Posted on 08/27/2004 9:27:18 AM PDT by NotchJohnson
Get out your hanky...it's time once again to feel sorry for all of the supposed Americans "living in poverty." The Census Bureau reported yesterday that the number of Americans living in poverty has risen. As a matter of fact, they are saying that 35.8 million people are now living below the poverty line. On top of that, they're now saying 12.9 million children are living in poverty. Quick...we must elect The Poodle! How can this be allowed to stand! Wait a minute! Forget The Poodle ... let's rush Hillary in there! She cares so much about the children! More money must be confiscated from those that earned it in order to "lift people out of poverty." Nonsense.
Actually, the truth is, there is no poverty in America. If you get beyond the biased media's hysterical headlines, let's apply a little common sense. First of all, according to the government, you could have a net worth of over ten million dollars, own two houses, have three cars and because you only earned a few thousand dollars in income last year, you would be living in poverty. Does Terreeeeza Heinz-Kerry draw a salary? Maybe she's living in poverty too.
It's a fact, folks. When the government measures poverty they're only concerned with paychecks, not with what you have already earned. The government doesn't look at your bank accounts, your balance sheets or that jewelry hanging around your neck. Only your paychecks.
Let's say you are a remarkably successful stock broker. You decide to take a year off and travel the country in your $800,000 Blue Bird Wanderlodge motor home. Guess what? For that year, our government says you're "living in poverty."
Why is it so? It started back during the LBJ "Great Society" years. Johnson wanted to create a method of measuring poverty that would provide a continued excuse for expanding the scope and nature of Johnson's war on poverty programs. That method of measuring poverty -- by only counting income -- is still alive today, and it is still being used by government hacks as a reason for ever more government and ever more government spending.
The average American defined as "poor" by the federal government enjoys a higher standard of living than the average European; not the average poor European ... the average European. It's a scam, folks. A scam to enable more government. If a person has a roof over their head, food in their cupboard, a television set, a washer and dryer, a microwave, air conditioning and a car. Sorry folks, but that ain't poverty. Just more leftist fantasies and imagined "emergencies" designed to create the need for more government. With very rare exception, there is not a single person living in so-called "poverty" in America whose own decisions have not led to their situation.
Poverty is a choice. It's a behavioral disorder. Poverty, my friends, is a mental disease.
Beats living in pottery.
Good point. My above-mentioned $12/day does not include gov't handouts.
This country is still the economic ENVY OF THE WORLD. We are a country of IMmigration, and not EMigration. Liberals cannot understand that.
The are of course uninsured, because they were treated for free and that is how we count them.
But the plain truth is, that they got the best food that money can buy and top notch medical care.
The facts are that we have a very good safety net, and nobody goes without even a 30 inch color TV in this society.
It is far too easy to survive here. Far too easy indeed.
A two person household where both are working forty hours a week at minimum wage is $21,424 a year. That's not poverty.
I worked at Circle K store for a bit. People on welfare would come in, and try to buy stuff using their EBT cards. Our machine was always down, and could not be used. Every single time, these people paid cash for their purchases. Not to mention the cell phones they had and nice cars they drove.
I've been to Cambodia. I've seen a three generation family of eight living in a 10x10 open sided shelter that was nailed together from scrap wood and tin shingles. Needless to say, electricity and running water was not a consideration. Now that is poverty.
Our daughter just returned from a short term missions trip to San Salvador. Trust me, our poor are rich by world standards.
Fifty years ago, malnutrition was one of this country's biggest health problems. Today, that major problem is now OBESITY!
I've presuming that was sarcasm. I've noticed a few of your recent postings seem to be a bit left leaning. Won't you run along and join DU if you don't like it here.
Stopped by Fred Meyers store on the way to work today. The electronic sign in the parking lot was advertising some valued cosmetic product for only $12.50. In this context, a family of 6 could eat for a week on that. Being a whingeing Liberal would be easy if one didn't have to think and reason and reflect.
Think of everybody in the economy who gets paid "off the books" - domestics, gardeners, "subcontract labor" - add up all the unreported income and the "poverty" rate becomes miniscule. As somone else noted here, look at all the nice cars in the ghetto...
It's actually just under $16.50 a day for a single person with no dependents.
The headline in today's Indianapolis Star is "1.3 million more sink into poverty"... along with a graph that shows an absolutely flat poverty rate. All that happened is that America grew in population... but why let that little fact ruin a perfectly snazzy (and misleading) headline?
The last time I heard about poverty was in 1992. Hmmm.
The average single parent who is on her 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th child out of wedlock, the normal stay after childbirth is 3 days. Now for me with my own self paid policy of $700 per month for a family of 5 will be allowed to stay 24 hours after child birth. I don't get any freebies...I am penalized for being married and for being a working mother which is why my maternity leave will more than likely be nearly non existent.
The bottom line, it pays to be illegitimate.
The rate of povety is mainly due to the flood of illegal aleins.
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