Posted on 08/06/2012 5:55:15 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Can you really be poor if you own a flat-screen TV ... or two? Depends on whom you ask.
With income inequality at the center of the national political debate this year, it should be no surprise that conservatives and liberals are coming down on opposite sides of the tracks.
Conservatives point to spending patterns, saying consumption is a better indicator of living standards than income. Using that metric, the nation's poor are living better than they have been in decades, enjoying many of the amenities that the middle class have.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
I am insulted. They do not even include me.....I would be between 80 and 120 (the much lower side). Are they going to start giving out TV’s now? Cell phones, food stamps, low housing, welfare dollars, lower heating bills. Might as well throw in TV and cable because it is just money.
Obviously the “income” number is meaningless.
But since it helps the liberal goal of dependency, the MSM will continue to consider it gospel.
World median income is about $2/day.
If you’re living on more than half the world’s population, you’re not poor.
If you’re buying luxury goods at prices which could feed someone for a year (see my tagline), you’re not poor no way no how.
Full cable with lots of premium stations plus a 50” LED TV...... Lots of our “poor” have setups like that. Because they are making off the books money while getting all kinds of Gov’t money and subsidies. These chiselers are always networking and exchanging tips on how to get more out of the Gov’t. How about a tip on who to see at the SS office to get your children crazy checks which are disability payments because the kid got an autism diagnosis. What friendly shrink to see who will give your child the right diagnosis.
I’m not poor so long as I can still borrow money.
the “poor” have more disposable income than us working folks, because of all the government freebies; food, shelter, medical care, subsidized utilities, cell phones, transportation and straight up cash (EBT Cards), just to name a few things.
-——food stamps, low housing, welfare dollars, lower heating bills——
The key to access is an EBT card. We have progressed to the point where any one can purchase a device that plugs in to a smart phone to allow payment with plastic.
One wonders if your friendly street corner crack dealer can swipe your EBT card as the Friendly Grocery Store and have us pay for the high?
Go to Sam’s or Wal Mart some day and check out the prices of flat screen TVs in the 32” to 42” range. There are quit a few that can be had for under $500 and some that come in under $300. Even somebody with a pretty low income can afford one of those. Indeed, in inflation adjusted dollars, flat screens are really cheap compared to their old CRT predecessors. No way they can be called luxury expenditures.
Oh no I’m poor...I have never owned more than one TV. My kids never had them in their rooms. I guess I’ll go be depressed...NOT.
Is it? Is it really? Because it sounds more like an Obama class warfare talking point to me.
It would be fun to do a “Breitbart” investigation by somehow getting the cable bills of poor neighborhoods around the country.
A tv station here in Indy got a computer file of where TANF EBT card swipes were made - Vegas, Disney, Nevada brothels, Puerto Rico, NYC, etc.
Don’t forget to add schooling for the kids (not just regular k-12—but schooling for 1 and 2 year olds) and free food for them there and medical.
I went over to a person’s house the week before last. She and her kids receive a lot of tax payer benefits. They’ve got a flat screen TV and game system. She’s got a fancy cell phone. Her husband (an illegal) has a newer truck. This person isn’t an evil person, but she’s got a welfare mindset. She was telling me about some small windfalls they came into, but those won’t be saved. They’ll be squandered.
One wonders if your friendly street corner crack dealer can swipe your EBT card as the Friendly Grocery Store and have us pay for the high?
I didn’t think about this but after pondering for a minute, I am going to say absolutely they can. It is a little machine and they can even name it something like “Lifestyle choice” for the bill and nobody would be the wiser.
“If you took the typical poor household and put them on TV, no one would think they are poor,” he said. “They struggle to make ends meet, but they are not in any type of deprivation.”...There ARE NO poor, or deprived in the US.
This person isn’t an evil person, but she’s got a welfare mindset.
Most people on welfare are not evil just misguided and so infused in the system that they become the system. It is so sad to see this. Sure they have SOME luxuries but if they would get a career and really start working they would be so much better off.
No. Next question.
I don’t have a flat-screen TV. Not one. (Okay, okay, we do have 5 flat screen computer monitors. But not a single TV. As much as we pay in taxes you’d think Obama could could say “thanks” by buying me one, like he does for his people on welfare.)
Only among social-engineering totalitarian leftists.
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