Half of Americans Are Poor
 

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While it?s no surprise that nearly 50 million Americans live below the poverty line, new statistics from the US Census show that almost 100 million others are counted as low-income citizens, making half of the population of America officially poor.

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You have to define the poverty line. Being on welfare and having no income while living in a million dollar house and driving your sister's car isn't being poor.

http://www.heritage.org/research/rep...hat-is-poverty


.Abstract: For decades, the U.S. Census Bureau has reported that over 30 million Americans were living in ?poverty,? but the bureau?s definition of poverty differs widely from that held by most Americans. In fact, other government surveys show that most of the persons whom the government defines as ?in poverty? are not poor in any ordinary sense of the term. The overwhelming majority of the poor have air conditioning, cable TV, and a host of other modern amenities. They are well housed, have an adequate and reasonably steady supply of food, and have met their other basic needs, including medical care. Some poor Americans do experience significant hardships, including temporary food shortages or inadequate housing, but these individuals are a minority within the overall poverty population. Poverty remains an issue of serious social concern, but accurate information about that problem is essential in crafting wise public policy. Exaggeration and misinformation about poverty obscure the nature, extent, and causes of real material deprivation, thereby hampering the development of well-targeted, effective programs to reduce the problem.

Each year for the past two decades, the U.S. Census Bureau has reported that over 30 million Americans were living in ?poverty.? In recent years, the Census has reported that one in seven Americans are poor. But what does it mean to be ?poor? in America? How poor are America?s poor?

For most Americans, the word ?poverty? suggests destitution: an inability to provide a family with nutritious food, clothing, and reasonable shelter. For example, the Poverty Pulse poll taken by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development asked the general public: ?How would you describe being poor in the U.S.?? The overwhelming majority of responses focused on homelessness, hunger or not being able to eat properly, and not being able to meet basic needs.[1] That perception is bolstered by news stories about poverty that routinely feature homelessness and hunger.

Yet if poverty means lacking nutritious food, adequate warm housing, and clothing for a family, relatively few of the more than 30 million people identified as being ?in poverty? by the Census Bureau could be characterized as poor.[2] While material hardship definitely exists in the United States, it is restricted in scope and severity. The average poor person, as defined by the government, has a living standard far higher than the public imagines.

As scholar James Q. Wilson has stated, ?The poorest Americans today live a better life than all but the richest persons a hundred years ago.?[3] In 2005, the typical household defined as poor by the government had a car and air conditioning. For entertainment, the household had two color televisions, cable or satellite TV, a DVD player, and a VCR. If there were children, especially boys, in the home, the family had a game system, such as an Xbox or a PlayStation.[4] In the kitchen, the household had a refrigerator, an oven and stove, and a microwave. Other household conveniences included a clothes washer, clothes dryer, ceiling fans, a cordless phone, and a coffee maker.

The home of the typical poor family was not overcrowded and was in good repair. In fact, the typical poor American had more living space than the average European. The typical poor American family was also able to obtain medical care when needed. By its own report, the typical family was not hungry and had sufficient funds during the past year to meet all essential needs.

Poor families certainly struggle to make ends meet, but in most cases, they are struggling to pay for air conditioning and the cable TV bill as well as to put food on the table. Their living standards are far different from the images of dire deprivation promoted by activists and the mainstream media.

Regrettably, annual Census reports not only exaggerate current poverty, but also suggest that the number of poor persons[5] and their living conditions have remained virtually unchanged for four decades or more. In reality, the living conditions of poor Americans have shown significant improvement over time.

Consumer items that were luxuries or significant purchases for the middle class a few decades ago have become commonplace in poor households. In part, this is caused by a normal downward trend in price following the introduction of a new product. Initially, new products tend to be expensive and available only to the affluent. Over time, prices fall sharply, and the product saturates the entire population, including poor households.

As a rule of thumb, poor households tend to obtain modern conveniences about a dozen years after the middle class. Today, most poor families have conveniences that were unaffordable to the middle class not too long ago.


[IMG]Percentage of All U.S. Households Which Have Various Amenities Percentage of Poor U.S. Households Which Have Various Amenities[/IMG]

http://www.heritage.org/research/rep...600&h=581&as=1

http://www.heritage.org/research/rep...600&h=586&as=1

Low income in America means you drive a chev instead of a Mercedes and use a razor phone instead of an Iphone.

Somebody must work for rich people

poor is relative.

is normal

its because the chinese make really cheap goods not because they are doing well. A coffee maker is $9 at target. But its better to be naive then face reality that the middle class is shrinking. Avg income for a white male in his mid 30's for $40k a year in 1985 and now its $34k . Those arent adjusted dollars.

What is considered dire poverty in America is considered upper middle class in Eastern Europe.

What has continued to fail us now is that Obama's own policies, the
exact opposite of Reaganomics in every detail, have failed to produce
any timely real recovery from the last recession. Before this last
recession, since the Great Depression recessions in America have
lasted an average of 10 months, with the longest previously at 16
months. But here we are today 48 months after the last recession
started and there is still no real recovery. Instead, we have record
poverty, and record extended unemployment.

They can't say that is because the recession was so bad, because the
historical record in America is that the deeper the recession the
stronger the recovery. Based on the historical record, we should be
ending the second year of a booming economy right now. The failure to
achieve that is the responsibility of Barack Obama.
..............

Before Barack Obama as President, the rest of the world looked to
America as the example for the economic model that works to achieve
prosperity. But today Obama tells America "It doesn't work. It's never
worked. It didn't work when it was tried in the decade before the
Great Depression. It's not what led to the incredible postwar boom of
the 50s and 60s. And it didn't work when we tried it during the last
decade."

But it's President Obama, who fundamentally doesn't understand his own
country, that doesn't work.

http://spectator.org/archives/2011/1...t-wizard-of-oz

Who would of guessed the same old people would come into a thread and declare that the poor aren't really poor and it's Obama's fault. Never saw it coming, really.

Really? A bunch of CEO's would beg to differ with you
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/mone...ort-finds.html

Yeah he is about as marxist as Nixon. lol

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...619990742.html
Corporate profits last year rose at the fastest pace in six decades, though earnings came under pressure in the final months of 2010 even before the latest surge in oil prices.

I used to have a pad on Venice Beach so I actually recognize that guy. LOL

There is a black guy on Venice Beach that advertises that he is some kind of a pimp while he begs for money. If you have been there you would know who I am talking about. Anyway he is famous for begging for money all year long and saving up for his anual trip to Thailand where he fucks whores like crazy for 2 weeks and then comes back to beg for more money. True story.

a nation run like a company deserves it :2 cents: the whole system sucks so badly ...

You really think this latest recession was going to be "just another 10 month recession"? Look at what CAUSED it. The system is completely fucked and isn't just going to "come around".

I don't like Obama either but even if he actually did a good job, I don't think we'd be out of the recession. Look at what the Fed supposedly secretly HAD to do to prevent widespread banking failure. Either they did have to spread trillions of secret money into banks like they said, or they didn't and it speaks to how fucked up the current system really is and how the president really doesn't mean jack shit in the end anyways. Which is it?

only the good half

Is that Chris 3.0?

I would think the majority of people would probably think they are middle class