Are there really poor people left in the USA?

Question

Based on the Census Bureau's annual report on poverty in the United States states the following about persons defined as "poor:"

6% of all "poor" households actually own their own homes
75% of all "poor" households have air conditioning
Only 6% of "poor" households are overcrowded
The average "poor" American has more living space than the average non-poor individual living in Paris, London, Vienna and Athens
Nearly 3/4 of "poor" households own a car
97% of those classified as poor have color TVs and 78% have a VCR or DVD player.

The economy is doing really well and America has reached an all time high in take home earnings!

I do more volunteer work than any of my Dem friends, live in a major city (went to a high school that was in the ghetto), and do believe that homelessness and poverty is a personal choice.

Answer 1

"Poverty" means "the state of having little or no money and few or no material possessions."

Our country has done a great job of almost completely eliminating the true poverty, only to find people redefining it to include more people. As the standard of living in this country continues to increase, people will adjust their definition of "poverty."

I know a family who has 4 TVs, Satelite, several DVD players & more than enough to eat (the whole family is overweight.)
They are "impoverished" because they "can't afford nice clothes, nice cars (they have old cars & hand-me-downs) & other things this modern society now considers necessity.

I think it is not right to use the same word, "poverty", to discribe the family living in a mobile home, buying clothes at garage sales, & eating simple food, like beans & rice, or Spaggetti & meat sauce. This type of family would be considered well-to-do in many places in Mexico! I prefer the phrase "disadvantaged." They need help, but we shouldn't try to act like they are on the same level with those dying of starvation in Africa!

The poorest people in America are the addicts & mentally ill. They get caught in a downward spiral until the get the treatment they need, or till they just die on the streets.

P.S. While some of your stats are telling, some are not.
. In probably 50% of the country it gets hot enough AC shou not be considered a luxery.
. TVs & VCRs can be bought at garage sales for $5 so that should not be used to illustrate how they aren't really poor.
. Cars are required in most areas so people can drive to work & pick up groceries. And a beaten-up car can be bought pretty cheaply.

Answer 2

Poor is a realtive term! It all depends on where you live. If you think that $3 gas and a 50% increase in your utility bill with all the expences of life here does not make some people poor; your in a sad state! If people were'nt poor why would so many have no health ins.? Why would kids go hungry here? Why are so many women and children stuck in abusive homes without the money to just leave! How come we have so many more bankrupt people year after year? Don't get me wrong America is the best place on this earth to live. But we are hell and gone from a place where we are all rich or even well off in many cases! America has long hard road ahead and tons of work yet to be done before we get there. This nation is screwed 10,000 ways and until we get this mess fixed many are and many more that OK now are going to be poor!

Answer 3

I think it's relative. Yeah, poor people own their own home.............a shack that their poor ancestors have lived in for the last 100 years. What is the quality of that home? They may own a car. A 1970 model sitting on blocks that hasn't moved in 10 years or so. If you looked at the actual value of what they own, those statistics would probably look much different.
You also have to look at it this way-- how many REALLY poor people didn't even bother with the census? I know in our area (rural Mississippi, mostly uneducated and low income), there was a very low turn in rate for the census. No one saw any reason to fill it all out.

Answer 4

Poor is relative yes. But there are poor in this country. I volunteered to rebuild the "homes" of part of that 6% in areas of the Appellation Mountains. I found several run down, filthy unsanitary and deplorable "homes" that housed multi-generational families.
Maybe you should NOT try to learn about poor people from a "study". Maybe you could actually participate and volunteer your time to go out and meet some of these people. I'm guessing if you did you would never post a question like this.

Answer 5

So if you are poor you aren't allowed a record player or an air conditioner, and they own a 200.00 beater, and a VCR.. I might have an air conditioner if I lived in Arizona, Texas, California, Florida, et al., EVEN if most work???

Because they are poor and working they should have nothing, even when you STOLE their labor to make billions.

Wow!! You must really look down on those who are less fortunate that you!

Know what amount of money they uses as a cut off for the term poor?

And to think, most of them work, and for businesses who earn billions and pay them squat!

Census data released today show that poverty increased and median household income fell in 2002 for the second consecutive year. The number of poor people increased by 1.7 million to 34.6 million; the poverty rate rose from 11.7 percent to 12.1 percent; and median household income fell by $500, or 1.1 percent, to $42,409. There were 3 million more poor people in 2002 than in 2000, the last year before unemployment began to rise.

