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I think it’s important for us to guard against cynicism and not buy the idea that the poor will always be with us and there’s nothing we can do, because there’s a lot we can do. The question is, do we have the political will, the communal will to do something about it.”

Ummm, Grand Savior and Poohbah Obama? I don't meant to quibble, and have my family taken away again, buuuut...

Since we divide the population into quintiles to define who is rich and who is poor, there will always BE a "bottom quintile", because we have defined it so. However, the quality of life for our bottom quintile has increased exponentially since the Welfare State, errr, I mean the Great Society, began. Our tenth percentile person (ie, 90 percent of Americans have more, 10 percent have less) now has the same quality of life (AC/heat, fridge, car, quality of residence, cell phone, DVR, microwave, etc) as the fiftieth or higher) percentile person (the average/median person) in nations like Israel, Italy, Brazil, Portugal and Russia. Our fifth percentile person (ie, 95 percent of Americans have more) still lives better than 68 percent of the world (and at about the same standard as the 95th percentile person in India and Mexico. Our poor are the only poor in the history of the planet to have OBESITY as their #1 health issue.

Just sayin... maybe capitalism ain't so bad... Dear Leader... All hail...

Source: Forbes, Jun 1, 2013

Further points: of those who fall below the line that we set (and keep moving) as our "poverty level"... 74 percent own a vehicle. 33 percent have 2 or more vehicles. 60 percent have a washer/dryer set. 64 percent have 2 or more TVs. These are things that even kings and emperors could not dream of having just 130 years ago.

14.6 percent of Americans were below the declared "poverty line" in 2014. It was 14.1 percent in 1966. Since then, in 49 years, it has not reached 16 percent, nor has it dipped below 11 percent. (It was 23 percent in 1958. It dipped to 11.3 for a moment in 2000. It hit 15.3 percent in 1983... but again, the line keeps getting moved.)

The US "poverty line" was set at $14,218 for a 2-person household (and basically jumps up $3800 per person for larger households).
The global per capita income in 2012 was $10,587 by nominal GDP (but $15,147 by PPP).

110 nations, out of 190, had per capita incomes (the average person) of $7,109 or less ($14,218 divided by the 2-person US household) in 2012
51 nations, out of 190, had a per capita income over the $14,218 in 2012.
Only 28 nations, out of 190 in the list, had per capita incomes over $28,456 (double the US poverty line for a 2-person household) in 2012

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29_per_capita)