Understanding the wealth of the poor

[Brutus]

Link for Cut and Paste: http://www.heritage.org/research/re...or-examining-the-plague-of-poverty-in-america


Federal state and local spending on the poor totals $6 trillion a year, every year, year in and year out; apparently forever. This means that every year the government spends, on the poor, 6 times what the the top 400 Americans have been able to accumulate over many generations. Or, not to confuse liberals, this means the poor have, in effect, a net wealth of $100 trillion in order that the government can generate $6 trillion yearly from it in welfare payments of various sorts for the poor. $100 trillion is far more than $1.5 trillion( the net worth of the top 400 Americans).


And lets not forget that America's poor are rich in other ways beyond what liberal welfare provides:

The following are facts about persons defined as “poor” by the Census Bureau, taken from a variety of government reports:

46 percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.

80 percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, in 1970, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.

Only six percent of poor households are overcrowded; two thirds have more than two rooms per person.

The typical poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)


cut short per usmb copyright rules~Care

 

[Lovebears65]

Most of the poor today doesnt understand what its like to be truly poor. I grew up poor. I know what its like. My parents had 6 kids ( before birth control pills or abortion for your left wingers) and we lived in a 2 bedroom house that my grandmother gave to my mom. We had no hot water and had to boil our water to take a bath or wash dishes. We had no working toilet and my mom had to plunge and pour bleach water down the toilet to flush it. In the winter our house was cold and in the summer it was hot . No AC there. We got our first TV in the late 70s only because a friend gave us one. We had one used very old car that was always broke down to transport us 6 kids anywhere. We walked to church every sunday and walked to school until they decided to bus us. I laugh at most of the poor these days and that complain how much they dont have. They have cars and better housing that I ever would dream of. The house I am living in now , when I was younger I would have considered it to be a rich persons house even though we are very middle class..

 

[Utilitarian]

Most of the poor today doesnt understand what its like to be truly poor. I grew up poor. I know what its like. My parents had 6 kids ( before birth control pills

As a side note, birth control pills have been available unrestricted to the public since 1960.

 

[Lovebears65]

Most of the poor today doesnt understand what its like to be truly poor. I grew up poor. I know what its like. My parents had 6 kids ( before birth control pills

As a side note, birth control pills have been available unrestricted to the public since 1960.

Point taken , but my parents were to poor to afford birth control .. Not like today when you can get medical.. Plus my father was Catholic back then .. Just saying people today have it good compared to back then.

 

[LoneLaugher]

Well then....all is well. I'm sure the President will appreciate your vote of confidence in his economic plan.

 

[The Rabbi]

Well then....all is well. I'm sure the President will appreciate your vote of confidence in his economic plan.

Because it continues programs that have been proven obvious failures?

 

[Greenbeard]

Federal state and local spending on the poor totals $6 trillion a year, every year, year in and year out; apparently forever.

 

[Utilitarian]

Most of the poor today doesnt understand what its like to be truly poor. I grew up poor. I know what its like. My parents had 6 kids ( before birth control pills

As a side note, birth control pills have been available unrestricted to the public since 1960.

Point taken , but my parents were to poor to afford birth control .. Not like today when you can get medical.. Plus my father was Catholic back then .. Just saying people today have it good compared to back then.

Correction... I forgot the pill was still illegal in 8 states until around 1965. I can't remember if Georgia was one of them or not.

As for comparing now and then, I guess it depends on how you measure quality of life.

There are more social programs today than there were back in the 50s, but then again, the economy was moving in a positive direction back then. You could get a decent job without even a college degree, and wages were growing much faster than inflation back then.

Housing/rent was also much cheaper, even when measured as a percentage of income.

So while people didn't have as much "stuff" back then, getting the bare essentials was much more affordable. The middle class was growing rather than shrinking.

And despite all this, the wealthy paid a much higher percentage in income taxes....

There were fewer deductions back then too.

Granted, if you were black.... life wasn't so nice....

 

[The Rabbi]

Federal state and local spending on the poor totals $6 trillion a year, every year, year in and year out; apparently forever.

I think he meant the spending continued forever, not the actual number, which only gets bigger.

 

[ladyliberal]

Do you have a source for any of this? The figure of $6 trillion seems ridiculously high compared to the size of US GDP, indeed higher than total public sector expenditures. I'm also curious as to how you arrive at the round figure of $100 trillion. And I can't find any of your facts on the census website (they may be there, but I can't find them).

 

[Jackson]

Federal state and local spending on the poor totals $6 trillion a year, every year, year in and year out; apparently forever. This means that every year the government spends, on the poor, 6 times what the the top 400 Americans have been able to accumulate over many generations. Or, not to confuse liberals, this means the poor have, in effect, a net wealth of $100 trillion in order that the government can generate $6 trillion yearly from it in welfare payments of various sorts for the poor. $100 trillion is far more than $1.5 trillion( the net worth of the top 400 Americans).


And lets not forget that America's poor are rich in other ways beyond what liberal welfare provides:

The following are facts about persons defined as “poor” by the Census Bureau, taken from a variety of government reports:

46 percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.

80 percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, in 1970, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.

Only six percent of poor households are overcrowded; two thirds have more than two rooms per person.

The typical poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)

Nearly three quarters of poor households own a car; 31 percent own two or more cars.

