America's Poor

[Twodogs]

Originally Posted by bhunter

The L.A. Times Headline: "Record 46.2 million Americans live in poverty, Census Bureau says"

What the liberal media didn't say about those 46.2 million poor:


"The following are facts about persons defined as "poor" by the Census Bureau:


* 80 percent of poor households have air conditioning

* Nearly three-fourths have a car or truck, and 31 percent have two or more cars or trucks

* Nearly two-thirds have cable or satellite television

* Two-thirds have at least one DVD player and 70 percent have a VCR

* Half have a personal computer, and one in seven have two or more computers

* More than half of poor families with children have a video game system, such as an Xbox or PlayStation

* 43 percent have Internet access

* One-third have a wide-screen plasma or LCD television

* One-fourth have a digital video recorder system, such as a TiVo"

Further:

"As for hunger and homelessness, Rector and Sheffield point to 2009 statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture showing that 96 percent of poor parents stated that their children were never hungry at any time during the year because they could not afford food, 83 percent of poor families reported having enough food to eat, and over the course of a year, only 4 percent of poor persons become temporarily homeless, with 42 percent of poor households actually owning their own homes."

cf. Heritage Foundation; U.S. Census Bureau, USDA

Ever notice that all the folks paying with food stamps are fat. The skinny recipients sell the stamps for crystal meth, or trade them for it. There was a story last year about welfare recipients using their welfare cash cards at Casino ATMs, and not just a few, but a staggering number nationwide. So let's take away the mortgage tax break so Yolanda can sit her fat ass at the slot machines a little longer. Oh I know, it's only going to be the wealthier mortgage payers. I'll give 5 to 1 that I magically turn into a wealthier mortgage payer.

[piece-itpete]

The best place for car watching is the hood, hands down, even if I'm not a fan of lifted Impalas with 30" spinners on them.

One of my 'nephews' recently did his 84 Regal coupe with a reaper on the trunk lid holding a Buick symbol, and tombstones down the sides with other makes on them

Pete

[JCricket]

Originally Posted by d-ray657

How many homes or apartments are built nowadays without air-conditioning? It's one thing to have it installed. It's another thing to be able to afford to run it.

Less than half have the internet. Can you imagine what it would be like in school for kids that don't have a computer or internet access. It would be like not having Big Chief tablets when we were kids (at least those of y'all close to my age). When I was in high school and college, electronic calculators were just coming into widespread use. Exams were written with the assumption that everyone would have a calculator available. Teachers now have the same expectation with respect to computers.

As far as modern appliances - have you been to a thrift store lately? Get a DVD for fifteen bucks or a VCR for five. You can get a decent TV for $25. Game systems are there too, but I haven't looked at the price.

Most places in the U.S. don't have adequate public transportation to provide reasonable access to work. Many of the poor are working poor. Without a car, they would more likely be unemployed poor.

By God, I draw the line at Tivo, though. We can't have them welfare queens watching their soap operas on Tivo.

Regards,

D-Ray

+1

Facts will not persude those filled with hatred and stupidity.

Few things piss me off more than educated people allowing their own hatred and fears to dictate their own sense of reason. The only thing that gets me angrier is when those folks try and lead others down their own pompus, lazy ass roads. Who cares about personal integrity and responsibility when you can quote a media article with a spin to back up your own stupidity?

ZAP!!!!This is the closest thing I have to an online bug killer!

[piece-itpete]

I see plenty of educated people making assumptions based on their own experiences & notions all the time. People do tend to project...

If any of yous make it to Cleveland for some inscrutable reason I'd be happy to give you an inside tour of the hood. But like Vegas what happens stays there

Pete

[Bigerik]

Yeah, I had a lot of "true" notions about the poor, until I actually starting working with them. The lowest of the low income. People just out of prison. Dealing with people living in slums with no jobs to be found, practically no way to get to work. Really opened my eyes to how the other half lives.

[merrylander]

If they all drive expensive cars, have air-conditioned homes with TV in every room and are all overweight because they eat too much why isn't everyone trying to become poor?

[piece-itpete]

I just pointed out that being 'poor' has changed for many. And it's obvious.

No comment on the new houses being for Section 8?

Pete

[bhunter]

Originally Posted by merrylander

Of course the Heritage Foundation is absolutely unbiased.

The numbers are from the Census Bureau.

[d-ray657]

Originally Posted by bhunter

The numbers are from the Census Bureau.

And packaged and presented in such a way as to advance no particular agenda.

Regards,

D-Ray

[bhunter]

Originally Posted by JCricket

+1

Facts will not persude those filled with hatred and stupidity.

Few things piss me off more than educated people allowing their own hatred and fears to dictate their own sense of reason. The only thing that gets me angrier is when those folks try and lead others down their own pompus, lazy ass roads. Who cares about personal integrity and responsibility when you can quote a media article with a spin to back up your own stupidity?

ZAP!!!!This is the closest thing I have to an online bug killer!

Whose filled with hatred and stupidity?

The point is that compared to poor people elsewhere, our poor do not have it that bad. Take a look at Sub-Saharan Africa. Whether or not they need more equitable income wrt to our class hierarchy is a different matter. The media depicts the poor in an antiquated way such that they are always starving and going hungry. That is simply not true overall. Our poor have a lot of the amenities of the middle class and are not usually underfed, but overfed. There's a thought. The poor are so overfed that we ought give them vouchers to join a gym.