Not really. I work with the truly poor here as part of a faith-based construction mission. Many folks here in the US really are quite poor. That does not make them miserable, however. And it does not make 37 million people destitute.
Some are miserable, some are destitute.
Poor in America can be brutal, but where one draws the poverty line IS a matter of perspective.
Perhaps (perhaps) 1/2 of the folks below our poverty line are on par with European middle class, but certainly not all.
See post #9.
Poor people in the US are poor because of choices THEY MADE. They chose to use drugs, have children at 16, drop out of high school, whatever.
Europe, especially Germany has a huge amount of poor. It is amazing how they pretend poverty does not exist in their own nations, when it is painfully obvious. Our numbers and living standard are much higher than Germany's.
And still that says little because of the vast difference of what a middle class in europe looks like (Difference Poland/Norway as an example)
There's certainly still a big gap between european countries. (Norway is cited to have the highest standard of life throughout the world - USA is 10th, germany 20th (darn reunification))
I also worked for more than 20 years with the poor.
By far, the biggest problem facing the poor in the US today is:
Obesity.