Define poverty. To call our poor, poor is a crock. The poorest poor in our country is rich by both average world standards and by historical standards. There is a whole lot of really poor folks who would give there right arm to change places with the poor in our country. In fact those who are poor in our country would be considered wealthy beyond the wildest dreams of folks who were wealthy in the 1800's in our country,
I agree. If we played the comparative and historical relativist game, there are no poor in the US. Likewise, no one is sick, hungry or malnourished. America is about the spirit of doing better, working hard, striving, accomplishing. Many families falling below poverty level are doing just this--at least trying very hard. You probably disagree, but the poverty line gives us a yardstick about how our economy and policies are doing. Growing poverty tells us something is not right and I want to listen. Mostly, from the experience of families at or aroung the poverty level, their standard is not America circa 1800 or Pakistan today. They look at how they are doing compared to how they were doing in their past, compared to their own efforts, compared to others with similiar accomplishments, and, yes, to those "above" them.