What is the definition of poverty in the U.S.?

[Amelia]

What is the definition of poverty in the U.S.?

Is poverty in the U.S. something which can be alleviated? Or will the definition of poverty automatically be upwardly revised to still include approximately the same percentage of the population no matter how many material possessions the bottom segment of the population has?

 

[Annie]

What is the definition of poverty in the U.S.?

Is poverty in the U.S. something which can be alleviated? Or will the definition of poverty automatically be upwardly revised to still include approximately the same percentage of the population no matter how many material possessions the bottom segment of the population has?

It's fairly complex:

How the Census Bureau Measures Poverty - U.S Census Bureau

 

[Amelia]

Thanks, Annie.

I read that and a few other pages before I posted. It partially reinforced my general impression, and partially just confused me.

It seems that poverty to the U.S. gov't isn't what most of us consider poverty. Well-fed people living in comfort with money left over for entertainment are sometimes considered in poverty. Why? Is the measure of poverty so artificial that it makes the war on poverty itself artificial?

If we identify all the people in the U.S. who are living in poverty and if we then divide a trillion dollars between them, would that decrease the number of people we label as living in poverty? Or would it just raise the marker for what is considered poverty?

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Hope dem bankers dat got us in dis mess is enjoyin' dey's bonuses...

Going hungry in America: 'Distressing,' 'humbling,' 'scary'
22 Aug.`12 - Cheryl Preston knows that others are worse off. But she's still hungry.

As grocery prices creep higher and her income sags, rationing her family's food is a daily task. The 54-year-old mother of three and grandmother of three in Roanoke, Va., says there are days she skips meals so her husband and son can eat. If they notice, she says, she'll let them think she's fasting. She waters down the milk and juice to make it last longer. She visits food pantries, but it's not enough. "Who would think that in the land of plenty, hard-working families would go hungry? But I am living proof it is true," Preston writes in a first-person account for Yahoo!.

In the last three years, she hasn't been able to replace a $500 loss in monthly income. Her husband's job can't always guarantee 40 hours a week; his second job lasted only through Christmas. So mealtime suffers: Her family eats in one day what they used to eat at one meal. Often, they manage on a nearly barren cupboard for five or six days until the next pay day. They sometimes skip family gatherings at restaurants because they can't pay the tab. "It is distressing," Preston writes. "When you get a check for $250, and your basic needs require at least $400, you are already defeated. You can only cut back so much and then you have no choice but to do without. I long for the days when I could pay my bills on time, buy more than enough groceries and have money left over."

She's not alone. Eighteen percent of Americans say there have been times this year that they couldn't afford the food they needed, according to a Gallup poll released Tuesday. In particularly hard-hit regions of the United States, like the South, at least one in five didn't have enough money for food. In Preston's Virginia, 15.2 percent of state residents are affected. To put a face on hunger in America, Yahoo! asked readers and contributors to share their personal stories: Are they going hungry? How are they coping with higher food prices? Did they ever think they'd be in this position? Here are more personal stories shared with Yahoo! News this week.

Six years ago, Robert Watkins and his wife earned more than $100,000 combined. Groceries comprised 5 percent of their budget. They kept an emergency fund--good for three months' expenses--in a money market. Now, Watkins writes, they keep a "rainy day" jar of about $250 in assorted change by the bedside. "If I had to travel to the market and buy groceries for dinner tonight, would I have the money to do so? The truth is, yes, I would," Watkins writes. "Yet it's strange to think that this is life in America today. Like tens of millions of other people in the United States, we look closely at an expenditure that we took for granted just a few years ago--the cost of food."

MORE

 

[AmyNation]

The definition of poverty will always be changing as times change. The "poor" in the 50's had it worse than today's "poor", but they had it better than previous generations, who had it better than previous generations and on and on and on.

 

[syrenn]

What is the definition of poverty in the U.S.?

Is poverty in the U.S. something which can be alleviated? Or will the definition of poverty automatically be upwardly revised to still include approximately the same percentage of the population no matter how many material possessions the bottom segment of the population has?

smart phones, flat screen TV, computers, wifi, designer clothing, .....all part of living in poverty now.

 

[Mr Natural]

Living paycheck to paycheck with no savings is poor.

 

[syrenn]

Living paycheck to paycheck with no savings is poor.

Then i guess there are a good many people who make 250k a year+ can also claim to be ...... poor.

 

[AmyNation]

Living paycheck to paycheck with no savings is poor.

Then i guess there are a good many people who make 250k a year+ can also claim to be ...... poor.

I would add the inability to liquidate assets.

If you are one accident away from homeless then to me, you are poor.

 

[Mr Natural]

Living paycheck to paycheck with no savings is poor.

Then i guess there are a good many people who make 250k a year+ can also claim to be ...... poor.

No, people making that kind of money and living paycheck to paycheck aren't poor, just assholes.

 

[syrenn]

Living paycheck to paycheck with no savings is poor.

Then i guess there are a good many people who make 250k a year+ can also claim to be ...... poor.

I would add the inability to liquidate assets.

If you are one accident away from homeless then to me, you are poor.

And you think wealthy people cant be one accident away from homeless? The parameter that was given was pay check to pay check...."rich" people do that too.

 

[syrenn]

Living paycheck to paycheck with no savings is poor.

Then i guess there are a good many people who make 250k a year+ can also claim to be ...... poor.

No, people making that kind of money and living paycheck to paycheck aren't poor, just assholes.

Something wrong with your parameter of pay check to pay check now?


funny that.

 

[Mr Natural]

Then i guess there are a good many people who make 250k a year+ can also claim to be ...... poor.

I would add the inability to liquidate assets.

If you are one accident away from homeless then to me, you are poor.

And you think wealthy people cant be one accident away from homeless? The parameter that was given was pay check to pay check...."rich" people do that too.

That would have to be one huge fucking accident.

 

[syrenn]

I would add the inability to liquidate assets.

If you are one accident away from homeless then to me, you are poor.

And you think wealthy people cant be one accident away from homeless? The parameter that was given was pay check to pay check...."rich" people do that too.

That would have to be one huge fucking accident.

What is the difference.... if you cant pay your mortgage you cant pay your mortgage.

 

[AmyNation]

Then i guess there are a good many people who make 250k a year+ can also claim to be ...... poor.

I would add the inability to liquidate assets.

If you are one accident away from homeless then to me, you are poor.

And you think wealthy people cant be one accident away from homeless? The parameter that was given was pay check to pay check...."rich" people do that too.

I find that hard to believe.