack health insurance; thirty-five million experience hunger, millions are functionally illiterate, and anyone living in Philadelphia who earns the minimum wage, needs to work eighty-four hours per week to avoid homelessness. When we look at the facts, the so-called financial upturn of the 19