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Our Poor are NOT Poor by Jeff Jackson (1/22/04)
The Land of the Free - A Conservative Politics Web Site

Since publishing Out Racing the World, January 14, 2004 the email has barely stopped claiming that I don’t know what I am talking about, that I am and idiot, and on and on. They are really a riot to read to be sure. I opened the piece in question with the following statement:

“Thanks greatly to the benefit of a mostly free market and the liberties we practice under our Republic the United States has become the model of the civilized world. Per capita we have the highest standard of living of any nation from our poor all the way up to our rich. Per capita we have the largest amount of land ownership for any country. We have the highest rate of disposable income of any nation. We have the largest budget for national defense of any country around the world. We have an economy that grows at a rate faster than that of any other nation each and every year. And on top of all that, we find enough time to donate our time, blood and treasure to help out many other nations around the globe each and every year.”

What really has caused the ire among some of the more radical and uniformed readers of this site to get into a tizzy is when I dared to make the assertion that “Per capita we have the highest standard of living of any nation from our poor all the way up to our rich” and “We have the highest rate of disposable income of any nation”. To which “Angel” replied “You have no idea what it is like to be poor in this country with your cushy job and 6 figure salary”. Dingo8 claimed “The poor in this country are far worse off than the poor in any other country coupled with the highest rate of unemployment in the civilized world makes our country in dire straights for our future.” Jim submitted a short tirade stating “You sir are an idiot. I am poor and understand the problems. You never will.”

I assure all you out there that believe to know better that I am most certainly not off my rocker when I make such statements. I make nowhere near 6 figures each year but I am also admittedly not poor. I have been, but I am not now. But before I go on and explain how I can possibly claim that our poor are not poor please note (Mr. Dingo8) that the United States does not have the highest unemployment rate in the civilized world. German unemployment rate rises to 10.4 percent is but the most recent proof that you are living in a fantasyland. Also see Italy: Unemployment rate falls to 8.5%, and France unemployment at 9.3% just for examples. Last time I looked, the U.S. was under 6% so go back and rethink your approach to this argument.

Now that that is over, let’s address how poor the poor actually are in the United States. For reference I direct your attention to a report from the Heritage Foundation (www.heritage.org) dated January 5, 2004. Here is the direct link to Understanding Poverty in America. Please also note that this paper is footnoted 35 times which is about 35 more footnotes than most people who are jumping down my throat have ever made.

In this paper it shows some very interesting things and taken directly from census reports. The most interesting of which are that of our “poor” in America:

1.      46% of poor households in America own their own homes. THEY OWN THEIR OWN HOMES! I REPEAT THEY OWN THEIR OWN HOMES!
2.      Of all “poor” households in America, about 75% own a car and 30% own two or more cars! I REPEAT 30% have MORE THAN ONE CAR!
3.      97% of such households have a color TV; 50% own two or more color televisions.   I REPEAT 50% HAVE MORE THAN ONE COLOR TV!
4.      Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception; ALL OF WHICH ARE LUXURY ITEMS!
5.      25% (one quarter) of these homes have a BIG SCREEN TV!
6.      Microwave ovens exist in 73% of poor households (luxury item). 50% have a stereo (luxury item), and 33% own dishwasher (luxury item). OUR POOR CAN AFFORD LUXURY ITEMS!
7.      “The typical poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe.” In other words, from the data, the poor in America have about 116% of the housing space of the AVERAGE citizen of countries like the UK, France and Germany. Our poor are better off than any other country’s AVERAGE citizen!
8.      76% of households classified as “poor” in America have air conditioning; a LUXURY item!
9.      26% have a cell phone (LUXURY ITEM!)
10. 24% have a computer (LUXURY ITEM!)
11. Almost 100% (98.9% to be exact) have a refrigerator to help keep their food fresh longer! This also means that they all have electricity!
12. 54% live in a single-family dwelling!
13. Only 5% of the nation’s poor have more than one person per room in their house! 68% have less than half a person per room or two rooms per person or MORE!
14. Only 4% of poor households in the United States have “severe physical problems” and half of those are attributed to “a shared bathroom, which occurs when occupants lack a bathroom and must share bathroom facilities with individuals in a neighboring unit.”
15. A mere 2% of poor households have been listed as “Often Did Not Have Enough Food to Eat Due to Lack of Money” and 9% “Sometimes Did Not Have Enough Food to Eat Due to Lack of Money”. Also note that “Hunger” is a subjective term. I am hungry right now but it does not have anything to do with my financial state.
16. 70% claimed that they were able to meet all essential household expenses (rent, mortgage, utility, etc)

Need I go on or do you get the picture? If after all these facts one can calmly or rationally think that they can rationally argue that our poor in America are, as a whole, “poor” then by all means please try.

In America we suffer from our own success. It makes us blind as to what actual “poverty” really is. We see that 30% of “poor” households claim not to be able to meet “essential” expenses, yet 50% own more than one color TV? 70% own a microwave? 62% have cable or satellite TV? 76% have air conditioning?

In America we have had it so good for the past two centuries that our perspective on the realities of certain things is so distorted. If we can’t afford a big screen tv we think we are poor. We have the come to believe that when we have things bad, nothing else can compare. Our ability to see outside of our own little corner of the world has become dimmed.

The question that we must consider knowing these things is not whether these households are actually poor but rather are these households living beyond their means? And if they are living beyond their means, who’s fault is that? America’s?

No. Just like myself, poor people who fall into the 30% that cannot even meet their “necessary expenses” have to learn to live within their means. I can’t afford a $40k sports car (and don’t really want one anyway) so I don’t buy one. I would LOVE to have another tv in my house but I can not afford one.

Also we must understand that these numbers of “poor” include some people between employment. Those that were not poor when they were employed or employed at a higher paying job. They will get jobs and move back out of poverty. The vast majority of our poor are temporarily so.

But we still see people clamoring to the microphone about how bad it is to be poor in America. When we look at the numbers above however how can anyone make such a claim with a straight face?

You want to see poverty? Move to Africa or the Middle East. You think you or your friends in America who might be below $30k a year are poor? Try living in a mud hut without a shirt or running water and electricity for a month and no hope of ever having anything that you didn’t kill or make yourself. That is poverty my friends. Living in your own home with a TV and many other luxuries is not.

We have “poor” in America. But American “poor” are not “destitute” for the most part. We have a very small percentage of “destitute” or “true poverty” in America. But there is one thing that America grants you. And that is a true opportunity to lift your self out of that situation if you really work hard and don’t live beyond your means.

If you choose not to do that however, that is your own problem.

Get over it. America isn’t that bad of a place. Our poor are not “poor”. At least not to the point where they are sucking moss off of tree bark to survive like they do in some countries.

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