Number of Americans in poverty hits record high

[Gawdzilla Sama]

[Hermit]

Record high only in absolute numbers. As percentages go, it's only the highest since '93. Still not a good thing.

The good news is that 84.9 percent of Americans are NOT living in poverty.

15% below the poverty line is pretty damning, considering the USA is the richest country in the world and even more so when compared to the other 33 OECD nations. The USA has the third highest poverty rate among them. Only Turkey's and Mexico's rates are higher. The Scandivavian nations and the Benelux group have the lowest percentage of people below the poverty line.

Again, it has a lot to do with how you define "poverty."

What's your point? Statistics are skewed to make the USA look bad? Think again. If you use a standard definition, like, say, 40% of mean after tax income, the US looks even worse, because its citizens have to pay for such things as medical costs out of their own pockets that citizens of other nations don't. And cheap public transport totally sucks in comparison to the systems in European countries. I used to love hopping on trams, buses and trains for next to nothing as a kid. I could go to France on my pocket money.

[Seth]

Again, it has a lot to do with how you define "poverty."

What's your point? Statistics are skewed to make the USA look bad?

Yup.

Think again.

Okay, I did. It's still the truth that the definition of "poverty" is highly relative to the lifestyle and economy of the comparison pool.

Children living on the garbage dump in Mexico City are living in poverty. Welfare leeches living in apartments with flat-screen TVs, DVD players, refrigerators, microwave ovens who get three meals a day and have a bed to sleep on are living the life of Reilly compared to half-naked kids picking through and sleeping in garbage in Mexico.

Likewise, people living in Addis Abbaba, Ethiopia are not living in poverty as compared to refugees starving to death in southern Sudan.

Nobody starves to death in the United States, and rare indeed are those who live under bridges because they are forced to do so by their economic circumstances. We have legions of charitable organizations and individuals who provide for the poor in this country, and while there are exceptions, they are exceptions and the majority of those living under bridges are there by choice. Either they prefer the freedom of living outside the system and for mental-health reasons cannot function within the rules of the shelter system, or they are too proud or embarrassed to seek out charity assistance. Either way, there are lots and lots of programs available to assist the truly destitute, and most of our people living below an arbitrary "poverty line" that's set according to political objectives and therefore is highly subjective in its application are hardly to be viewed in the same light as refugees being starved to death by their own countrymen in Somalia or societies like Mexico that allow children to live without any supervision at their garbage dumps.

That simply does not happen in the United States because we go to great lengths to care for those who cannot care for themselves.

Many people living "in poverty" in the United States are there temporarily, as a result of the recession, or they are generationally bound to government largess, which debilitates them and keeps them from doing what is necessary to change their economic situation...like moving from their slum apartment to some other place in the US where work is available, as hundreds of thousands of people did during the Great Depression.

So, yes, I did think again, and I still disagree with you.

If you use a standard definition, like, say, 40% of mean after tax income, the US looks even worse, because its citizens have to pay for such things as medical costs out of their own pockets that citizens of other nations don't.

And that's why the definition is biased and subjective. Without looking at the absolute quality of lifestyle, there will ALWAYS be a bottom tier group of people who have less than everyone else that some politician determined to expand the power and control of government will label as "living in poverty" in order to justify more government spending, which in reality only exacerbates the problem of generational dependence on government largess.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

This is where the private sector steps in and shows government that they can handle problems like this without any taxes or oversight or regulation.

COME ON, BIG BUSINESS, SHOW THE DAMN FEDS!

[Audley Strange]

This is where the private sector steps in and shows government that they can handle problems like this without any taxes or oversight or regulation.

COME ON, BIG BUSINESS, SHOW THE DAMN FEDS!

Damn straight, I'm sure big business will be able to help anyone out of poverty if they've got enough money to pay for their services.


hmmm....

[Gawdzilla Sama]

This is where the private sector steps in and shows government that they can handle problems like this without any taxes or oversight or regulation.

COME ON, BIG BUSINESS, SHOW THE DAMN FEDS!

Damn straight, I'm sure big business will be able to help anyone out of poverty if they've got enough money to pay for their services.


hmmm....

The poverty level is relative. I mean if you have a 70 foot yacht and your neighbor has an 80 footer, wouldn't you feel impoverished?

[Audley Strange]

This is where the private sector steps in and shows government that they can handle problems like this without any taxes or oversight or regulation.

COME ON, BIG BUSINESS, SHOW THE DAMN FEDS!

Damn straight, I'm sure big business will be able to help anyone out of poverty if they've got enough money to pay for their services.


hmmm....

The poverty level is relative. I mean if you have a 70 foot yacht and your neighbor has an 80 footer, wouldn't you feel impoverished?

