Life Air Conditioning, Cable TV, and an Xbox: What is Poverty in the United States Today? - Page 10

Deberg_1990 · 07-19-2011, 07:45 AM

Fascinating..

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner...k-ken-mcintyre

When Americans think of poverty, we tend to picture people who can’t adequately shelter, clothe, and feed themselves or their families.

When the Census Bureau defines “poverty,” though, it winds up painting more than 40 million Americans — one in seven — as “poor.”

Census officials continue to grossly exaggerate the numbers of the poor, creating a false picture in the public mind of widespread material deprivation, writes Heritage Foundation senior research fellow Robert Rector in a new paper.

“Most news stories on poverty feature homeless families, people living in crumbling shacks, or lines of the downtrodden eating in soup kitchens,” Rector says. “The actual living conditions of America’s poor are far different from these images.”

Congress is tying itself in knots figuring out how to cut spending and bring down a $14 trillion national debt. Lawmakers might well take a much closer look at the nearly a trillion dollars spent each year on welfare even though many recipients aren’t what the typical American would recognize as poor and in need of government assistance.

What is poverty? Americans might well be surprised to learn from other government data that the overwhelming majority of those defined as “poor” by the Census Bureau were well-housed and adequately fed even in the recession year 2009. About 4 percent of them did temporarily become homeless.

Data from the Department of Energy and other agencies show that the average poor family, as defined by Census officials:

● Lives in a home that is in good repair, not crowded, and equipped with air conditioning, clothes washer and dryer, and cable or satellite TV service.

● Prepares meals in a kitchen with a refrigerator, coffee maker and microwave as well as oven and stove.

● Enjoys two color TVs, a DVD player, VCR and — if children are there — an Xbox, PlayStation, or other video game system.

● Had enough money in the past year to meet essential needs, including adequate food and medical care.

Ace Gunner · 08-09-2011, 01:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iowanian

Someone is taking too many estrogen pills.

Get back to me with the survival rates in other countries....and why so many people from nations with free healthcare, come here for treatment.

Cancer is a muther****er and it kills rich and poor, tall and short, young and old.

so, let me get this str8 - you think 'people from other countries with free healthcare' come to america for 'free' treatment? what a ****ing idiot. The king of Saudi Arabia came her for 'free treatment'... ya. sure.

and cancer kills everybody, yes, but you are a ****ing muleheaded dick either way for implying the rich are on even ground with the poor.

**loochy** · 08-09-2011, 01:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chiefsfootballfan

so, let me get this str8 - you think 'people from other countries with free healthcare' come to america for 'free' treatment? what a ****ing idiot. The king of Saudi Arabia came her for 'free treatment'... ya. sure.

and cancer kills everybody, yes, but you are a ****ing muleheaded dick either way for implying the rich are on even ground with the poor.

He didn't say anything about people coming here for free treatment.

Of course the rich aren't on even ground with the poor. That's why they are classified as RICH and POOR.

4th and Long · 08-09-2011, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chiefsfootballfan

so, let me get this str8 - you think 'people from other countries with free healthcare' come to america for 'free' treatment? what a ****ing idiot. The king of Saudi Arabia came her for 'free treatment'... ya. sure.

and cancer kills everybody, yes, but you are a ****ing muleheaded dick either way for implying the rich are on even ground with the poor.

If you're lucky, Iowinian won't see this. Otherwise, you are about to get a beat down of colossal proportions.

**Iowanian** · 08-09-2011, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chiefsfootballfan

so, let me get this str8 - you think 'people from other countries with free healthcare' come to america for 'free' treatment? what a ****ing idiot. The king of Saudi Arabia came her for 'free treatment'... ya. sure.

and cancer kills everybody, yes, but you are a ****ing muleheaded dick either way for implying the rich are on even ground with the poor.

That is not what I said at all, simple simon.

This is your easy out.
Use that tone or a #umber in a word again directed at me and I'll make a lamp shade out of your hide.

vailpass · 08-09-2011, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chiefsfootballfan

so, let me get this str8 - you think 'people from other countries with free healthcare' come to america for 'free' treatment? what a ****ing idiot. The king of Saudi Arabia came her for 'free treatment'... ya. sure.

and cancer kills everybody, yes, but you are a ****ing muleheaded dick either way for implying the rich are on even ground with the poor.

Sounds like somebody's foodstamps got lost in the mail again.

**loochy** · 08-09-2011, 02:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vailpass

Sounds like somebody's foodstamps got lost in the mail again.

GIMME MAH HANDOUTS NOW! WHERE MAH STIMUUS CHEK?

