What it means to be poor in America

[Irishman]

This video showed up in my timeline. It is a compelling speech about the reality that so many people in this country live in; and well worth your time to watch. I think of things like this, along with things like our national debt, and wonder what the future holds for this Nation. 

 

[foxbat]

3 hours ago, Irishman said:

This video showed up in my timeline. It is a compelling speech about the reality that so many people in this country live in; and well worth your time to watch. I think of things like this, along with things like our national debt, and wonder what the future holds for this Nation. 

 

My wife and I were discussing this the other day when we were counting our blessings.  Our daughter was heading to the dentist's office and was getting the 2nd of four procedures that she had scheduled.  We were talking about how, after the second one, we will have exhausted the FSA, but still had plenty in the HSA and also still had some remaining insurance coverage on the procedures.  We were wondering what would be the outcome if we didn't have the insurance and if we didn't have the extra money at the end of the month, the savings, etc. to cover these kinds of things.  The realization is that we'd probably have to cut out some of the fillings or wait on treatment, etc.  We discussed the reality that there are so many other people that don't even have the luxury that we do to even conjecture about what would be done if the money wasn't there.  For so many, that question of rent vs. healthcare or eat vs. healthcare isn't even a question.

That office furniture stipend seems like one of the first things that should probably go long before any cuts are made any where else.  You'd think the furniture would just stay with the office and that's what you get when you are hired on.  That's $4 million right there.  Bring the bean bag chair from the basement playroom if there's extra seating needed.

[Muda69]

Reduce the size, scope, and power of the federal government by 25% across the board, including every department, office, bureau, service, etc.

If the federal government had less power/influence over Americans everyday lives then the avarice and corruption, including $40k stipends for office furniture, would be reduced as well.

 

 

[Muda69]

The Poorest 20% of Americans Are Richer on Average Than Most European Nations: https://fee.org/articles/the-poorest-20-of-americans-are-richer-than-most-nations-of-europe/

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A groundbreaking study by Just Facts has discovered that after accounting for all income, charity, and non-cash welfare benefits like subsidized housing and food stamps, the poorest 20 percent of Americans consume more goods and services than the national averages for all people in most affluent countries. This includes the majority of countries in the prestigious Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), including its European members. In other words, if the US “poor” were a nation, it would be one of the world’s richest.

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However, the US Bureau of Economic Analysis published a study that provides exactly that for 2010. Combined with World Bank data for the same year, these datasets show that the poorest 20 percent of US households have higher average consumption per person than the averages for all people in most nations of the OECD and Europe:

The high consumption of America’s “poor” doesn’t mean they live better than average people in the nations they outpace, like Spain, Denmark, Japan, Greece, and New Zealand. This is because people’s quality of life also depends on their communities and personal choices, like the local politicians they elect, the violent crimes they commit, and the spending decisions they make.

For instance, a Department of Agriculture study found that US households receiving food stamps spend about 50 percent more on sweetened drinks, desserts, and candy than on fruits and vegetables. In comparison, households not receiving food stamps spend slightly more on fruits & vegetables than on sweets.

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Nonetheless, the fact remains that the privilege of living in the US affords poor people more material resources than the averages for most of the world’s richest nations.

Another important strength of this data is that it is adjusted for purchasing power to measure tangible realities like square feet of living area, foods, smartphones, etc. This removes the confounding effects of factors like inflation and exchange rates. Thus, an apple in one nation is counted the same as an apple in another.

To spot-check the results for accuracy, Just Facts compared the World Bank consumption figure for the entire US with the one from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. They were within 2 percent of each other. All of the data, documentation, and calculations are available in this spreadsheet.

In light of these facts, the Times’ claim that the US has “more in common with ‘developing countries’ than we’d like to admit” is especially far-fetched. In 2010, even the poorest 20 percent of Americans consumed three to 30 times more goods and services than the averages for all people in a wide array of developing nations around the world.

These immense gaps in standards of living are a major reason why people from developing nations immigrate to the US instead of vice versa.

Why Is the US So Much Richer?

Instead of maligning the United States, the Times could have covered this issue in a way that would help people around the world improve their material well-being by replicating what makes the US so successful. However, that would require conveying the following facts, many of which the Times has previously misreported:

• High energy prices, like those caused by ambitious “green energy” programs in Europe, depress living standards, especially for the poor.
• High tax rates reduce incentives to work, save, and invest, and these can have widespread harmful effects.
• Abundant social programs can reduce market income through multiple mechanisms—and as explained by President Obama’s former chief economist Lawrence Summers, “government assistance programs” provide people with “an incentive, and the means, not to work.”
• The overall productivity of each nation trickles down to the poor, and this is partly why McDonald’s workers in the US have more real purchasing power than in Europe and six times more than in Latin America, even though these workers perform the same jobs with the same technology.
• Family disintegration driven by changing attitudes toward sex, marital fidelity, and familial responsibility has strong, negative impacts on household income.
• In direct contradiction to the Times, a wealth of data suggests that aggressive government regulations harm economies.

Many other factors correlate with the economic conditions of nations and individuals, but the above are some key ones that give the US an advantage over many European and other OECD countries.

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The Times closes its video by claiming that “America may once have been the greatest, but today America, we’re just okay.” In reality, the US is so economically exceptional that the poorest 20 percent of Americans are richer than many of the world’s most affluent nations.

Last year, the Times adopted a new slogan: “The truth is worth it.” Yet, in this case, and others, it has twisted the truth in ways that can genuinely hurt people. The Times makes other spurious claims about the US in this same video, which will be deflated in future articles.

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