My definition of poor is the US government standard definition. My description is merely a factual description of people meeting the government's definition, according to the census. 75% of the poor do have a car (25% have two or more), 66% have 2 rooms per person, and just over half have AC.
Go read the census article I linked to.
If you wish to claim the government's definition of "poor" is overly broad and includes huge numbers of people who are actually middle class, I agree with you. But that simply means there are far fewer poor people in the US than we currently believe.
I will say that the poor in the USA do have it better than the poor in India, but that's mainly due access to government assistance.
No, it's due to wealth, plain and simple. Take away government assistance and virtually all Americans still have more than $1200/year to live on.
a tiny amount of welfare/food stamps which is lucky to last to the end of the month.
If that were true, poor Americans would not be fat.
75% of the poor do have a car (25% have two or more), 66% have 2 rooms per person, and just over half have AC.
Firstly AHS has a disclaimer that it overestimates poverty levels. This can inflate who falls into the "below poverty levels". Also the AHS is counting totals, yes someone may have A/C but that doesn't mean they have a car or 2 rooms per person. Someone could have two rooms & a car that breaks down often, but no A/C. Someone could have all 3 and someone else could have 0. Also the AHS mentions that 11% of those below poverty don't have safe drinking water & 20% live in a neighborhood with serious crime.
Also rooms per person & A/C & a car may not illustrate quality of life. You could look at Brazil having a rooms per person ratio which is much better than India, but your life would still suck if you lived in the slums.
Let's just say that being poor in the US poor isn't a picnic. But I don't think that India is a picnic either. The poor in each country faces a different set of problems. Just because the US poor have more money than the poor in India doesn't mean they don't still face serious problems. Like the saying goes "More money, more problems".
No, it's due to wealth, plain and simple.
Is the US just magically wealthy? Where is wealth derived from? How does a country like India become wealthy?
Take away government assistance and virtually all Americans still have more than $1200/year to live on.
...and cost of living in the USA is exactly the same as in India?
I agree that the government overestimates poverty levels. It's a much smaller problem in the US than most people believe.
Rooms per person, A/C and car may not illustrate quality of life, but they are consumption. If the Indian upper middle class can reduce consumption and live without such luxuries in order to save 20% of income, so can the US poor.
Air conditioning & a used car are actually rather low in cost compared to housing, shelter & food in the USA. Also alternatives are not always cheaper. A bus pass can be $90/mn compared to $50/mn for insurance & $50/mn for gas with a car. Air conditioning is often built-in or is a $100 initial outlay.
Also again comparing the US to India is not an exact science.
http://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/mginews/bigspenders.aspThe next two groups—seekers, earning between 200,000 and 500,000 rupees ($4,376- $10,941), and strivers, with incomes of between 500,000 and 1 million rupees ($10,941-$21,882)—will become India's huge new middle class. While their incomes would place them below the poverty line in the United States, things are much cheaper in India. When the local -cost of living- is taken into account, the income of the seekers and strivers looks more like -$23,000 to $118,000-, which is middle class by most developed-country standards.
Perhaps not having clean drinking water makes other aspects of life cheaper in India. Does clean drinking water matter? Yes. But maybe not having clean drinking water is the trade off you make for being able to save 20% of your income?
Also there are very few places here in the US that are going to let you work for free to learn about the system works & then either hire you on or give you skills that are transferable elsewhere. Employers do not like desperation & want people who have qualification that match what they're looking for. They'd rather pay someone who knows what they're doing than waste their time on someone who's desperate for a job & is actually going to cost them money while that person subtracts from others while learning things.
Go read the census article I linked to.
If you wish to claim the government's definition of "poor" is overly broad and includes huge numbers of people who are actually middle class, I agree with you. But that simply means there are far fewer poor people in the US than we currently believe.
I will say that the poor in the USA do have it better than the poor in India, but that's mainly due access to government assistance.
No, it's due to wealth, plain and simple. Take away government assistance and virtually all Americans still have more than $1200/year to live on.
a tiny amount of welfare/food stamps which is lucky to last to the end of the month.
If that were true, poor Americans would not be fat.