**Mr. Flopnuts** · 08-09-2011, 03:35 PM

:sigh: Peering toward DC.

**Bugeater** · 08-09-2011, 04:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ultra Peanut

My mom's dying of cancer and is unable to afford treatment which would be covered for anyone, regardless of ability to pay, in any other developed nation and a number of developing ones. Sorry if your (and others') scorn and disregard for the poor in the United States of America, by people whose interests align very closely with the poor yet have been fooled into believing the myth that they're bootstrappin' frontier heroes, has made me a mite hysterical.

This is a place where medical bankruptcies and people choosing to die in lieu of saddling their families with debt are an everyday thing, but nothing is seriously amiss here? Being poor is easy? **** you.

My father in law had plenty of money and access to the best medical treatment available...and guess what...he died of cancer.

And I'm still trying to figure out what in the hell this has to do with the topic.

Groves · 08-09-2011, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iowanian

How in the hell does one respond to that without being the biggest prick on earth?

Thank them for the call, 'cause you almost forgot to tell them that you had to stop mowing for all of the rattlesnakes that kept clogging up your mower.

SLAG · 08-15-2011, 11:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iowanian

a big pair of hairy balls that woman has.....

Gilbert Grapes' mama, as listed above just called me as soon as I walked in the door from work(in tow of 3 kids). She proceeded to introduce herself, told me that since the other guy who was there saturday unloaded their stuff and carried it upstairs, wondered if I'd just run over and carry a tv downstairs(it's one of the big heavy 42" older flatscreens)....

"No, I'm busy"....
"doing what"......
"my own stuff, working 22hrs the first 2 days of the week, watching my kids, making dinner, work, repairing my own home, community involvement, mowing our yards....."
"well..when can you..who would come and do it"
"don't know"
"you're not going to tell me who could do it? Our daughter and my husband can't do it"
"It's an old TV,and it's not my problem"
"hrmffffffffff"

Gilbert Grape's mother didn't either know, or acknowledge that I'd spent 2hrs in 100 degree heat unloading an F'ing Uhaul van truck and packing that shit upstairs.

An experience from the last two days is on my mind that brought to mind Iowaians tale here of helping out his neighbor....

2 Nights ago my wife and I are sitting together... kids in bed... Watching True grit (the new one) for the first time.

Its about 11pm and my doorbell rings - I walk to the door that my nice big scary looking black dog is already barking at... and I see who it is... and its this African American man in his 40's i would guess asking to use my phone to call 911 for his wife - he is my next door neighbor and this is the first time I have met him, now grant you I just moved to the Chicago area less than 30 days ago I felt compelled to come outside and let him use my phone -

He did just like he said called 911 and the EMTs took her away
He then told me his 4 yr old grand daughter was with him and asked if I could give them a ride to the Hospital.. So i did... He asked I had change for a 50 and I didnt take his money even thought I was low on gas...

I saw him touch my wifes rosary in the car and I saw him praying / having a connection with it so I said **** it and told him he could have it.

Instead of dropping him off he asks me to come in and he thinks its going to be real quick and I know its not but I come in say hi to his wife in the ER room and have a cup of coffee with him - by that time i tell him I gotta go and He finally realized it was not going to be a fast thing.

So I drive home low on Gas.

FF to yesterday about 7:30pm - his wife is at the door saying thank you and asking for one last favor - to drive them "about 15min away" to go get a car so they can stop asking for help.

That sounds awesome to me.

but only it didn't go quite so simple
We went to the 'hood of Chicago - not the REAL bad hood of Chicago, I've been there before too (thats a story for another time) - but the part that any white kid from JoCo would roll up their windows lock their doors and avoid eye contact.

any way i digress

we bounce from house to house - street corner to street corner - looking for his cousin - we find his uncle and they go all around and guess what - she left and there aint no car.

I tell them we really need some gas - cuz ya know the $6 you put in just aint cutting it no more.

He puts $2 more in and we head home.. he said he has $20 that he can give me once we get back to the house.. UGH!!! Fine!! i'm thinking...

I dont get home until 10/10:30 that night and I almost ran out of gas, I wait for him to come back out and he doesn't...

Lesson learned.. really... my wife was laughing at me cuz i was taken for the proverbial ride...

TODAY!!!!

Wife is home alone with the kids and guess what - she hears a knock on the door...

She doesn't answer it - I love her - shes so much smarter than me LOL

Nothing else from him this evening

anyway..
I just had to vent and it seemed to go along with the other stories here.