YES! And the government should make sure that extra 10 foot is redistributed directly to me, that makes it fair.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

This is where the private sector steps in and shows government that they can handle problems like this without any taxes or oversight or regulation.

COME ON, BIG BUSINESS, SHOW THE DAMN FEDS!

Damn straight, I'm sure big business will be able to help anyone out of poverty if they've got enough money to pay for their services.


hmmm....

The poverty level is relative. I mean if you have a 70 foot yacht and your neighbor has an 80 footer, wouldn't you feel impoverished?

YES! And the government should make sure that extra 10 foot is redistributed directly to me, that makes it fair.

So, you favor government theft of school kids lunch money, eh? Next you'll be saying that guns don't kill people, it's those loud bangs.

[Warren Dew]

This is where the private sector steps in and shows government that they can handle problems like this without any taxes or oversight or regulation.

First you have to get to the point where the private sector actually is without any taxes, oversight, or regulation.

Heck, just eliminate Obamacare and a lot of the problem will be fixed. That regulation alone is likely responsible for much of the increase in poverty - the increase in the cost of unskilled labor makes that labor less competitive, and drives wages below the poverty line.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

This is where the private sector steps in and shows government that they can handle problems like this without any taxes or oversight or regulation.

First you have to get to the point where the private sector actually is without any taxes, oversight, or regulation.

Heck, just eliminate Obamacare and a lot of the problem will be fixed. That regulation alone is likely responsible for much of the increase in poverty - the increase in the cost of unskilled labor makes that labor less competitive, and drives wages below the poverty line.

Nah, we just have to give businessmen the incentive to be magnanimous and they'll step right up to the plate. This is because they know that a solid demonstration of "the power of the marketplace" is all that's needed for Big Government to realize that its interference in the natural course of events is not needed, indeed is not wanted, by anyone. The only reason hard-working business folks haven't done this so far is because...

[Audley Strange]

This is where the private sector steps in and shows government that they can handle problems like this without any taxes or oversight or regulation.

COME ON, BIG BUSINESS, SHOW THE DAMN FEDS!

Damn straight, I'm sure big business will be able to help anyone out of poverty if they've got enough money to pay for their services.


hmmm....

The poverty level is relative. I mean if you have a 70 foot yacht and your neighbor has an 80 footer, wouldn't you feel impoverished?

YES! And the government should make sure that extra 10 foot is redistributed directly to me, that makes it fair.

So, you favor government theft of school kids lunch money, eh? Next you'll be saying that guns don't kill people, it's those loud bangs.

Have you seen how fat some of those kids are? Whether it be Government of playground bullies stealing their lunch money they're doing those lardasses a favour. As for the gun thing, everyone knows it's not the guns that kill people or the people or the bangs, it's those Marxist collectivists of atoms that organise themselves into bullets to destroy liberty freedom and starvation for mostly all.

Even less seriously. Surely the job of any Government in any advanced technological civilisation is to attempt to have full unemployment?

[Hermit]

You people keep forgetting the real causes of poverty. It happens when people chose to lead lives of indolence. Those parasites expect the government to finance their drug and gambling addictions with tax money, that is money stolen from you and me. They have no scruples because they are all crypto-communists. Just like Obama.

[Pensioner]

You people keep forgetting the real causes of poverty. It happens when people chose to lead lives of indolence. Those parasites expect the government to finance their drug and gambling addictions with tax money, that is money stolen from you and me. They have no scruples because they are all crypto-communists. Just like Obama.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju3h7yk4 ... ure=fvwrel[/youtube]

[Seth]

This is where the private sector steps in and shows government that they can handle problems like this without any taxes or oversight or regulation.

COME ON, BIG BUSINESS, SHOW THE DAMN FEDS!

Damn straight, I'm sure big business will be able to help anyone out of poverty if they've got enough money to pay for their services.


hmmm....

The poverty level is relative. I mean if you have a 70 foot yacht and your neighbor has an 80 footer, wouldn't you feel impoverished?

YES! And the government should make sure that extra 10 foot is redistributed directly to me, that makes it fair.

So, you favor government theft of school kids lunch money, eh? Next you'll be saying that guns don't kill people, it's those loud bangs.

Actually, guns don't kill people. Organ damage resulting from the high velocity impact of copper-jacketed lead kills them.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Actually, guns don't kill people. Organ damage resulting from the high velocity impact of copper-jacketed lead kills them.

With the Ma Deuce it's the supersonic shock wave.

Anyway, it's their damn fault for standing in front of the bullets. If they had chose to not do so they wouldn't have gotten hurt. HOWEVER, as long as government's confiscatory taxes make it cheaper to be dead than alive some lazy bastards are going to chose dirt naps over making an honest living.