97 percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.

78 percent have a VCR or DVD player.

62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.

89 percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and a more than a third have an automatic dishwasher.

As a group, America’s poor are far from being chronically undernourished. The average consumption of protein, vitamins, and minerals is virtually the same for poor and middle-class children and, in most cases, is well above recommended norms. Poor children actually consume more meat than do higher-income children and have average protein intakes 100-percent above recommended levels. Most poor children today are, in fact, super-nourished and grow up to be, on average, one inch taller and ten pounds heavier than the GIs who stormed the beaches of Normandy in World War II.

While the poor are generally well-nourished, some poor families do experience temporary food shortages. But, even this condition is relatively rare; 89 percent of the poor report their families have “enough” food to eat, while only two percent say they “often” do not have enough to eat.

Overall, the typical American defined as poor by the government has a car, air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR, or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family is not hungry, and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his family’s essential needs. While this individual’s life is not opulent, it is far from the popular images of dire poverty conveyed by the press, liberal activists, and politicians.

Of course, the living conditions of the average poor American should not be taken as representing all of the nation’s poor: There is a wide range of living conditions among the poor. A third of “poor” households have both cell and land-line telephones. A third also telephone answering machines. At the other extreme, approximately one-tenth of families in poverty have no phone at all. Similarly, while the majority of poor households do not experience significant material problems, roughly a third do experience at least one problem such as overcrowding, temporary hunger, or difficulty getting medical care.

Much official poverty that does exist in the United States can be reduced, particularly among children. There are two main reasons that American children are poor: Their parents don’t work much, and their fathers are absent from the home.

This really puts the "poor" in proper perspective. Comparing our poor to other countries is an eye opener for most.

 

[Greenbeard]

The figure of $6 trillion seems ridiculously high compared to the size of US GDP, indeed higher than total public sector expenditures.

And we have a winner. Well done.

 

[Sky Dancer]

Rather than appreciate that we enjoy a standard of life in America that even the poor enjoy, you folks would rather live like a third world country. The elites in their guarded communities with their servants and the peasants living in complete squalor with no electricity, running water, sanitation, food, housing or health care.

You have no problem giving corporations trillion dollar welfare, but some poor old woman, after working all her life, she can choose between having heat, food or medication.

 

[8537]

Total state, local and federal spending on all programs was 6.2T in 2011. I have trouble believing the government only spent 200B on other items.

 

[The Rabbi]

Rather than appreciate that we enjoy a standard of life in America that even the poor enjoy, you folks would rather live like a third world country. The elites in their guarded communities with their servants and the peasants living in complete squalor with no electricity, running water, sanitation, food, housing or health care.

You have no problem giving corporations trillion dollar welfare, but some poor old woman, after working all her life, she can choose between having heat, food or medication.

No, idiot. We'd rather live like Americans, where many many people have great opportunities to become wealthy rather than dependent serfs on the government. Your comments are parodies of left wing flap-doodle.
I would neg rep you but your avatar is sexy.

 

[Katzndogz]

Life was much better for black people in the 50s than today. Granted they had some severe limitations, racisim was rampant, cruel and harsh.

Black families had a mother and a father. Black on black crime was close to being non existent. Black girls did not have babies from multiple fathers without a clue as to which guy fathered which child. Black neighborhoods were safe. The strong family unit kept gangs from growing out of control. Gangs, drugs, prison and crime were not lifestyle choices.

Blacks got civil rights, good. After that, what they did with those civil rights, is worse than anything the KKK would have done.

 

[8537]

Life was much better for black people in the 50s than today.

^That right there is all we need to know. You should make that the Republican rallying cry to recruit blacks: Vote for us and we'll make it like 1950 all over again!

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Most of the poor today doesnt understand what its like to be truly poor. I grew up poor. I know what its like. My parents had 6 kids ( before birth control pills or abortion for your left wingers) and we lived in a 2 bedroom house that my grandmother gave to my mom. We had no hot water and had to boil our water to take a bath or wash dishes. We had no working toilet and my mom had to plunge and pour bleach water down the toilet to flush it. In the winter our house was cold and in the summer it was hot . No AC there. We got our first TV in the late 70s only because a friend gave us one. We had one used very old car that was always broke down to transport us 6 kids anywhere. We walked to church every sunday and walked to school until they decided to bus us. I laugh at most of the poor these days and that complain how much they dont have. They have cars and better housing that I ever would dream of. The house I am living in now , when I was younger I would have considered it to be a rich persons house even though we are very middle class..

Have you considered writing scripts for some soap-opera.....'cause you've got the "gift".

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Federal state and local spending on the poor totals $6 trillion a year, every year, year in and year out; apparently forever. This means that every year the government spends, on the poor, 6 times what the the top 400 Americans have been able to accumulate over many generations.

Blah....blah....blah.......

Gee.....so many details.....so many facts....so little (documented) proof.

(....But, you do gets points for creativity.)

 

[Mr. Shaman]

Most of the poor today doesnt understand what its like to be truly poor. I grew up poor. I know what its like. My parents had 6 kids ( before birth control pills

As a side note, birth control pills have been available unrestricted to the public since 1960.

Yeah.....right.....unrestricted.

January 24, 2005

Hospitals May Be Forced....