The rise in poverty and decline in median income primarily reflect the increase in unemployment in 2002. The unemployment rate averaged 5.8 percent in 2002, up markedly from 4.7 percent in 2001 and 4.0 percent in 2000.

"Misplaced priorities by Congress and the President are making the increase in poverty larger than it needs to be," noted Center executive director Robert Greenstein. "The temporary federal program Congress set up to help the long-term unemployed is much weaker than the comparable program established in the recession of the early 1990s. That's a big reason why the number of workers who ran out of those federal unemployment benefits without finding work was twice as big in 2002 as at a similar point in the last downturn.

"Also, Congress and the President chose to exclude low-income working families from the increased child tax credit benefits that went to better-off families this summer," Greenstein added. "Yet this year's tax legislation will give people earning $1 million or more an average tax cut of $93,000."

You tell me how many have to be poor? And they are all prople with names!


And cars. Well, I live in NH and ther is no public transportation!

The economy is in the crapper. Why do you think we are almost 9 TRILLION in debt.

Answer 6

You certainly live somewhere near a bigger city. 30.000 people or more..Go drive around in some of the poor sections and tell me those figures are real.........The Government is in it's own dream land. and those figures are outright lies, There is a whole level of poverty in this country the government won't admit........Wake up and look for your self rather than believe everything you read.. I am not poor, never have been but I have been blessed to see alot of America and some of it does not make me proud. I can take you to places .Where people die in this country because they can afford to go to the hospital. I can show you older people that eat cat food at the end of the month because they can't afford real food..I can show you people that stuff news paper in their clothes to keep warm in the winter because they can't afford to run their furnace......And don't let people tell you are poor are better off than people in other countries,,BS,,,I spent 10 years in the Marine Corp I have been in Japan, Thailand, Egypt, Lebanon, Philippines, Okinawa, Iran(back in the 70's), Iraq, and to South and Central America...I have seen things right here in this country that rival anything I seen in other countries.

Answer 7

when was the last time you pulled off the interstate and went down the road a few miles out- side of major cites and there suburbs.
i have pulled off and gone a few miles and realized just what poor is an old wooden house paint peeling off everything rust on every peice of equipment lying around old barns and laid out in feilds just out side of town where there is one bank that says state bank on the door small diner and post office. that rusting farm equipment is whats left after the bank repossesed it some years back actioned off the newer stuff and left the colateral to rust away .i see a little more then half an acre plowed and planted with a variety of crops growing a few chickens and a kid in torn dungerees and no shoes swating flies off his face and body and i think to myself as i drive by if my car breaks down i will be stuck in this town for as long as it takes me to walk back to the interstate and hold out my thumb . there are towns all over america that had communitys of several thousand hard working people farmers and a small factory that employeed half the town now gone the jobs sent off to china or mexico or india and another town dies evey day across america. these people sell what they can for pennies on the dollar and head for the city crime infested run by gangs and find the only house they can afford a falling down shack in town for 40 ,000 dollars when they had a ten acre farm two story house barn and tractor a truck and the wifes car. this life is over for them and you have the nerve to say they are not poor .

Answer 8

... well... of course it is relative... but it depends on what you call "poor"...

and you seem to be picking and choosing points that only prove your point... can you cite the study... I would like to look at it myself... not saying that what you have said isn't true... but I would like to take a look at it...

Why do I have the feeling that your high school in the "ghetto" is actually an area nicer than the majority of us live in? You don't really seem to have an attachment to reality?

EDIT: AND WHY DO YOU PEOPLE NEVER CITE? WHICH ANNUAL REPORT... I WENT TO THE WEB SITE AND I DIDN'T SEE A NEW ONE? MAYBE THEY HAVEN'T POSTED IT YET, BUT WHERE DID YOU FIND THIS INFORMATION AT?

Answer 9

You have NO clue about this!!! I'm sure this "study" is ONLY talking about the WORKING poor!!! You know,people who do NOT make a decent wage!!!! We DO have REALLY poor people here in the U.S.!! I have SEEN parents with their small children, huddled around a soup kitchen in the WINTER time!!!! In Phoenix,one year we were going to the state fair,when we passed by a soup kitchen,and i COULD NOT BELIEVE all the people huddled around that building in NOVEMBER!!! And,YES,it does get COLD in the desert in the winter!!! I am SURE they did NOT include these unemployed,HOMELESS people in their "study", since THEY have no house,or anything ELSE!!!!

Answer 10

Great point! To be poor in America=Making a choice to be poor. John Edwards said he is in favor of giving poor people a savings account so they could feel good about themselves