[im4given]

very interesting.......................

[_Jim]

Suffice it to say - it's nothing like the dust-bowl days ...

[Wheee The People]

The biggest poverty in America is not economic. It is a poverty of sprit. The sprit that says I will go out, get a job and work.

[visualops]

I am not surprised to find that many of the supposed "poor" aren't really poor. They just don't have as much as they'd like.
Makes you wonder just exactly what is the criteria for poor.
Let me tell you how folks like to think they are so bad off- they create problems and then milk the system, and still complain about "rich" folks.
I work with a woman who is married with 3 kids. She had a few marital problems (that resolved themselves), but according to what she tells the gov't, they are seperated. So when she's not working 40 hrs, she qualifies for food stamps. She makes a point of not normally putting in 40 hours, to stay eligible for max EIC and occasionally food stamps etc. She has DSL internet and satellite TV package, yet I've driven her to work when she "hasn't had the money" to fix her car.

[Pearls Before Swine]

Like virtue, poverty has its absolute and relative components. The absolute components of poverty are obvious in a starving, oppressed third world country (say Sudan or Zimbabwe), but less obvious here. Her, nutrition is rarely a problem, but public safety might be. Even that would be closer to an absolute than a relative component. Relative components are such things as the so-called digital divide. The relative component of poverty is sometimes also called "jealousy."

In the world of virtue, we have similar distinctions. Hardly anyone sympathizes with, say, violent child perverts. That would be your absolute component. However, you can relatively more and less honorable thieves. Sometimes right and wrong get pretty complicated. Ask Martha Stewart's lawyers. That's relative virtue, in my book.

[judgeandjury]

According to 2003 federal poverty guidelines, a family of five that had a household income of $21,539 was living in poverty. That breaks down to an income of $1,794.92 per month. Not too bad for a family living in poverty.

[raisincane]

The only time poverty in America gets any attention is when America is led by a Republican President. During the impreached X42's term, poverty wasn't even mentioned.

The poorest American is considered well off, compared to people of third world countries.

[yankeedame]

Ah, yes, America. The only country on earth were the poor are overweight.

[Fester Chugabrew]

One of the first signs of povery is incorrect smelling in a headline.