[Awestruck]

The government gives health care to those who won't work, but won't subsidize health care for some of its own employees (myself included).

[Jack of all Trades]

This was printed in Connecticut? With actual ink?

[saveliberty]

I think that at least 6 months ago, the Wall St Journal published stats.

74% owned a washer
two thirds owned at least one car
one third owned a second car

I don't recall the rest. I do recall Ceci Connelly harping on how bad the economy was. That's hard to listen to especially when it was Moynihan who was pilloried when he found that welfare programs backfire.

[Billthedrill]

One has to remember that "poverty" as the popular media treat it is measured with respect to the context of the local economy - the poorest 20% are poor by definition and not by a comparison to their counterparts elsewhere in the world or especially elsewhen in history. I noted this last month in rereading Woodham-Smith's The Great Hunger, which dealt with the Irish famine of the 1840's - prior to the crop failure 2000 Irish starved to death in a "normal" year and nobody turned a hair. And the rest of Europe was no different.

God forbid we should ever see real poverty again in this country because I don't think the country would make it.

[squarebarb]

From the headline I thought the article was going to say something profound;

Like: What poor people really lack is a decent societal culture.

[traviskicks]

More on this, inclduing two charts and graphs:

http://www.neoperspectives.com/the_poor.htm