Posted on 09/13/2012 3:38:16 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
What does it mean to say that 46.2 million Americans live in “poverty”?
Yesterday morning, the U.S. Bureau of the Census released its annual report on income and poverty, saying that some 46.2 million Americans –15 percent of the population — were poor in 2011. The poverty rate did not fall from the prior year but remained at a near record high, the agency said.
The rise in poverty from 36.4 million in 2006 to 46.2 million in 2011 was due initially to the recession and now to the failure of the Obama administration to restore jobs in the economy.
According to the Census Bureau, some 11 million more adults are without work today than before the recession began. This number has been getting worse year by year. Similarly, roughly 8 million fewer Americans work fulltime through the year. The collapse of jobs sharply increases the total poverty number.
But what does it mean to say that 46.2 million Americans are “poor”? For most people, the word “poverty” suggests near destitution: an inability to provide nutritious food, clothing, and reasonable shelter for one’s family. However, only a small number of the 46.2 million persons classified as “poor” by the Census Bureau fit that description.
Nearly all “poor” persons live in houses or apartments that are in good repair and not overcrowded; in fact, the dwelling of the average poor American is larger than the house or apartment of the average non-poor person in countries such as France and the United Kingdom. By their own reports, most poor persons in America had sufficient funds to meet all essential needs and to obtain medical care for family members throughout the year whenever needed.
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
FTA:
Some 80 percent of poor adults and 96 percent of poor children were never hungry at any time during the year because they could not afford food. The average consumption of protein, vitamins, and minerals is virtually the same for poor and middle-class children and is well above recommended norms in most cases. Some 80 percent of poor households have air conditioning; nearly two-thirds have cable or satellite TV; half have a personal computer; 43 percent have Internet access; and one-third have a wide-screen plasma or LCD TV.
I get the urge to ram the ‘1 in 6 Americans go to bed hungry’ billboards with my car all the time.
poor means the govt pays for your kids’ healthcare and all meals at school
and for your cell phone
and for your rent, all or part
and gives you a “earned income” tax refund check as if you were getting back money you earned
among other things
oh the humanity
Poor people are not fat.
“Poor” is a wildly-inaccurate misnomer nowadays, given the standard of living the vast majority of them enjoys. Less than 75 meters from my house here in India, there are families living in mud-brick shacks with pirate electrical connections, no running water, and virtually no income of any kind.
Call me back when the “poor” in America start seeing those conditions, or start calling them something other than “poor”.
Is this “poor” with the free cell phones or without? Or with utilities “assistance” or without? Or with free meals for children at school or without? Or with so much other in-kind assistance that a regular couple with two children would have to earn more than $60,000 a year to have the same living standard?
Or do you mean “poor” like Obama’s half brother who lives in a tin hut in Kenya is poor?
Please tell me again how many people are poor in this country.
There are no poor in the USA unless mental illness, addiction and attitude have entirely debilitated them.
I’m a medical student in SW Virginia, and I have to say education ties into those three things too.
That’s the attitude part. If you are too lazy to stay in school, go to a tech school or a government training program your attitude is holding you back. If you are too ignorant to learn anything or unable to retain rudamentaries, that is mental illness. We are on the same page.
If that’s poverty I’ll gladly share it with them...
only in America are ‘poor’ children fat.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.