15% poverty rate?

[billwald]

http://heraldnet.com/article/20110106/NEWS02/701069907

Lying with statistics?

$21K/family would be slim pickings around here. Where you are?

ANYONE think the recession is over?

Should a family be able to live on one income?

 

[targus]

http://heraldnet.com/article/20110106/NEWS02/701069907

Lying with statistics?

$21K/family would be slim pickings around here. Where you are?

ANYONE think the recession is over?

Should a family be able to live on one income?

"The Census Bureau, which has expanded its definition of poverty, has calculated that 15.7 percent of Americans, many of them elderly, are poor and struggling because of rising medical costs and other expenses."

Geee... do you think that this new expanded definition of poverty - which now for the first time includes the cost of health care - has anything to do with the prospect of Obama's healthscare bill getting undone?

Who said that the recession is over?

A family could still live on one income - if they were to be willing to do it like they used to - by not overspending and growing some of their own food - one car only - no cell phones (especially no cell phones for the kids) - pass clothes down through a couple of kids - etc.

 

[Robert Snow]

A family could still live on one income - if they were to be willing to do it like they used to - by not overspending and growing some of their own food - one car only - no cell phones (especially no cell phones for the kids) - pass clothes down through a couple of kids - etc.

Even you cannot be ignorant enough as to actually believe this!

 

[matt wade]

Even you cannot be ignorant enough as to actually believe this!

I personally know a ton of people (my family included) that live on one income. Are you ignorant enough to believe that people don't live on one income?

 

[billwald]

More good news.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business...d-economic-assault-on-the-middle-class/68902/

 

[matt wade]

More good news.

http://www.theatlantic.com/business...d-economic-assault-on-the-middle-class/68902/

What a great example billwald! I guess you think that the folks working at the dollar store should be making the big bucks, right? I mean it is such a skilled job, right?

 

[Robert Snow]

I personally know a ton of people (my family included) that live on one income. Are you ignorant enough to believe that people don't live on one income?

Perhaps it depends on the amount of the income.

 

[Don]

Perhaps it depends on the amount of the income.

Actually - it depends on their expenditures.

 

[Crabtownboy]

Poverty rate chart covering 1959 to 2009.

 

[Salty]

Lets determine what poverty is:
Is it:

Less than 2 tv's
less than 2 autos
each child has his own bedroom
less than basic cable
less than eating out at least once a week
less than ten latest fashion outfits
less than one cell phone per family member
lest than - well you get the ideal

 

[Crabtownboy]

Lets determine what poverty is:
Is it:

Less than 2 tv's
less than 2 autos
each child has his own bedroom
less than basic cable
less than eating out at least once a week
less than ten latest fashion outfits
less than one cell phone per family member
lest than - well you get the ideal

Do you have a source for this or is it simply your opinion .... or perhaps you are saying this tongue in cheek.

 

[targus]

Even you cannot be ignorant enough as to actually believe this!

Several in my family - some of my brothers and sisters - and now some of their children do exactly that.

My brother's daughter has seven kids and she is a stay at home mom - while her husband works.

My sister's daughter has two kids and she is a stay at home mom - while her husband works.

My wife's brother has two kids and his wife is a stay at home mom.

My sister raised seven children - she was a stay at home mom.

My sister's son has two kids and his wife is a stay at home mom.

It would seem that you are the one speaking out of ignorance.

If you think that one income can no longer support a family - perhaps you need a better job. :tongue3:

 

[North Carolina Tentmaker]

ANYONE think the recession is over?

Should a family be able to live on one income?

I'm not exactly sure what you are trying to say here Bill. The choice to live on one income is a choice for most families, often a choice that involves sacrifice. When our children were younger and we homeschooled we were a one income family. Now my wife is out of work so we are again, but she hopes to be working again soon.

Using the 2000 census information available on our counties website the average family in our county had an income of $27,992. I make enough on my job alone to make us above average, so I guess I should not complain. If the median family is making less than me we should be able to live on my income alone. It is our choice not to.

 

[North Carolina Tentmaker]

Lets determine what poverty is:

Salty, I think that is the point of the article in the original post. By changing the definition of poverty they are making charts like the one crabtown posted invalid because they have a new definition of what poverty is. The new definition may actually be more accurate, but because they are changing it comparison to past poverty levels become invalid.

Poverty is a relative term, hence Jesus' statement that the poor will always be with us (John 12:8). The millionaire is poor compared to the billionaire. Poor in the United States is still rich to much of the world. The world bank defines poverty as income less than $2 per day, well below the standard given in the link.

 

[just-want-peace]

Poverty is whatever the pseudo-compassionates want it to be, and if you are peddling class warfare then you want the level of "POOR" to be as high as possible so more can identify with your "love and protection"(??) of them ---- hence more votes!

Edited to add:
Is it not a hoot how many of these on welfare (poor??) are so overweight?

True "poorness" would exemplify itself, I would certainly think, by distended bellies, not extended fat; more like those we see pictures of in Africa.

So perhaps the definition of "POOR" needs to be adjusted to reality, and not just a comparison!

As someone stated earlier, I'm poor compared to Bill Gates, and I s'pose if the Ds needed my vote bad enough they would revise the definition of "POOR" to be any income less than 1K(+/-) above mine so I would qualify or all the give-aways -- doncha ya think??

 

[carpro]

http://heraldnet.com/article/20110106/NEWS02/701069907

Lying with statistics?

$21K/family would be slim pickings around here. Where you are?

Of course.

 

[Bro. Curtis]

The world bank defines poverty as income less than $2 per day, well below the standard given in the link.

Case closed.

 

[Robert Snow]

Case closed.

Another ignorant statement!

 

[carpro]

The 15% "poverty" rate is a bunch of hooey.

The following are facts about persons defined as "poor" by the Census Bureau, taken from various government reports:


Forty-three 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.

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

Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.

The average 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.

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

Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.

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

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 equally far from the popular images of dire poverty conveyed by the press, liberal activists, and politicians.

 

[carpro]

Several in my family - some of my brothers and sisters - and now some of their children do exactly that.

My brother's daughter has seven kids and she is a stay at home mom - while her husband works.

My sister's daughter has two kids and she is a stay at home mom - while her husband works.

My wife's brother has two kids and his wife is a stay at home mom.

My sister raised seven children - she was a stay at home mom.

My sister's son has two kids and his wife is a stay at home mom.

It would seem that you are the one speaking out of ignorance.

If you think that one income can no longer support a family - perhaps you need a better job. :tongue3:

Some people have problems managing money. RS has told us before that he is one of them.