Now back to whatever the hell else was in this trehad

Lbedrock1 · 08-15-2011, 11:56 PM

QUOTE=Iowanian;7756827]I've said for years that in the United States, being poor is "too easy".

Why go work in the heat like an idiot when you can stay home in the ac, play xbox in your govt funded home eating your taxpayer funded doritos...[/QUOT

If you truly believe that then go try it for just 6 months and then come back and report. Being poor is not easy it is hard as hell. Just be glad poor peole find some other mechanism beside murdering you and I. Never make a comment like that until you have walked in a poor persons shoes.

**Bugeater** · 08-16-2011, 12:02 AM

Yeah, we should all thank the poor people for not murdering those of us who support them.

THANKS POOR PEOPLE!!!

**Rausch** · 08-16-2011, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iowanian

How in the hell does one respond to that without being the biggest prick on earth?

I would and it would be the last time I got asked...

**Rausch** · 08-16-2011, 12:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bugeater

Yeah, we should all thank the poor people for not murdering those of us who support them.

THANKS POOR PEOPLE!!!

Think nothing of it...

**CrazyPhuD** · 08-16-2011, 12:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lbedrock1

If you truly believe that then go try it for just 6 months and then come back and report. Being poor is not easy it is hard as hell. Just be glad poor peole find some other mechanism beside murdering you and I. Never make a comment like that until you have walked in a poor persons shoes.

See and this is where the difference lies between us and oh say the UK. If you want to riot here fine, but we're armed and not as much of a pushover as they were.

Look there are a number of people that struggle no matter how hard they try and THOSE folks deserve our extra assistance. However for the ones who don't even try and who complain about what they are 'entitled' to **** them. The only the universe ever entitles anyone is death. You can spend your life blaming someone else for your problems or you can get off your ass and fix the problem yourself.

07-19-2011, 07:45 AM
Deberg_1990 In Search of a Life Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: San Antonio Tx. Casino cash: $94454	Air Conditioning, Cable TV, and an Xbox: What is Poverty in the United States Today? Fascinating.. http://www.nationalreview.com/corner...k-ken-mcintyre When Americans think of poverty, we tend to picture people who can’t adequately shelter, clothe, and feed themselves or their families. When the Census Bureau defines “poverty,” though, it winds up painting more than 40 million Americans — one in seven — as “poor.” Census officials continue to grossly exaggerate the numbers of the poor, creating a false picture in the public mind of widespread material deprivation, writes Heritage Foundation senior research fellow Robert Rector in a new paper. “Most news stories on poverty feature homeless families, people living in crumbling shacks, or lines of the downtrodden eating in soup kitchens,” Rector says. “The actual living conditions of America’s poor are far different from these images.” Congress is tying itself in knots figuring out how to cut spending and bring down a $14 trillion national debt. Lawmakers might well take a much closer look at the nearly a trillion dollars spent each year on welfare even though many recipients aren’t what the typical American would recognize as poor and in need of government assistance. What is poverty? Americans might well be surprised to learn from other government data that the overwhelming majority of those defined as “poor” by the Census Bureau were well-housed and adequately fed even in the recession year 2009. About 4 percent of them did temporarily become homeless. Data from the Department of Energy and other agencies show that the average poor family, as defined by Census officials: ● Lives in a home that is in good repair, not crowded, and equipped with air conditioning, clothes washer and dryer, and cable or satellite TV service. ● Prepares meals in a kitchen with a refrigerator, coffee maker and microwave as well as oven and stove. ● Enjoys two color TVs, a DVD player, VCR and — if children are there — an Xbox, PlayStation, or other video game system. ● Had enough money in the past year to meet essential needs, including adequate food and medical care.
Posts: 68,678

08-15-2011, 11:56 PM	#146
Lbedrock1 Iron Giant Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Conyers, Ga Casino cash: $9995364	QUOTE=Iowanian;7756827]I've said for years that in the United States, being poor is "too easy". Why go work in the heat like an idiot when you can stay home in the ac, play xbox in your govt funded home eating your taxpayer funded doritos...[/QUOT If you truly believe that then go try it for just 6 months and then come back and report. Being poor is not easy it is hard as hell. Just be glad poor peole find some other mechanism beside murdering you and I. Never make a comment like that until you have walked in a poor persons shoes. __________________
Posts: 558

08-16-2011, 12:02 AM	#147
Bugeater The Maintenance Guy Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Renovated Bugeater Estate Casino cash: $3992680	Yeah, we should all thank the poor people for not murdering those of us who support them. THANKS POOR PEOPLE!!!
Posts: 70,546