Someday I’d like to be poor!
It would be interesting to see how much this consumption consists of medical services. US medical prices (what is paid for either publicly or privately) are enormously greater than the Euros, and I suspect this skews consumption calculations.
America’s poor purchase more than citizens of Luxembourg one of the wealthiest countries in the world?
“I realized that poverty in rich countries is a mental state more than a material situation in the modern world, where starvation is not an issue in rich countries.”
Envy almost inevitably rises with prosperity. Many become more miserable when their neighbor isn’t as miserable as they are.
Poor people here likely have more DISPOSABLE income than middle class people in Europe who have to shoulder that heavy tax burden.
Especially since the poor here have largely been dropped off the tax rolls.
Not surprised, but tremendously disgusted! Just one example of the ‘wealthy” arrogant ‘poor’ as seen at our local dentist: Rolls Royce pulls in to parking lot. Out hop some arrogant ‘poor’ who commence their abuse-laced demands for free dental care. Having received what’s owed them they march out to their Rolls—free iPads, etc. in hand— and off they go leaving the rest of us to pay in one way or another for the freebies of the wealthy poor.
bkmk
A very good study. More rigorous than most that deal with “poverty”.
I have said, for decades, that American poor are better off than upper middle class in most of the world.
This study, in rigorous ways, confirms that observation.
No surprise. I can here from the UK as a teenager - it was immediately apparent to me the differences in the expectations of the kids in high school. Everyone was concerned with not being ‘a loser’. In the UK, at the time, most kids had a very pessimistic view - many with the expectation to leave school at 16 and receive unemployment checks.
The only thing that matters is “standard of living”. There’s far more people in the USA that are self sufficient and require very little income or assistance from the government. Being “poor” in the USA means having somewhere to live, owning TV’s, refrigerator, clothes, being well fed, etc..
It annoys me to no end when I encounter people born here that think everything sucks and says they can’t get a good job, continuing to state that Europe is so much better - often coming to that conclusion after having a two week vacation in Paris (or alike).
bmp
The actual ‘un-poorness’ of our poor is another rat lie.
History shows us that truly poor people are not fat, and are also truly thankful for any assistance they get.
For the most part the poor in the US live better then the middle class in Europe. They have more space, more stuff, better cars, better food, better clothes... Just right down the line they have MORE.
save